Breast cancer survivor shares her battle with aggressive IDC ahead of the 2026 Komen Dallas race

This weekend's going to be really nice weather for the Komen Race for the Cure tomorrow, a time when breast cancer patients and survivors are supported and money is raised for research. We have breast cancer survivor Sue Ellen Smith joining us this morning. Thank you so much for being here. Good morning. Your message really is about the importance of screenings, which you hear from so many breast cancer survivors because that's how you found out you had cancer to begin with. Yes. So I had had screening all my annual testing, and 10 months later I was in the shower and found a small knot didn't really think anything of it because my mammogram had been perfectly clear just kept nagging at me so I called to ask about testing and it took a little bit of work on my part to get the testing because insurance obviously said hasn't been a year but I just had a clear mammogram everything fine but the Baylor Scott and White Imaging Center helped they worked with me we got the insurance to cover it as a diagnostic and within four weeks time of finding the nodule I had got the message that i had stage two invasive ductal carcinoma well and so not only were you going in for your standard regular screenings you were being very proactive and saying i think something's going on here and went back in and we're talking about just two years ago yes um that this all happened so just two years ago less than a year following a clear mammogram you were diagnosed with breast cancer how are you doing now first of all I am great I'm what's considered and no evidence of disease okay so there's no signs all my scans have been clear my labs are good so everything is moving along great I'm getting my health back one day at a time one day at a time you went through radiation I did I had the surgery first because it was a very aggressive tumor so they wanted it removed first then I had my chemotherapy and then radiation So finished treatment all in all, August, April of 2025, and then had to go on to medication. I'm actually in a clinical trial, which is one of the reasons the Komen Foundation, Race for the Cure, Raising Awareness, those funds are so valuable to support research. It's the clinical trial that I'm on came about because of research that was done years ago. Right, and the event tomorrow is a huge part of funding that research. You had been involved with Komen Race for the Cure for many years because your company sponsors the event. You'd been there and been involved in it and understood the impact. Now going as a survivor, you said last year was your first year at the walk as a survivor. Tomorrow you'll be there again leading the Hope Walk. What's it like for you going from supporter to survivor and actually experiencing it in that way? It truly changed my outlook on it because I've seen over the years the Hope Village there of the survivors. and I'm seeing that number grow over the years. So there's more and more people that are surviving a breast cancer diagnosis. It was just, I was ever grateful. Seeing all the survivor churches, just like a sea of hope, you know? It truly is. Well, and I know just, I used to be our weekend morning reporter. I'd be there in the thick of it in the survivor's area. And just as someone standing there who's not a breast cancer survivor, you feel the emotion. I mean, I can only imagine for you being there, i mean a lot of tears a lot of hope as you say just being around all of that it was uh there were tears my daughter was with me she's been a rock for me through this um my little lauren she is my my baby but when this came about she stepped up and just became a rock she all my appointments she carried the notepad she held my hand we laughed together we cried together i mean all of my family was supportive i'm not trying to leave anybody out because i had mountains of support and that is important but she she really was a rock and has continued to be that for me so at the at the race last year she we we had some tears but we finished together and it was just it was fantastic all right well good luck tomorrow at the walk you're leading the way there in the in the hope village so that's really awesome to see um and congratulations on hopefully being declared cancer free soon in the coming years i know you said there's kind of a technicality there you have to wait five years before they declare you cancer free but you're on your way it sounds like so well and we appreciate you being here with us today thank you so much appreciate you all right so this year's Komen Race for the Cure tomorrow morning at University of Texas at Dallas campus in Richardson we've got a link with all that information on our website fox4news.com we will also be out there live tomorrow from the race with a look at the the sea of pink in in Richardson at UTD