Barbara Roberts feels “incredibly blessed.”

It has been more than three years since she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she is doing great.

“I feel really good,” she says. “I’m enjoying my life more than ever before and having a wonderful time. Every morning when I wake up, I thank God, smile and look forward to another day.”

It wasn’t long ago, however, when Roberts’ life took a turn for the unexpected. While performing a breast self-exam, she felt a lump in her left breast. Concerned, she went to her physician who recommended a mammogram.

To her dismay, the mammogram revealed a breast tumor.

“I was totally devastated,” Roberts recalls, upon hearing the news. “I couldn’t believe this could happen to me. I thought my whole life was over.”

Fortunately, the cancer had not spread to other parts of her body.

Roberts, 51, received chemotherapy, radiation and breast-preserving surgery to treat her cancer. Although the treatments were difficult, Roberts says she found the strength to make it through and is grateful to be alive today.

Roberts says her faith in God and the support she received from family, friends and the health care team at M. D. Anderson helped her overcome the challenge of confronting breast cancer.

“Everyone was great,” she says. “Their constant encouragement helped carry me through the next round of treatments.”

After serving 30 years as a secretary for M. D. Anderson, Roberts now fills her days with activities she enjoys the most, like spending time with her 19-year-old daughter, gardening, bike riding, reading and listening to music.

Roberts also plans to volunteer one day a week in the Nellie B. Connally Breast Center sometime this winter.

“I hope to help someone else battling this disease,” she says. “I want to encourage women to keep their spirits up and to let them know that they can endure the treatments and get beyond their cancer. They need to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I can tell them this because I have seen it.”

— Eileen Ellig