Determination Defines This Nurse's Breast Cancer Journey

When Farah Sylvain Claude was notified by mail that there was a concern with her annual mammogram, she wasted no time.  

The imaging center she had gone to outside of Baptist Health for three years, which has since ceased operating, suggested some other providers. When Ms. Sylvain Claude saw that the list included Baptist Health, where she’d had a great experience with gallbladder surgery, she immediately called. She was pleased with how efficiently the scheduling department worked to find her quick and convenient appointments for a screening mammogram, followed by a diagnostic mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy. 

The finding: Ms. Sylvain Claude had a small tumor — about two centimeters — in her left breast. It was invasive ductal carcinoma, the type of breast cancer diagnosed most frequently across all age groups. It was caught early enough that it hadn’t yet spread to her lymph nodes. 

“She did exactly what she was supposed to do,” says Lauren Carcas, M.D., a breast and gynecologic medical oncologist with Baptist Health Cancer Care in Plantation. “Unfortunately, we often see patients who delay follow-up for months when they are advised of an abnormality. Getting her breast imaging done saved her life.” 

Higher Risk in the Black Community

Ms. Sylvain Claude, a registered nurse from Miami Gardens, says she has always been diligent about getting her annual mammogram. Although she suspected something might be wrong, she can’t be sure when her cancer began because of irregularities where she was initially screened.  

She urges other women to follow their instincts and make sure they get their tests at high-quality, specialized locations, such as Baptist Health’s outpatient imaging locations. “Go to go to a center you know is credible,” she advises.  

Breast cancer awareness is especially important among Black women, who tend to have more aggressive cancers and get diagnosed at a later stage, with lower survival rates compared to white women. 

Dr. Carcas appreciates Ms. Sylvain Claude’s willingness to share her story. “There’s a sense of taboo in certain communities,” Dr. Carcas says. “We need to take away that stigma. It’s important to talk about it, because knowledge is power — and can really save lives.”  

Facing a Tough Fight

The hardest part about being diagnosed with breast cancer for Ms. Sylvain Claude was not the chemotherapy, the mastectomy or the reconstruction. For this 48-year-old mother of four, the hardest part was telling her mom. 

Ms. Sylvain Claude says she was never afraid. Instead, she was determined to fight. “I asked God to give me the strength to be positive,” she says. Her mother, who lives with her family, was more apprehensive. Ms. Sylvain Claude did her best to reassure her. 

“In our culture, a lot of people think cancer is a terminal disease,” explains Ms. Sylvain Claude, who is of Haitian descent. “But you can survive cancer. I’m in the medical field, so I see the interventions, the technology and all the things that we have available to us.”  

Finding the Right Team

Ms. Sylvain Claude was bolstered by the confidence of her care team at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute. From the moment she met Jane Mendez, M.D., a breast surgical oncologist and chief international liaison at the Institute, she knew her doctor was as determined as she was. “It’s her demeanor,” Ms. Sylvain Claude says. “She walked into the room and said, ‘Let’s see what we need to do to cure this.’ She gave me the words that I wanted to hear.” 

Ms. Sylvain Claude opted for a bilateral mastectomy for her own peace of mind. A genomic analysis of her tumor followed, showing her mass had a slightly higher possibility of recurrence.  

“It’s like a genetic test of the tumor that is able to stratify the risk of that tumor’s behavior over the next decade,” Dr. Carcas explains. “That’s the beauty of personalized medicine. We can assess each individual tumor’s risk so we can make definitive decisions about treatment.” 

Ms. Sylvain Claude underwent four courses of chemotherapy at the Institute’s Plantation location, which was closer to her home. Side effects from her first treatment hit her on Christmas Day, but she was prepared. “They told me exactly what I needed to know,” Ms. Sylvain Claude says. “They gave me the tools to work with throughout the journey.” 

Ms. Sylvain Claude was appreciative of the kindness, skill and compassion of the whole team at Baptist Health. “Because I’m a nurse, I observed the way they treated patients. The attention, the care, the respect — they amazed me every time,” she says. “I felt like they were family. They could sense if something was wrong with me without me saying a word.” 

The Power of Positive Thinking

Even when she was feeling her worst, even after she lost her hair, Ms. Sylvain Claude never lost her positive outlook. “I felt like, ‘I’m going to fight this. This is my body. This cancer is not going to kill me. I’m not going to leave my kids.’”  

Her treatment behind her, she underwent reconstruction this summer with plastic surgeon Matthew Treiser, M.D., chief of microsurgery and extremity reconstruction at Miami Cancer Institute.  

Ms. Sylvain Claude, who is deeply religious, hopes to talk to others at her church about the importance of early detection — especially for those who, like her mother, are fearful of what screenings may show. 

“You have the opportunity that many people don’t have in a lot of places in the world. We are fortunate enough to have the technology here in the United States. Why not use it?” Ms. Sylvain Claude says. “Put aside all the fears. Say, look, every year I’m going to do this. I’m going to do my mammogram. I’m going to do my Pap smear. I’m going do my blood work. I’m going to find out if something is wrong — so I can deal with it.” 

Lauren Carcas, M.D., a breast and gynecologic medical oncologist with Baptist Health Cancer Care in Plantation

Jane Mendez, M.D., breast surgeon with Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute

Matthew Treiser, M.D., chief of microsurgery and extremity reconstruction with Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute