Breast Cancer Can Stick It!: A Story of Hope, Fueled by Rock and Roll

By April Samuels

 

In 2010, at age 41, professional drummer April Samuels faced a significant challenge when diagnosed with high-grade, triple-negative breast cancer. Undeterred, she coined the motto "Breast Cancer Can Stick It!" and, after a double mastectomy and chemotherapy, she started a nonprofit with the same name. Her personal journey fuels her commitment to assisting others diagnosed with breast cancer through advocacy for awareness, early detection, and funding.

 

In this raw and honest book, Samuels shares her real-time journal and present-day reflections on the intense journey to triumphantly declare herself "CURED!"

 

April Samuels is a dynamic figure deeply immersed in the music industry, boasting a multifaceted career that spans drumming, band management, and fundraising. Since 1998, she has organized impactful events and raised awareness for various nonprofit organizations. She is a full-time drummer and the founder and executive director of Breast Cancer Can Stick It! Foundation, Inc. Through her continued dedication, April Samuels rocks not only behind the drums but also in her relentless pursuit of supporting others and finding a cure for breast cancer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WEX Press
• Release date: Apr 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9781961347014

Book preview

Copyright © 2024 by April Samuels

Breast Cancer Can Stick It!

A Story of Hope, Fueled by Rock and Roll

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be used or reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks or information storage and retrieval systems, or in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher.

In this world of digital information and rapidly-changing technology, some citations do not provide exact page numbers or credit the original source. We regret any errors, which are a result of the ease with which we consume information.

Dedication Photo by Brandi McComb Photography

Edited by Laurie Knight

Cover design by: Kristina Edstrom

Front cover, back cover, and About the Author photos by: Debra Gloria Photography

An Imprint for GracePoint Publishing (www.GracePointPublishing.com)

GracePoint Matrix, LLC

624 S. Cascade Ave, Suite 201, Colorado Springs, CO 80903

www.GracePointMatrix.com    Email:  [e-mail]

SAN # 991-6032

A Library of Congress Control Number has been requested and is pending.

ISBN: (Paperback) 978-1-961347-59-5

eISBN: 978-1-961347-60-1

Hardcover: 978-1-961347-65-6

Books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use.

For bulk order requests and price schedule contact:

[e-mail]

A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to

Breast Cancer Can Stick It! Foundation, Inc.

In memory of:

Dahlia Garcia, Amy Pippi Boyd,

Frank Redman, and Lisa Rollins.

Dedicated to the memory of Mom.

July 23, 1941 – June 26, 2023

Your calmness and kindness will live within me forever.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Disclaimers

Letters from Family and Friends:  Christy Tinsley Ilfrey

Letters from Family and Friends: Ron Samuels

Letters from Family and Friends: Lori Peters

Letters from Family and Friends: Rikki Rockett

The Diagnosis

Tests

Breakdowns and Healthy Living

Here We Go!

Gig Preparedness

Today’s Stuff

Surgery

April’s in Surgery

April Is in Recovery!

Detailed Update on April

The Hospital Is Behind Us!

No Results Yet

Results… GOOD!!!

Recovery Phase III

Oncologist Visit, Seeing Scars

Happy Thanksgiving! Another Update

Lots Going On!

Semi-Quick Note— Look Good... Feel Better!

Appointments and More Appointments...

Port Installed

Part I, Collapsed Lung

Extended Stay at Hospital

Chest Tube Out!

Part II, Collapsed Lung Through My Eyes

Quick Update, Seriously!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Chemotherapy

Chemo: The Full Story

Closing the Year

I’m Wide Awake

Water Gardens and Cheesecake

Taco Bell and PT

Last Week and This Week

My Hair Is Coming Out

Thine Head Is Shaved!

Two Down, Six to Go!

Thumbs Up! Results on Genetic Testing

Stupid Lung Scare

Depression, Wigs, and Cheesecake

Anything Can Happen

The Ten-Year Burger

A Good Week— Just Fatigue and Ice, Ice Baby

Chemo: More of The Full Story

Catching Up

A Purpose

Neuropathy

Taxol Folks

Not So Quick...

Can You Believe It?!?

