Faith, loved ones, and a multidisciplinary care team all played a role in successfully treating an aggressive type of breast cancer
Devout Christian. Supportive wife and mother. Compassionate community leader. Loving sister and daughter. Nonprofit founder and executive. These are just a few of the myriad roles Brenda Atkins Lockley has inhabited throughout her lifetime. She never imagined that breast cancer survivor and activist would be added to the list.
During the summer of 2021, in the first few weeks after Dunlap Family Outpatient Center opened on the main campus of St. Clair Health, a 45-year-old woman was referred to Mark A. Cedar, D.O., Chief of Gastroenterology and Director of the GI Lab at St. Clair Hospital. “At first I was happy to see someone who met the new screening age criteria (down from 50) for colorectal cancer exams coming in to see me. But there was a reason: a small change in bowel habits. Shannon presented with no weight loss and no abdominal pain and her labs showed iron deficiency anemia—which is not uncommon for a woman her age,” Dr. Cedar says.