CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For the Callaway family of Charlotte, this holiday season is full of a lot of joy.
There are birthdays to celebrate, Christmas around the corner and so much more. So much joy in spite of, or maybe because of, the year they’ve had.
Sure, there's the awful stuff we've all dealt with in 2020, but for this family, that was the least of it.
"There are ups and downs and sometimes I'm tired and frustrated I've had to go through all of this," Jenny Callaway said.
In March, the 41-year-old emergency medicine doctor was diagnosed with cervical cancer and had to undergo a radical hysterectomy.
"About a week after I had that surgery, the pandemic started to take hold of city- schools shutdown- getting used to a whole new life with everything and recovering from surgery," she said.
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By summer she was through most of that fight.
"I thought my scary journey with cancer for this year was all done," Callaway said.
Then she realized she was due for her annual mammogram.
"I considered not having my mammogram this year just with everything else going on and trying to catch up on the rest of life," she said.
Incredibly, the mammogram showed the mother of two was in the early stages of breast cancer.
"I am very fortunate this was caught when it was.," Callaway said.
She spent the rest of this year fighting this second cancer, leaving her house for the first time to vote and just in this last month, feeling like herself again.
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"It's almost been surreal – one of those things - take a moment and sit back and think gosh this is a lot we've gone through this year," Callaway said.
And she said even more reason to celebrate this Christmas.
Doctor Callaway said she wanted to share her story to remind people to keep their annual checkups and screenings, routine things that can make a big difference.
She had no idea there was anything wrong, a pap smear found the first cancer. The mammogram found the second.