Update, Goggles, and the Pros of Chemo

Feeling Normal

Yesterday’s Chemo: One to Go!

Lil Update, Lotsa Sunshine

Today

No More Chemo!!!

Yesterday, All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away...

Last Weekend, a Rebirth, and Deportation

California, Here I Come

The Past Month!

More May Through June Memories

A Month’s Worth of Updates!

Faith, Hope, and Love

It’s Been Far Too Long!

No TMI Here!

October Is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Are You Aware?

A Year Later

Chest X-ray, Good— Brain Fog, Frustrating!

Another Year Anniversary

Stacy’s Funeral

The Time Is Now

Doctor Appointments

Ups and Downs

Ultra Clear!

No Stranger on Valentine’s

ER Visit

Ch-Ch-Cha-Changes…

Two-year Chemoversary

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Foreword

April Samuels is truly extraordinary through her power to transform tragedy into trajectory! April has used her experience of being the effect of breast cancer to being the cause of creating hope and the opportunity for both cancer patients and their loved ones. She shows people with any disease how it is possible to be conquerors, victors, and catalysts of inspiration for other patients and anyone that crosses your path. And every bit of information she shares applies to all of us! April is a powerful force of nature, extraordinary communicator, and tremendously compassionate soul.

Her story is a model of how we can all choose our attitudes in the face of life-threatening adversity. This can then shift our behaviors and produce consequences that can not only save our own lives but also affect the attitudes, behaviors, and consequences of people we get to influence!

When I met April as a fellow drummer (Pink, Billy Idol, Stevie Nicks, Cher, Foreigner), I realized that I was in the presence of a truly special woman of action. She had just started Breast Cancer Can Stick It! Foundation, Inc., and asked me to be one of the guest performers. I was honored for several reasons. First, I am a cancer conqueror myself (you can check out my book Conquering Life’s Stage Fright). Second, I believe that my life is dedicated to being of service as a professional speaker, musician, and TV personality. Third, what a blast and opportunity to entertain, educate, and transform the lives of the audience, giving them the chance to raise money for one of the most important causes on the planet.

A few years ago, when I saw April publicly post a topless photo displaying the scars from her double mastectomy, I realized it exemplified who she is… brave, audacious, seriously proactive, and willing to create an emotional reaction in people to intensify the importance of being of service to promote her purpose.

What an extraordinary woman with such an interesting journey and story to tell! When (not if) you read Breast Cancer Can Stick It! you will enhance your appreciation for life and strengthen your own desire to be of service, valiantly with unyielding drive. Get ready for a wild ride that will inspire you to create your own story of action and victory for the precious beings that need you.

Mark Schulman

Drummer, Speaker, Author, TV Personality

Preface

I was exposed to drums at a very young age. My cousin Steve had a drum set as did my friend’s brother, Kevin. When I was five years old, Mom and I were at Music Manor in Plano, TX for my brother’s guitar lesson. While in the store, I saw a pair of drumsticks and begged my mom to buy them for me. I wanted those sticks. Mom obliged. This would be the start of my love for drumming.

By eleven years old, my parents bought me my first real drum set and I was enrolled in lessons at the same store. My brother and I started a garage band. I played drums in various talent shows and played my first full-fledged gig at nineteen. I wanted to tour the world and be a rock star, just like many other budding musicians in the ‘80s. I went through multiple original bands—performing, writing, marketing, promoting, booking, and managing each group all at the same time. It just wasn’t happening, but I was unrelenting. I loved playing and whether I became a rock star or not, I knew I wanted to play drums.

Then it happened. On Tuesday, October 26, 2010, at forty-one, I was diagnosed with the rare and aggressive triple-negative breast cancer. This was not the big break I had been chasing my whole life. This wasn’t even on the set list.

I faced many adversities prior to this one. My mother had a medical issue that prevented her from giving birth naturally, so I was born cesarean section. When I was a year old, I came down with spinal meningitis and was given a fifty-fifty chance of survival. At age eight, I ran through a glass door, which resulted in twenty-seven stitches in my leg and a cut on my wrist that very narrowly missed the main artery. By the time I was thirteen, I had begun a tumultuous relationship with alcohol that lasted ten years before I chose a life of sobriety at twenty-three. In my thirties, I began seeing someone who took me through a three-and-a-half-year unfortunate incarceration of both verbal and physical abuse.

