Lyndsay Levingston is a multi-hyphenate media personality, researcher, and segment producer for “The Black News Channel” and an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She is the founder of SurviveHer, a nonprofit focused on giving hope to breast cancer survivors. Levingston joined “Health IQ” to discuss her journey and the work she’s doing through her nonprofit.
How did you discover that you had breast cancer?
I was in the shower one day when I was conducting my breast self-exam as we should — as women do monthly — and I felt a lump in my right breast, and I knew that something wasn’t right. I kind of … brushed it off and thought, “Oh, maybe, let me change bras” … but it was tender to the touch and you could also see it a little bit through my skin. So, I immediately scheduled my well-woman exam and my ob-gyn ordered my very first mammogram.
You were diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer stage 2B. What does that mean?
Triple-negative breast cancer is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer, it means that the cancer cells grow rapidly and fast. And, if you don’t detect it early it could become malignant and spread through the body, and it can result in a poor prognosis. Black women are affected at a higher rate by triple-negative breast cancer so, with that said, I needed immediate treatment; immediate aggressive treatment.
Watch the complete interview and continue reading on the next page.
