Nicole Johnson felt the knot on her chest on a January morning in 2015, but she didn’t think it was breast cancer.
Now, she’s using her story to improve the lives of those braving similar situations.
Johnson, who was 32 years old at the time, had never needed hospitalization or surgery. Despite an extensive family history of cancer, she brushed it off and didn’t tell anyone.
Then the knot grew. Health care professionals thought it was a cyst, but after a biopsy test, Johnson received a call from her surgeon. He confirmed what she once denied.
“Immediately when you hear that you’re diagnosed with breast cancer, you think it’s death, and you think it’s the worst,” she said.
Unlike other types of breast cancer, there was no treatment available to specifically target the cancer cells associated with the triple-negative breast cancer she was diagnosed with. Consequently, Johnson had to be treated with Adriamycin, often called the “Red Devil” of chemotherapy.
As a result, her hair fell out and her nails turned black. She couldn’t work for nearly a year, which caused her to fall thousands of dollars behind in rent and car payments.
“I developed neuropathy in my hands and feet where I couldn’t walk for a week without putting my hands in buckets of ice to try to function,” she said.
There were times where she felt like giving up, but she said the support of her friends and family kept her spirits high. She also prayed and fasted.
“I was having a personal conversation with God, and he reminded me that ‘You are a caterpillar going through your metamorphosis stage, and when you’re done, you’re going to blossom like a butterfly.’
“I didn’t really understand, but it made me feel better because when you think about a caterpillar, they’re not the cutest little creatures,” she said. “But when you think about the butterfly, how beautiful it is and how it’s multiple colors, you’re just in amazement when you see it.”
She was declared free of cancer in May 2016. The next year, she founded Blossoming Butterfly, a nonprofit that financially assists people fighting breast cancer and raises awareness for the disease.
Since then, Johnson, now 37, has helped five breast cancer patients pay their rent and utility bills. She has also hosted monthly Breast Therapy support groups that serve as a haven for anyone affected by breast cancer. While Johnson is passionate about her work, she said she wants to do more. Insufficient donations and sponsorships have limited Blossoming Butterfly’s marketing efforts and have restricted the organization from completely covering everyday costs for breast cancer patients.
In an effort to advance Blossoming Butterfly’s mission, she hosted a fashion show fundraiser called 50 Shades of Pink at the Gainesville Woman’s Club on Oct. 12. The celebration surpassed Johnson’s expectations with about 200 people in attendance.
Adrian Miller Sr. said his favorite part of 50 Shades of Pink was “when she said ‘yes.’”
Now Johnson’s fiancé, Miller has supported her vision for Blossoming Butterfly from the beginning.
“She always wanted to be that person to say, “Hey, I went through this, I lived through this, and I know that there’s a need for this,’” he said.
In spite of the financial obstacles that Blossoming Butterfly has faced, Miller was proud of Johnson’s success with 50 Shades of Pink and Breast Cancer Awareness Month presentations she delivered to local churches and youth groups in October.
He hopes that her growing network and outreach will lead to more donations and a more educated community.
“It’s more than just the month of October,” he said. “Breast cancer just doesn’t go away after October, and it doesn’t just come October. It’s year- round. It’s a part of everyday life, and the more we spread awareness about it, the more people ... will hold themselves more accountable in being checked for it.”
In the future, Johnson wants Blossoming Butterfly to become a huge corporation with services such as on- site nurses, a transportation system to and from treatments and housing for breast cancer patients and their families.
“I’m no longer afraid of the diagnosis. I’m not afraid to die,” she said. “I’m just afraid of not reaching enough people, so that it can somehow help until we have a cure.”
This article was originally published in the 2020 issue of SYNERGY Magazine.
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