Patient Credits Technician Who Went Back To Work With Saving Her Life

May 3 — PROVO — Like many women, Lisa Christensen never looked forward to having a mammogram. Her negative feelings toward the test grew even more when she arrived at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center only to find out that there had been a mix up with her appointment and she would have to reschedule.

 

What happened then because of the actions of one technician had consequences far more reaching than either woman knew at the time. But Christensen now says that woman with saved her life. Here are some of Christensen’s own words about what happened:

 

“When they offered to reschedule an appointment for me, I stood in silence feeling very disheartened. I was starting to tell them I would get back with them later when a lady, with a bag over her shoulder, walking briskly, clearly leaving for the day, came through the doors that led to the mammogram area. She was about to walk past me when she asked ‘Are you the 2:30 appointment?’ I looked at her and said, ‘Well, apparently I was, but I was told my appointment was for 3:00.’ She stood there for several seconds, then pulled her bag off her shoulder and said, ‘C’mon, let’s go back in and turn those machines on.’

 

“As I write this, I can still feel the tremendous relief and gratitude I felt at that moment. Then imagine the gratitude I felt when, just three days after my second mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy, I heard from my doctor that I had breast cancer in its early stages.  Later, the surgeon discovered the cancer was moving up the lymphatic system of the breasts, but had not yet reached the sentinel lymph nodes. Mammogram Technician Kay Bradley saved my life.”
Christensen has undergone a lumpectomy and one round of chemo. Physicians say her prognosis is excellent – something that could have been the exact opposite without the willingness of one technician to go the extra mile one day at work.