Degree Earned Amidst Battle With Cancer

The printmaking conference is over and attendees begin to leave. Amanda Joy-Petersen, a young artist from Utah, hurries to her appointment where she will have a breast lump checked.

On April 15th, 2022, life decides to remind her how fragile this world is and that sometimes, to live only one more day is what matters the most. Things took another turn that Friday afternoon, as she learned of being diagnosed with Stage 2 triple negative breast cancer.

“We had hoped it was just a cyst because I was young, had no family history, and no known genetic mutations. My tumor was 3.5 centimeters, which meant we had to kill 3.5 billion cancer cells,” she said in an interview with Erudera News.

“Everything changed that day. My body became a specimen, inspected weekly. Emotionally I was in survival mode. But I worked through my diagnosis artistically.”

Triple negative breast cancer is the most aggressive form, harder to treat, and more likely to return. This form represents about 15 percent of all breast cancers and is more common in younger people.

But Amanda had no time to die. As she recalls, during her endless battle cries, her strength was her kids, her family, her students, and everyone who needed her to still be here.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in Art Education - 2D design and Printmaking with honors from Weber State University, she decided to continue with her master’s. She chose to pursue her master’s at Utah State University for the printmaking program they have.

Her studies started amid the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of diagnosis, Amanda was still a printmaking master’s student at Utah State.

The spring semester of 2022 was one of her busiest. She was taking 5 classes, teaching a 2D Design class, and caring for her three kids and husband. Amanda taught during all semesters while fighting cancer.

Her story is a journey of hope, long sleepless nights and triumphs.

Between May and October that year, Amanda had to undergo chemotherapy every Thursday, including one called the “Red Devil.” She went on immunotherapy for one year, specifically from May 2022 to May 2023, which permanently destroyed her thyroid.

“I had five surgeries, including a double mastectomy which is an amputation. I didn’t know what stage of cancer I was at until that surgery when they removed and tested lymph nodes,“ she said. “It came out that the chemo had worked. The cancer hadn’t spread to the lymph system, and I was at Stage 2 which meant I didn’t need radiation.“

The week during her first reconstruction surgery in June 2023, which she regretted doing, Amanda got pneumonia which complicated her condition, making recuperation more difficult.

“I got pneumonia that bruised my ribs and popped stitches from all the coughing. My scars naturally stretching made me sound and feel like a human glow stick,” Amanda said. “This was the most pain I had been in, and I had unmediated births.”

Although an individual experience, the journey was not Amanda's alone. Her battle against breast cancer was one of the hardest things that her mother, Renee Mclendon, had to experience.

She couldn't lose her "Mandy."

“One of the hardest things was to watch one of your children go through cancer. I feel that equally hard is what goes through your mind, the unknown and what ifs, like "Will she die? Will she fight this periodically throughout her life? Will she have surgery and be in remission?" Renee explained.

“I had the reassurance that she would live and be with us. So, with that, I celebrated the gift of life,” she added.

Saving Hair to Create Art

Art is more than just an expression for Amanda. It is inseparable from her very being.

Even in those difficult times, she found a way to make art. She knew how to transform pain and struggle into something beautiful.

“My kids and my husband helped me try new hairdos as we shaved my head so that I could save my hair for my art.”

“I told my husband we could be bald buddies,” she said with a laugh.

During the healing process, she also found comfort in poetry. She would write poems every week after treatment.

Another activity of hers, both meaningful and unusual, was to take pictures of her body before and after surgery. She didn't forget to take those photos, to convey, as she said, outer change and the inner vulnerability that she didn’t allow others to ever view.

“My poetry, my MRI scans, my chest selfies, my hair were part of every piece. Each week during treatment, I would write poetry. I would then turn the words into lines and swirling script that became embedded in my prints.”

"Another Flavor Lost Every Week”

A painful part of her story is the loss of taste. "Every week, there would be another flavor that chemo would take from me,” Amanda said during the interview. “I still can’t eat cashews or pineapple.”

“One friend searched out Fresca soda for me because one of the things I could still taste was fresh strawberry lime rickey's,” she said.

To heal, she found comfort in watching videos about food. She would watch them for hours to remember the flavors she missed. Reflecting on those days, she shared a little memory.

Just after her last round of chemo and before her amputation, Amanda’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law took her to a chef’s tasting.

“I could taste everything and went into it thinking I would at least try one bite of everything served. It was beautiful and memorable.”

No matter her fatigue, Amanda would appear before her students every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thursdays, she would undergo chemotherapy and then get some rest during the weekend.

“The most challenging part for me, as Amanda went through her treatment, was watching her go through treatment on Thursdays and then sleeping for most of the weekend just to have to get up and exhausted each morning.

She had to teach Monday through Wednesday and then repeat the whole cycle each Thursday,” Amanda’s husband Matt Petersen told Erudera.

But the passion to succeed in this unseen battle became the light of her path.

Amanda said she desperately wanted to graduate with her cohort, but she had very little energy and barely could walk. This condition forced her to take an extra year.

The support from the Department of Art and Design and her beloved people has merit in this battle of hers because, as she says: I wouldn’t have done it without them.

“With financial aid and student housing, I didn’t really want to take a year off. The faculty in my program, especially Department Head Kathy Puzey and my other instructor Holland Larsen did so much to facilitate me still being able to teach through the next five semesters,” she said.

Art as a Bridge

Looking back on her journey, Amanda feels proud that she stayed herself, despite all these changes. “I taught my body to adapt so I could create art again,” she said.

Her art became a bridge connecting her with other people who went through illnesses and struggles. This year, her passion was recognized with the Caine College of the Arts 2024 Grad Student Teacher of the Year award.

“I translate my trauma by mining images of my body used in the diagnosis, progress, and remission of this invasive disease. Color represents being stripped away and simultaneously healed. I reproduce various insects, imagery, and symbols to express anger, burden, danger, resurrection, pain, and a metamorphosis into something more.“

Her husband, Matt, said that even through her struggle, she remained a pillar of emotional support for him and the others as well.

“One of the most difficult parts of learning of her diagnosis was the fear of possibly trying to do life without her because of the love I have for her and the strength she has always lent to me,” he said.

For one to earn a master’s degree amidst a pandemic and the hard battle against cancer, much strength is needed. But Amanda, she made it.

Today, she is not only a cancer survivor. She is a warrior. A hero to all.

“I am proud that Mandy focused on her goal to graduate while having this dreaded disease,“ her mother said.

At the very end, Amanda has a piece of advice.

“Give yourself the grace to feel what you feel. It is a whole shell of emotions and you deserve the time to process the changes that are happening to and around you.

Grief has no timeline and no respect for people. Don’t let people diminish what you will continue to feel and experience,” she said.

World Health Organization (WHO) data show that breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide with approximately 2.3 million new cases every year. According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, TNBC occurs more often in women younger than 50 years old.

Statistics from the National Cancer Institute show that as of January 2022, it is estimated the number of cancer survivors in the United States reached 18.1 million. This represents nearly 5.4 percent of the population. There are more than 4 million female breast cancer survivors.

According to the same, in 2022, 70 percent of cancer survivors in the US have lived more than five years since their diagnosis and 19 percent have lived 20 more years. Individuals are considered cancer survivors from the time of diagnosis for the rest of their life.

Globally, there are over 32 million cancer survivors.

Read Also:

>> How Are Universities Worldwide Contributing to Breast Cancer Awareness?

Author: Erëza Lajqi