Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept/Oct 2020

www.CharlestonBrides.com | www.ChsWomenInBusiness.com | www.ReadCWomen.com EMILY CRAVEDI It was a promise to her sister that saved Emily Cravedi’s life. Her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2017 and made Cravedi promise to get a mammogram too. It wasn’t until late December of that year that Cravedi finally made it into the doctor’s office, and toward the end of January 2018, following an ultrasound and biopsy, she was told that the “thing that looked like a grain of rice” on the ultrasound was invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common type of breast cancer. The next steps moved much quicker, and Cravedi’s team of doctors and techs at Roper St. Francis helped keep her spirits lifted. “I just did it one thing at a time – whatever was in front of me. Everything happened so quickly that I didn’t really stop to reflect. The reflecting came later,” she said. Cravedi soon underwent surgery and radiation treatments. “I took off of work on a Monday to get myself together and get my dog to a boarder. I had my surgery that Tuesday and was back to work the following Monday. Then in April, I did radiation treatments on my way home from work every day. Twenty treatments – five days a week, for four weeks.” She proudly rang the hospital’s bell on May 4, signifying her completion of radiation – a mere three- and-a-half months since her diagnosis. For 10 years she will take a blocker pill and continue to have regular blood checks. “I never forget that I am a survivor because that pill has side effects that always remind me – it’s like going back through perpetual menopause,” she laughed. “It’s awful, but compared to dying from cancer it seems pretty minor. Like I did with everything else, I just do it every day.” Cravedi takes her role as a survivor seriously, dying her hair pink every October for Breast Cancer Awareness month and reminding others to get preventative diagnostics, such as mammograms. “I got a mammogram because my sister made me promise. When I called her after my diagnosis, I said, ‘Hi Steph, I just wanted to thank you for saving my life.’” Emily Cravedi dyes her hair pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.