Like many people diagnosed with cancer, Debbie Wright of Wadesboro immediately thought the worst when she was diagnosed with invasive ductal breast cancer in January 2002.

"When you hear you have cancer," she said, "you think you're going to die. You start planning your funeral and think about those you're going to leave behind."

However, more than seven years later, Wright is alive and well, and has continued her job as administrative assistant with Triangle Brick, and has continued being a wife, a mother of two grown men, and a grandmother to seven (with one more on the way).

She said she feels her faith and the support of her friends and family helped her get through the experience. "I think my belief in God got me through," she said. "If people don't believe in God, I think they've got it a lot worse than people who do."

Originally from Cheraw, S.C., Wright and her family have lived in Anson County since 1970.

She went for her annual mammogram on Jan. 10, 2002, and remembers being impatient with her doctor because she wanted to get to the hospital to visit a friend. That friendly visit never happened, once Wright's doctor noticed an abnormality on her mammogram. "I didn't have a clue it was cancer," Wright recalled. "I just wanted to hurry up with the mammogram and she kept taking pictures."

The doctor referred Wright to a surgeon who performed a biopsy a week later, on Jan. 17. Even though her doctor was concerned, Wright said she was "just ignorant and blissful and thought I was OK."

The biopsy her surgeon performed involved just a needle that was injected directly into her lump, while the doctor aspirated tissue. "There were no cuts," she recalled. "It didn't hurt at all."

However, three or four days later, Wright got the call that would change her life— she had breast cancer.

She was at work when she got the news and remembers that everyone was very sympathetic and encouraging. "I went home and told my husband," she recalled. "And it was a Wednesday; it was church night and I remember they put me on the prayer list."

Wright also read a book entitled "Healed of Cancer" by Dodie Osteen, which she said was a great help to her in battling the disease.

Invasive ductal cancer means that cancer cells had spread outside the milk ducts, Wright said. She was given the choice of a lumpectomy, removal of the lump, rather than a mastectomy, removal of the entire breast, and she chose a lumpectomy. The 2-centimeter lump was removed, along with five lymph nodes. Of those five, two were cancerous. Test results also showed that Wright still had a significant chance of the cancer coming back so she chose a mastectomy, followed by reconstructive surgery.

"Instead of having no breast at all and having to wear a prosthesis, I got a new breast," she said.

She was out of work for six weeks after her surgery and followed that with chemotherapy every three weeks from July through October 2002.

"Of course, my hair fell out and my fingernails turned black," Wright recalled, but added, "I was really blessed. I worked every day during my chemo. I only missed one or two days when I had a really bad cold. God gave me the strength and I just kept on going."

Her oncologist also put her on a clinical trial for an experimental drug called herceptin. Although the use of the drug increased a risk for heart damage, Wright was again lucky in that she never saw any detrimental effects from the herceptin.

"Herceptin was a success," she said. "Now it's given to women whose cancer has metastasized. I feel good that I helped other women by being a guinea pig."

Since her diagnosis, she's attended New Beginnings, a support group for cancer patients, survivors and caregivers held at First Methodist Church in Wadesboro on the third Monday of each month.

"We're not depressed," she said. "We don't sit around and talk about our illness. We just laugh and have a good time."

As for her own cancer, since Wright ended her chemo in October 2002, she has been cancer-free. "They tell me I'm fine," she said.