This story first published as “Survivor Stories: Surviving Breast Cancer” in the 2025 issue of Survivor Stories, inserted into the Southeast Missourian Oct. 9, 2025.
While laying in bed one night reading at age 34, Laura Irvan felt a lump in her breast. Although she didn’t think much of it at the time, she called her nurse practitioner a couple of days later and set up an appointment for a diagnostic mammogram. After that, they did an ultrasound. Then a biopsy revealed she had triple negative invasive ductal carcinoma. An aggressive type of cancer with a high recurrence rate, the only treatment was chemotherapy.
Irvan did 16 rounds of chemo treatments, during which she gained 50 pounds and lost all of her hair, including her eyebrows and eyelashes. Then she had a mastectomy.
After this, her doctors confirmed she had a pathological complete response: All of the cancer was gone, and it had not spread to her lymph nodes.
Irvan wants others going through a similar experience to be gentle with themselves.
“Allow yourself to have the bad days. I think breast cancer has a rep of being the easy cancer. There’s nothing easy about that. So if you’re struggling, it’s OK,” Irvan says. “Give yourself some grace. There’s days that you’re great, you feel great, and all is well, and there’s days that you just don’t want to see anybody or do anything, and that’s alright. You’ve got to let your body rest.”
Throughout her breast cancer journey, Irvan says her husband was one of her biggest supports; they had been married for four months when she received her diagnosis, and he took over all of her responsibilities while also caring for her. She cites her son as another support who “saved me so many times and doesn’t realize that he did.” Her battle buddy Erica, who passed away during Irvan’s treatment, also had breast cancer and helped guide Irvan throughout the process.
Irvan says it can be difficult to remain positive and hopeful throughout one’s cancer journey; she has sought therapy and medication to help her heal through the mental aspects of battling breast cancer.
“Really honestly, what choice do you have? You could lay down and you could die, or you could just continue on. And that’s what you do,” Irvan says. “I’ve learned a lot about myself, I will say. So, yeah — don’t be afraid to address the mental health aspects of it, because it’s definitely there.”
For those whose loved one is experiencing cancer, Irvan says it’s important to check in with them even after their treatment is over; often, they may feel the fear of cancer recurrence, as well as still be processing the traumatic experiences they went through.
As a nurse, Irvan is now often the person who contacts patients who have breast cancer to talk with them about the process and help walk them through it. She makes sure her patients know they can call her anytime with questions big or small.
Irvan has known women in their 20s who have been diagnosed with breast cancer; she advocates for women to do monthly self-breast exams at all ages to get to know one’s breasts and to tell their doctor and advocate for a mammogram if they feel something abnormal. She also emphasizes the importance of receiving regular mammograms starting at age 40.
When doing a self-breast exam, Irvan says signs to feel and look for include a lump or dimpling in the breast tissue, skin changes including red or inflamed skin, nipple changes or inversion, breast discharge, and swelling of the lymph nodes, including armpit lymph nodes.
“Breast cancer doesn’t wait until 40. It doesn’t wait until you’re mammogram age,” Irvan says. “Be diligent and know the signs and don’t be afraid to call your provider and be like, ‘Hey, this is kind of off.’ And really advocate for yourself.”
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