Robbin Wright discovered a lump in her breast during one of the most challenging times of her life: The day after her sister passed away.

She scheduled an appointment with her primary care physician, Martin Gonzalez, M.D., who immediately sent her to the Doris Shaheen Breast Health Center. 

“The following week, Dr. Gonzalez told me that my test results were bad,” says Wright. “He grabbed my hand and said, ‘The lump, it is cancer.’ I said, ‘I need your guidance because I don’t know what to do and I don’t know who to talk to. I don’t know what direction to go.’”

Dr. Gonzalez referred Wright to breast surgeon Bill Barber, M.D.

Meeting with Dr. Barber

After reexamining her and discussing the best treatment option, Dr. Barber asked Wright if she understood what he was recommending.

“He said, ‘I don’t think you’re processing the information that I’m telling you and it may be too much. I don’t want you to feel like that. Take my cell phone number and if you have any questions, call me. I don’t want you to go home and worry, because I’ve got this. I’m going to take care of you,’” she recalls.

“To me, it was the difference between life and death.”

When she got home later that day, she went to her bedroom to lie down. Then, the phone rang. It was Dr. Barber.

“I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” says Wright. “He said, ‘You didn’t look quite comfortable when you left my office. I was just calling to make sure you’re okay.’”

Wright says she knew at that moment everything was going to be okay.

“That phone call, to me, was the difference between life and death,” she says. “I really then understood he genuinely cared about his patients and he was going to make sure that I was okay.”

To learn more about breast cancer treatment, visit Piedmont Cancer Center.  Click here to learn more about Dr. Barber. 

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