Breast Cancer Survivor: My Faith Kept Me Strong

It was the last thing Hellertown resident Jacqueline Yelovich ever expected to hear. There was no history of it in her family. She never even smoked. She was only 40-ish. Yet after a routine examination in 2008, she learned she had breast cancer. "I thought I was going to die," she said. Not only did she live, but Jacquie just completed her fifth breast cancer awareness 5-k earlier this month.

A Fountain Hill native and self-employed title searcher at the Northampton County Courthouse, Jacquie knew she'd have to undergo surgery and radiation. "I sucked it up and I did it," she said, explaining that the staff at St. Luke's Cancer Cure Unit are wonderful. She experienced side effects, from headaches to irritated skin. But she continued working. "My faith kept me strong," she explains.

In addition to her faith, Jacquie has made lifestyle changes. She avoids processed foods, drinks more water than she did and has reduced her alcohol consumption.

Like Jacquie, her children did not know what to do when she was first diagnosed. Now her son Mitch asks her to speak to others with breast cancer. And daughter Rachel joins her mother in those 5-ks, along with walks along the Saucon Rail Trail. She dresses in pink, in honor of her mother's fight.

"I'm lucky and I'm blessed," explains Jacquie.

So are we.