LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX News) — A Lexington woman is sharing her journey after recently being diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, and why waiting can hurt you more than help you.
Breast discoloration, a nipple that changed size, shooting pain, and constant fatigue. It took two years before she finally got answers.
Shelton received her diagnosis back in June 2026. She has two tumors on one breast that metastasized, growing into her lymph nodes and her kidney.
She had warning signs before the diagnosis. A mammogram in 2024 came back abnormal — but she never followed up.
"I had a mammogram in 2024 that was abnormal, and I never went back," Shelton said.
She says she kept finding reasons to delay seeking care.
"I pushed it off still because I had this to take care of, and that person to take care of. I had any excuse I could to not go to the doctor," Shelton said.
Her life has since become a revolving door of treatments and hospital visits. She spends up to five hours at an infusion center receiving chemotherapy, heparin, Taxol, and steroids through a port.
"I go to an infusion center. I have a port that they put in. It's kind of cool. I feel like Iron Man as a girl. I go in, they do my blood work, they check my levels. A couple of times it's been off, and we might have to wait. We might not have to. I sit there for two to five hours, and I get bags of heparin and Taxol and steroids," Shelton said.
The treatments have not been easy.
"The first one, I did it like a boss. The second one was rough," Shelton said.
Shelton will eventually need surgery for a double mastectomy and radiation.
"When I did my first infusion, I saw a woman that was 22 years old. This disease, when you think about it, they think it's in their 40s and 50s, and it's their grandmothers and their rookie players. No, there are so many women that are younger than me in there, and that bothered me so bad," Shelton said.
Shelton says finding God and taking steps to look after herself have been her saving grace.
She has a message for other women who may be putting off their own care.
"If you don't take care of yourself, who will? You know, we can't depend on our partners or our moms and what they've been through. This is your body. This is the only one you get. There's no take-backs. I personally will tell you 2 years is what I wasted. It could not have been this bad, and it could have been a lot easier on me, but that's okay because that's God's will, and that's what I'm here for," Shelton said.
Shelton says one of her biggest financial battles will be paying bills while having to take work off, travel to and from the hospital, and medical bills that will build up.
If you'd like to help out Shelton, you can donate on her GoFundMe page here.
