NBC4 reporter Lolita Lopez remembered getting the call from the radiologist that her test had come back positive for stage two A invasive breast cancer.
“I was like okay, what does that mean? Is that positive good or positive bad?” Lopez recalled.
It was positive bad.
“I was in my car by myself after a shoot and I just started bawling,” Lopez remembered.
At first, she was angry and felt betrayed.
“I have taken such good care of myself,” Lopez said.
But then her reporting skills kicked in.
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There were five days from the time of her self-diagnosis to the time of her scientific diagnosis. Just nine days later, she started treatment.
“A lot of people were like, ‘whoa, you are moving too fast.’ But for me, I knew. I had done enough research. Because of my profession, we had asked the right questions. We felt good in our gut. I think sometimes going with your gut is the best way,” Lopez said.
Once her treatment was going, Lopez asked herself what to do next.
“I’m talking about it. I’m telling everybody. That’s sort of who I am personally. If I wasn’t a reporter I would still be telling people somehow, someway,” Lopez laughingly said.
Lopez compared experiences with other breast cancer survivors, many of whom hadn’t told anyone of their cancer.
“And I was like, ‘I told everyone. Like the next day’,” Lopez responded.
Lopez did not consider herself any braver to have talked about it. It was just something that went with her personality and her profession.
“I am always searching for knowledge, every day of my life, because of what I do as a reporter. I do it every day, so it’s easy for me,” Lopez observed.
She hopes that by reporting on her experience, it could make the process easier for others to talk, as well.