I faced the obstacle of breast cancer with the same tenacity I had anything else. I faced it head-on. I put all my focus into overcoming the challenge; however, with this journey, there was something very different, there was a calling. Two days before my diagnosis, I remember distinctly lying alone in bed hearing the words If you have breast cancer, you are going to be the biggest advocate in the fight against breast cancer that you can be. This was the start of a journey I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams. This was the start of my life’s work.

After my diagnosis, there were a lot of questions coming at me from all the people in my life, and quite honestly, it was emotionally taxing to repeat many of the details over and over again. I knew it would be work to keep everyone updated. Social media wasn’t what it is today. Dispersing info was going to be tough, so I had to streamline. Enter CarePages, a blog-style platform specifically for sharing information to friends and family about a current medical struggle. I started blogging on CarePages nearly daily to share my progress.

Unexpectedly, I quickly found writing to be therapeutic. It helped me organize my thoughts and sift through my feelings. As a former songwriter, I missed writing, so this felt good. Pretty soon people really began to respond to my story—they were touched, connected, and inspired. It had a positive effect on people, even readers I hardly knew. This all came as quite a surprise to me. I had no idea sharing my thoughts during one of my life’s biggest obstacles would garner such a reaction, nor did I think that what I was doing was anything special. But somehow, it was. After a month or so, someone suggested I turn my blog journal entries into a book. Then another suggested it—then another, and another. It became something I couldn’t ignore. Someone wanted this to be a book.

God will often show people things. Sometimes it’s a slight hint that gets stronger over time. This instruction was banging me over the head with a club. I was being called to release these journals.

I can’t believe I’m finally here. In all honesty, I’m scared to death about sharing the intimate details in this book. When I say intimate, I mean INTIMATE. These include my thoughts and emotions, as well as my physical and mental struggles. More TMIs than you can shake a stick at (pun intended).

But this isn’t about me. This is about YOU. This is for YOU. This is to give you hope; to remind you that you have a purpose. You CAN overcome adversity. You CAN do anything you can set your mind to. You are strong. You are loved. You are enough.

Disclaimers

Minor edits were made to these original posts for privacy, to remove personal information, to correct spelling or grammar errors, to provide more detail, or for clarity.

All doctors’ names were changed to fictitious names for privacy.

The information contained in this book should not be construed as medical advice. My treatment, side effects, complications, etc. were specific to me and may not be the same for everyone. This book is solely my experience.

Letters from Family and Friends:

Christy Tinsley Ilfrey

Milestone moments serve as markers to gauge our progress between significant life events, and cause us to pause, to side-step our regular routine, and to reflect. We analyze the event and file it away, eventually, and it becomes a single thread in the tapestry of our experiences. The moment April was handed the frightening verdict—CANCER—became perhaps the most important milestone moment of her life. Her story takes us through the valleys of despair when she learns of her diagnosis and loses friends to their own battle with cancer; but she also lifts us to the mountaintops of joy with her humor and candidness. (Or, in her words, *TMI ALERTS*.)

My friendship with April spans decades and innumerable milestone moments. In the fall of 2010, my family and I were in the throes of our one-year mobile adventure, ambling along the highway toward the Texas Gulf Coast, when I answered April’s call. I assumed she had been reading my blog and wanted to check in with her gypsy friends. This was not our usual exchange of one-liners and nicknames, however. As I listened to the words she had already repeated to countless family members and friends, my smile evaporated and my heart flooded with grief. We continued our drive in silence. I promised myself I would see her during our next trip to DFW…

Following April’s story has had an unusual effect on me. Although I have known her for more than thirty years, I feel I’m learning new things about her by way of this manuscript. People she has just met—strangers, really—embrace her as if they have known her forever. I guess that’s the way it is with cancer. Loved ones see you as different from the normal you and new friends see you just as you are, today. Her experiences remind us to believe in something with fierce intensity, to maintain hope despite fear, to seek laughter during stressful moments, and to nurture relationships. Never take time, or them, for granted. Your unique story inspires us to pursue our dreams with fervor, humor, and gratitude. Thank you, April, for weaving many threads into my own tapestry.

