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2 0 2 5 G O O D H E A L T H
FEATURE STORY
LIVING PROOF
A mom’ s battle with breast cancer leads her to Baptist Health Corbin
BY BRITTANY WHITEHEAD Staff Writer
PHOTO BY BRITTANY WHITEHEAD
Crystal Couch, a data analyst at Baptist Health, shares her journey with Type 2B breast cancer that spread to her lymph nodes. She received treatment at Baptist Health Corbin and is now considered‘ NED’( no evidence of disease.)
When Crystal Couch took a trip to Perdido Key, Florida, with her family in late December 2020, the last thing on her mind was cancer. She was 31 years old, healthy, with no family history of breast disease. She was doing what moms do— wrangling kids, juggling responsibilities, and trying to sneak in a little rest and relaxation during the holidays.
“ I was just adjusting my swimsuit, and I happened to brush against my chest and felt something odd,” she said.“ It felt like a little piece of gravel under the skin. I had always done monthly self-exams, but this time, something just felt different.”
At first, she chalked it up to being a harmless cyst. Her grandmother and aunt had experienced fibrocystic breasts, so she assumed it was nothing unusual. But over the following months, the lump didn’ t go away. In fact, it grew.
“ By that summer, it wasn’ t a little pebble anymore; it was the size of a grape,” she recounted.“ And it felt hard, like a rock.”
Couch was a stay-at-home mom at