The Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce honors Breast Cancer Awareness Month

By Faith Callens

Special to the Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Information

The Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Information is honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of the month, The  Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce has decided to feature two residents in the city who are also making the commitment to keep hope alive for those who are continuously fighting such a courageous battle.

Julie Atchison who is a mammography technologist at the Selma Vaughan Regional Medical Center shares why she chose her career path and what led her  to fight for other women through the detection of breast cancer.

Then, Selma resident Cindy Box also shares her courageous fight with breast cancer, leaving women with hope that they can also make it through.

Read both of these beautiful and courageous testimonies below:

Why I Chose my career path as a Mammography technologist

Testimony By Julie Atchison

 I’m a mammography technologist at Vaughan Regional Medical center. I chose this career path because I know first hand how important it is to get your screening mammograms done. In 2016, right after I graduated high school, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 46 after feeling a lump in her breast and getting checked.

 After a long, grueling battle with cancer she passed in 2018 at age 49. She had never had a screening mammogram before this. After she passed, I decided to join the fight against breast cancer and change career paths.

 I’m so glad I did. I love getting to see our patients year after year and build friendships with them. What I do for work goes beyond the walls of the hospital- I will call up my friends moms and check on them to make sure they got their yearly mammograms, share with friends and family the importance of screenings, and even answer helpful questions along they way that they may not know!

 My Breast Cancer Story

 Testimony by Cindy Box
 
My journey started on February 13, 2012 when I had a mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy in the same day. I received my results the following day, Valentine’s Day. Breast cancer. In the beginning, we thought it was early stage two, but further testing revealed Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, estrogen receptor positive, stage 3C, (IDC ER+ 3C).
 Within a month, I had chosen my oncology team and underwent bilateral mastectomies with reconstruction, (it took three years). I had four rounds of chemotherapy for a total of 16 weeks and 39 radiation treatments.
 
12 weeks into chemotherapy I had become terribly sick and had to have a blood transfusion. I had a total of 10 surgeries and 14 hospitalizations. Once all of my treatments ended and confirmed that I was in remission, I began a 10 year maintenance therapy of a hormone blocker, based on the type of cancer diagnosis.
 
Although I was in remission, the battle was to stay healthy. I had visits with my oncologist every six months along with breast, MRIs, bone scans, and lab work. In March, 2024, I had completed my 10 year regime and graduated to annual visits.
 
On April 23, 2025, I underwent surgery again on the right breast, (cancer side), due to an intracapsular contracture that had ruptured the implant. The implant was replaced and scar tissue removed. Three short months later, I was hospitalized with cellulitis and sepsis due to an abscess at the incision site from the previous surgery. The abscess ruptured. I underwent emergency surgery once again to remove the implant. This was a life saving surgery.
 
At this point, I am left without a breast or an implant. I was fitted for and I am waiting for a prosthesis, but hopefully sometime next year will be able to have reconstruction by fat grafting using my own tissue.
 
It took a minute for me to accept my body as it is … but then I am reminded of the scars that Jesus Christ wears. He died, but I am spared. I am grateful. I’m thankful. I’m highly favored and I am blessed.
 
During all of this, I give God all the glory.