“The minute he said cancer, I kind of checked out from everything, because I just started spinning a little bit,” Michael, 56, of Kettering, said about when she got diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2024. “And it was pretty tough to take that information in.”
After getting diagnosed with breast cancer, Michael went through a series of biopsies and scans at the Kettering Health Cancer Center to see if the cancer had spread.
“They found another cancer unrelated to breast cancer in my abdomen, which kind of threw my team off, threw everybody off, threw me off,” Michael said.
‘I just couldn’t function’
Doctors were unsure of what type of cancer it was at first, so Michael had to go through more testing.
“I was trying to process this, and so now I’m really spiraling at this point. It’s hard to get out of bed. I missed a lot of work...I just couldn’t function really. I didn’t know what was happening to me,” Michael said.
Doctors thought it might be mesothelioma or ovarian cancer, so by May 2024, Michael had gone through laparoscopic surgery and more testing.
Dr. Rebecca Tuttle, a surgical oncologist at Kettering Health, had sent the samples for testing at two laboratories to make sure, but they determined it was mesothelioma, Michael said. With the type she had, the cancer was in the lining of her abdominal cavity.
“Julie had both breast cancer and mesothelioma (in her abdomen), so we presented her case at our interdisciplinary breast cancer tumor board and our GI (gastrointestinal) cancer tumor board,” Tuttle said.
Doctors decided the best approach for Michael was to do her breast cancer surgery first, allow her to recover from that and then do her abdominal cancer surgery, Tuttle said.
Surgeries and subsequent challenges
In June 2024, Michael had her double mastectomy. Doctors originally wanted Michael to do just single mastectomy — which involves the surgical removal of only one breast — in order to make the recovery easier on her, Michael said, but Michael wanted to be sure she got rid of any cancerous cells that may have been undetected.
Michael was grateful the doctors on her care team allowed her to advocate for herself, she said. She was also glad her doctors went the extra step to confirm that Michael had mesothelioma instead of ovarian cancer.
Michael spent the following months recovering from her surgery, undergoing radiation treatments and then recovering from the radiation.
In the middle of October, doctors did surgery on Michael’s abdomen.
“We went into the abdomen to remove all the visible tumor cells and then applied the chemotherapy to directly target the cancer,” Tuttle said.
“It was supposed to be an eight-hour surgery, (and) it was only a six-hour surgery,” Michael said.
Tuttle was pleased with the outcome of the surgery, Michael said.
“That really helped my family and me feel a lot of relief,” Michael said.
In November last year, after getting out of the hospital following her abdominal surgery, Michael got a C. diff infection, which a bacterial infection of the colon. After the infection, Michael then had to be treated for blood clots in her lungs.
“The pain was so excruciating. I couldn’t even breathe,” Michael said about the blood clots she experienced.
Michael was on a special diet until about Christmas of last year. She is in remission but continues to go back to the cancer center every six months for tests.
Faith, family, friends came through for Michael
Michael credited her faith in God and the support from her family, including her partner, Elisa Jackson, and friends as being the silver lining during her health journey.
“I went dark a couple times. I mean, just emotionally, I was like, ‘God, what if I die?’” Michael said. “I just remember at one point throughout this process, I remember sitting there, and I said, ‘You know what, Lord? I’ve believed in you for a very long time, and you’ve pulled me through so many things and you always show up.’”
Michael described moments where she felt signs showing her that “God’s got me.”
There wasn’t anything she felt she could do other than to have faith, she said.
“I was carrying all of that emotion and that burden and that stress,” Michael said. ”I was taking all of that on knowing that I couldn’t change any of it until I just gave it up, and I laid it down, and I said, ‘You know what, this isn’t mine to carry.’ It’s just not mine to carry. What’s going to be is going to be.”
Returning to her passion
Since her health struggles of last year, Michael has been mentally processing the trauma of overcoming her cancer diagnoses. She thanked God she survived, Michael said, but she struggled knowing that others have not.
“It’s still tough for me because I have friends that have lost family members and friends from cancer and from breast cancer,” Michael said.
She also has a special bond with other breast cancer survivors.
“You have this sisterhood that you don’t want to be a part of but thank God you are,” Michael said.
One of those fellow survivors, Tiffany Thompson, became one of Michael’s close friends and helped Michael throughout her health journey.
“God placed me with her because she was able to help guide me through the cancer process,” Michael said.
Michael met Thompson through pickleball, which was one of Michael’s passions.
“Pickleball at that time was an outlet for me, because at least for that amount of time, I could keep my mind off things,” Michael said. The group she played pickleball with would pray for her, spend time with her and show her support during her health journey, she said.
Michael was looking forward to getting back to pickleball after her surgeries and treatments.
“Julie and I spoke about how amazing it is that she is living a normal life and is returning to pickleball, which she loves,” Tuttle said. “One of the main things her and I discussed during her surgical planning is when she could return to playing pickleball. It feels really rewarding and fantastic. I’m so happy for her.”
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