(Photo: Courtesy of Nikia Hammonds Blakely)

Many women recall their teen years as an angst-filled period during which their self-esteem was acutely tied to their outward appearance and others' perceptions of them. But a few extra zits or pounds or even a bit of terror from the mean girls are nothing compared to what Nikia Hammonds-Blakely experienced.

At 16, the then-high school sophomore discovered a lump in her breast. She initially dismissed the possibility of cancer because there was no family history of the disease, but her next physical exam confirmed that she not only had cancer but also a rare and aggressive form.

"I was terrified," Hammonds-Blakely, now 34, told BET.com.

Her doctors recommended a double mastectomy, which she resisted, choosing instead to undergo several months of radiation and a partial mastectomy.

"I was already battling with my body image and feeling insecure like your typical teenager, so the thought of removing both breasts at so young an age was a little bit for me to handle," she said.

Hammonds-Blakely was holding onto the hope of getting married and being able to nurse her children. But the surgery left her with one breast the size of a grapefruit and the other the size of a cantaloupe, which she often unsuccessfully tried to disguise with balled-up gym socks.

"There were times when I was teased when I didn't quite get that symmetry right and was all lumpy and bumpy," she said, laughing.

Though it was a young girl's worst nightmare, Hammonds-Blakely credits the disease with inspiring her to get her act together. She turned average grades into straight As and became the first person in her family to go to college.

"Cancer has absolutely given me a sense of purpose in every sense," she said. "Breast cancer fueled my will to live and made me want to maximize my life. It literally lit a fire under me."

She is now married and living in Savannah, Texas. She holds an M.B.A., is working on a Ph.D. dissertation and is an active advocate of breast cancer awareness.
But her dream of nursing her children won't come true. After 18 years, a mammogram in December 2011 showed pre-cancerous cells and "I had to let them go because my life was more important," she says of the double mastectomy she ultimately underwent.

Hammonds-Blakely was "absolutely devastated" by what she hopes will be her last brush with breast cancer.

"The doctor was saying the same thing the doctor said 18 years ago: 'Oh, I'm sure it's nothing; we'll just keep an eye on it.' And once again I had to champion for myself and insist that they check it out," she said.

Still, Hammonds-Blakely acknowledges that there are many differences in the quality of care she received when she was diagnosed at 16 and later. She grew up in a low-income household in Gary, Indiana, and didn't have health insurance, which resulted in a mountain of debt and limited options.

"I did not have access to options at all and I can definitely see the night and day difference in care," she said. 

For example, she had to seek treatment at the one local hospital that cared for the uninsured. Because she had such a rare and aggressive form of cancer, she should have been able to see a specialist. She also wasn't offered the option of reconstructive surgery or prosthetics.

Covered through her husband's insurance plan, that's no longer the case. The provider also offers a service that makes sure she's aware of all of her options and helps her navigate her way through the medical process.

Hammonds-Blakely said she would not be shocked by another reoccurrence.

"I'm not going to live in fear of it, but I will live with my eyes wide open, not just with my breast health but with my overall health," she said.

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