Four years ago this week doctors told Kimberly Curtis she had breast cancer.
"It's a very scary experience to hear that," she said.
The news didn't come as a shock to the 34-year-old. At age 16, Curtis was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease. She knew then one of the possible side effects of treating Hodgkins was breast cancer.
"We're 99 percent sure it [breast cancer] was from my radiation treatment from the Hodgkins," Curtis said.
After months of chemotherapy and a bilateral mastectomy doctors gave Curtis some good news.
"There are no signs of cancer, which is the best news you can hear," she said.
While Curtis is thankful to be cancer free she said she is not free of worries and neither is her fiance, Ken Garner.
"I worry about her all the time and every day," he said.
Cancer is always in the back of their minds.
"I have such a high chance of getting cancer again because of my history," Curtis said. "Every little bump and bruise you send to your oncologist. Is this cancer?"
According to Barbara Formichelli of the Breast Cancer Resource Center, 70 percent of cancer patients don't have a recurrence, but some fear they will be among the 30 percent that do.>IMAGE3>
"What we find, especially when you hear about someone who had a recurrence that triggers the fear is that if it happened to her it could happen to me," Formichelli said.
The BCRC offers group activities for survivors to talk through their emotions.
"They are all survivors. They've all been through this and they are willing to help and talk through those fears," Formichelli said.
Curtis and Garner do a lot of talking and sometimes escape.
"We'll take a road trip out to the Hill Country and go do some vineyard hopping or maybe we'll go to the lake for the day," Garner said.
Trips are only temporary escapes. Curtis relies on her inner strength to get her through worrisome nights.
"I'm in remission and I'm a survivor, and that's kind of where I am," she said.
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Beating cancer
 Being cancer-free does not mean
cured nor does it signal an end to
worrying about the disease.



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Curtis said she won't allow cancer or the fear of it to dictate how she lives.