Christy Tinsley

Ilfrey Sage Hollow, Aransas County, Texas

January 3, 2024

Letters from Family and Friends:

Ron Samuels

I told my daughter that I would write something for her book about her battle with cancer. I will try to be brief, but when talking about April, it is hard to do. For openers, my wife was to have our third child (the first was stillborn) by C-section on the first of May. Since we had a name picked out, my wife talked the doctor into taking the baby out a day early so the name and birthday would match. That may have been a mistake; I don’t think she was completely ready for the world, and I am convinced the world has not been ready for her.

I, like a lot of fathers, have spent a lot of time in the hospital with my children, but April leads the pack for our family. We were blessed that she was born healthy and had good lungs that she wanted to use all the time. When she was about nine months old, things started to change. We were unaware that she had contracted spinal meningitis, and it took several weeks for it to be diagnosed properly. She went through some trying times, and it was not until she was out of the hospital that we discovered the doctors had only given her a fifty-fifty chance of making it.

There is a long story about this drama but let me fast forward a few years. We had moved to Plano, TX when we found out about the meningitis. Seven years later we began a move to a new home across town. April, in her enthusiastic way at the ripe old age of eight, was helping us move. The moving process had us going in and out of a sliding glass door. The door did not have shatter proof glass and it was closed. I heard a loud crash and turned around and April was hanging in the middle of the glass door with spears of glass holding her. She had two really bad cuts; one on her leg that required twenty-seven stiches and another near her wrist, which just barely missed the artery.

I remember rushing April to the hospital and a cop tried to pull me over, because I was speeding, running red lights, and flashing my lights. With April bleeding profusely in my wife’s lap, I yelled at him that I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. He began leading me there at a high rate of speed with lights flashing and sirens blaring.

While standing by her in the emergency room, the doctor was sewing up her leg and I had my head bowed beside the table.

He asked, Are you all right? We lose a lot of dads to concussions when they pass out and hit the floor.

I told him I was fine; I was just saying a little prayer.

Little did I know the number of prayers I would need to say for April over the years. She has a charm and charisma that makes people love her. She becomes the center of wherever she is, and she loves everyone the same. Little kids love to be with her; she knows how to have fun. She is a real joy to me and her mom. I could write a book about her, but she is doing that. The battle with cancer is the main theme, but she has a lot of stories to tell, and I think many would touch people’s hearts.

I just wish I was as smart as she thinks I am. I love her and she is very special.

Dad

July 2013

Letters from Family and Friends:

Lori Peters

My friendship with April is a unique survivor sister story. I had never heard that term survivor sister until I met her. We instantly were bonded by the hardship of breast cancer and the love of rocking out behind the drum kit.

Thankfully, our dear friend Michelle Graves introduced me to April in 2019. I decided to call her one day as I sat in a frump on my couch recovering from a unilateral mastectomy due to breast cancer. While scrolling through social media I caught a picture of Michelle behind a really cool bright pink drum kit. As I began to read the caption Breast Cancer Can Stick It! I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes. Discovering this foundation and getting to know April and so many of the volunteers has been such a lifeline to me in my recovery from the trauma of breast cancer. They literally rock! The support, motivation to help others, and a further purpose to play drums, that seemingly appeared to be designed specifically for me, has been incredible.

My first interaction with April was during a live interview via her social media show called The Beat Broadcast. I tell ya, we were fast friends! Prior to that interview I watched every video she had available to learn more about her story. April was definitely more open to telling her cancer journey than I was at that point, but hearing her share all of her experiences helped me realize that it’s okay to let it out! I was embarrassed and holding everything in. I hate that I had to endure this disease, two surgeries, hyperbaric treatments, and mourn the loss of my breast. I was still mourning the loss of my mom who had recently passed while battling another type of cancer. Plus, my sister still battles with cancer to this day. Enough already! I could see how free April was by using her traumatic, near-death experience for a purpose that has gone way beyond her expectations. I love how her small step of faith and will to do something about it has grown into a community that many of us benefit from and can rally behind. April holds true to her commitment to be the loudest voice for breast cancer awareness and support. Everything she does is turned up to eleven. Her willingness to be vulnerable and honest unlocked something in me. Her story might just unlock something in you that you didn’t realize. Take the time to get to know her encouraging story, her energy, and her dedication. You will be inspired.

