POLAND — Ironically, a breast cancer diagnosis may have saved Angela Duncan’s life — but in a manner neither she nor her doctors could have anticipated.

“Otherwise, the tumor likely would have gone undetected,” Duncan, 73, of Poland, said.

While undergoing a battery of tests before a surgery, it was discovered she had a benign meningioma tumor, which typically grows from the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal column. While not a brain tumor, it can cause pressure on the brain and surrounding nerves and vessels.

In addition, a meningioma is the most common tumor that forms in one’s head, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Even though the tumor severed her optic nerve, causing her to lose sight in one eye, it was caught early enough in the process of the breast cancer diagnosis to prevent the growth from expanding and causing more serious symptoms, including possible death, Duncan, a 29-year breast cancer survivor, explained.

In 1994, when she was in her early 40s, Duncan underwent a routine mammogram, during which her doctor saw a suspicious “shadow that was almost to my chest wall,” though he didn’t initially suspect breast cancer, she said. Afterward, he advised her to return in six months for a second mammogram, though she was initially reluctant to do so because she had neither symptoms nor a family history of cancer, Duncan said.

After contemplation, however, Duncan changed her mind. The second procedure revealed that even though the mysterious shadow had disappeared, a 9-millimeter spot had grown during that time. Soon after, a biopsy yielded a positive finding for breast cancer, she recalled.

“It was a very aggressive form of cancer,” Duncan said, adding that her treatment regimen consisted of a lumpectomy, followed by six rounds of chemotherapy and 30 radiation sessions.

Receiving the lumpectomy, though, generated controversy within her family, including her son-in-law, who was a doctor.

In the mid-1990s, most physicians and other medical practitioners felt that a full mastectomy was necessary to treat the disease, believing that any treatment short of that would increase the risk of missing some of the cancer or having it return. Consequently, her husband and son-in-law were among those who were upset that Duncan had chosen to undergo the lumpectomy instead, she said.

Nevertheless, at age 43, Duncan didn’t want to face the daunting possibility of living the rest of her life with one or both breasts partially or fully removed. In addition, a bit of divine intervention likely played a role in her treatment decision.

“I took a leap of faith,” she said. “God placed these doctors in my path for a reason, and this is what I should do.”

Specifically, Duncan credited Drs. Eric Chevlin, her oncologist, and Nancy Gantt, who told Duncan her recovery chances would be only 2% higher with a mastectomy, as opposed to a lumpectomy.

The bigger challenge proved to be a nine-hour surgery in June 1996 in Pittsburgh, where she had the tumor in her head removed.

“The not knowing, that would have been the killer,” Duncan said.

While she was taking care of her own well-being, Duncan also had established a long track record in the health care field caring for others.

In 1981, she began a career at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital as a respiratory therapy technician and then became a licensed respiratory therapist there. That choice morphed into a career as a sleep technician, for which Duncan took an intensive two-week course in Cincinnati to become registered.

Specifically, she was a polysomnographic technologist, one who performs overnight, daytime and home studies on those who have narcolepsy, apnea and other sleep disorders, via recording patients’ brain activity, heart rate and blood-oxygen levels.

One of the most rewarding aspects of that career was helping a young father who suffered from severe sleep apnea. Under hers and others’ care, the man was finally able to see his children for the first time unwrap their Christmas gifts; previously, he had fallen asleep in a chair and missed such occasions, Duncan said.

Thanks to her continued efforts to care for herself, Duncan’s health remains vibrant – so much so that she helps care for her 98-year-old mother, Claudia Ranalli of Boardman. Duncan also wanted to reach out to women and men who may be having difficulty adjusting to a breast cancer diagnosis.

“I think the main thing for them to remember is that there are as many breast cancer cases as there are people,” she said.

Duncan, who retired after 38 years in the health care field, also advised those new to the disease to refrain from listening to and taking literally others’ horror stories about breast cancer — which can easily cause additional stress and anxiety — and instead to focus on themselves.

“Your breast cancer story is your own personal journey, and you can make it whatever you want,” Duncan said. “You can’t control the cancer, but you can control how you deal with it. Cancer takes all of your power away if you let it.”

Even though a stigma remains attached to the disease, it’s vital that those with a diagnosis reach out to empathetic others for help and not go it alone. Also therapeutic is to rely on faith in God, themselves or both, she stressed.

Duncan added that she’s thankful of having been told she had a 97% chance her cancer won’t recur, thanks to early detection.

Duncan lives with her husband, Lee Duncan, and has a daughter, Lisa Black; son, Patrick Williams; and grandchildren, Layne, Luke and Alexa.