Nicole Fuselier-Collins of Orange, 43, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 during her final semester of licensed vocational nursing school. She is the first woman in her family to survive the disease, which had killed several generations of women in her family, some as young as 26, according to her account. Her mother died Aug. 13, 2017, and a 31-year-old niece died four days later.
Fuselier-Collins had pursued genetic testing for a BRCA gene mutation and planned a preventive double mastectomy. She kept a routine mammogram, which found something suspicious, and a biopsy followed. She had surgery in 2018 and started chemotherapy that September. Her treatment lasted 20 months, although she had first been told chemotherapy might not be needed.
She said she kept taking prerequisite courses, including microbiology, during chemotherapy. Her father went with her to chemotherapy appointments. She said she developed a personal saying, "Suck it up, Buttercup," to get through hard days. On May 28, 2020, she rang a ceremonial bell.