Please don’t wait to expand your knowledge about breast cancer and its serious effects on families and lives. Unfortunately, there’s a good chance someone in your life will have to deal with this horrible disease. For me, breast cancer came out of nowhere. I’m thankful I have this foundation as an outlet to support in the fight. You can too… it starts here! Whether you’re a drummer, music lover, or cancer warrior, this is the combination we all didn’t know we needed until April put her heart, ideas, and passion behind it. Music is a safe haven; it can promote healing and brings joy to so many. Breast Cancer Can Stick It! is a foundation so specific in its concept, yet it brings together people from all walks of life. April is not only a talented drummer in her own right, but she also has a gift that inspires and motivates volunteers to lend their time, energy, and talents to the purpose of breast cancer awareness, hope for survivors, and lots of rock ‘n’ roll-centric fun!

Lori Peters

Skillet drummer 2000-2008

May 2023

Letters from Family and Friends:

Rikki Rockett

What kind of a fight does cancer require? The people you thought didn’t care step forward and many people you always thought cared, disappear. It’s an emotional roller coaster laced with sadness, grief, loneliness, fear. If you are one of the ones who are made of the same stuff that makes up April, it’s a special kind of braveness.

April and I share a battle, a battle that often times defines us to the core of who we are and what we are made of. We share a battle that leaves much of a person solely responsible and a whole lot of our being completely out of control. Fifty percent fate and 50 percent personal battle; the fight is exhausting.

April has turned that fight into a victory, and through her relentless pursuit to educate, empower, give hope, and inspire empathy, she has overcome what denies many of the experience of knowing true victory.

She is a true warrior and devout friend. Read this book and learn what it’s like to beat the odds and give back to the world.

Rikki Rockett

Poison drummer

August 2023

The Diagnosis

October 27, 2010

About the Diagnosis

In December 2003, I noticed an oval-shaped lump on one of my breasts. I didn’t panic, but I take my health seriously and knew I should get it checked out. Shortly thereafter, a breast surgeon diagnosed me with fibrocystic breasts. This meant that I didn’t just have one cyst, but several, and we’d need to keep an eye on them and have them aspirated regularly to be tested for cancer. This was the start of years of mammograms and ultrasounds every six months to keep an eye on these liquid-filled cysts and any other breast changes just in case.

Years later, during one of these periodic ultrasounds, on July 15, 2010, a different cyst on my right breast was noticed.

The female tech performing the ultrasound grumbled, Well, that looks different. I had grown accustomed to what my fibroid cysts looked like, and she was right; it did look different. My cysts were usually oblong with a blue outline and black on the inside. This was rounder with white speckles on the inside.

In all honesty, the tech could have handled it better. Hearing That looks different was definitely unsettling. I wasn’t worried I had cancer. I really wasn’t.

The doctor came in and took a look for himself. He said, Come back in three months and we’ll see if it’s changed.

Upon hearing this, my family and friends weren’t pleased. Why do we have to wait for it to possibly get WORSE? Why can’t they biopsy it NOW?!

I wasn’t worried, though. Even though it was different, I had no reason to think it would be anything bad.

Like clockwork, I followed my instructions and three months later, on October 13, 2010, I returned for the follow-up screening. During the study of the area under ultrasound, they turned on the Doppler imaging and confirmed that blood was flowing to and from this solid mass, which had grown nearly twice its size in three months, from 11x10mm to 18x11mm.

This was certainly alarming. It was then I started to worry.

Still focused and with this new information in hand, on October 21, 2010, I met with my breast surgeon. He aspirated a cyst on my left breast, which was also found during the recent ultrasound, and ordered an ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy for the solid mass on my right breast later that same day at a nearby hospital. The speed at which he wanted this done was beginning to raise red flags in my head, but I just tried to stay focused.

The core needle biopsy was both painful and bizarre. I could see on the ultrasound screen the needle in my breast and audibly hear it click and chip into the mass to grab a sample for testing.

I’ll never forget them placing the sample in a vial and holding