By Chanda Temple
Every third Wednesday for four months, Jefferson County Divorce Court Judge Patrica Stephens had chemotherapy before undergoing a lumpectomy in March 2020.
The treatments left her nauseous, and she didn’t feel like eating.
“During that first week and a half, you don’t feel good,’’ she said. “You are queasy, and you feel like you are walking around in a dark cloud.’’
But she found solace in watermelons, honeydew melons, cantaloupe and the Galia melon, which is a hybrid of the honeydew and cantaloupe. They were lightweight and stayed on her stomach.
The chill of the melons from Publix, took her back to her childhood and away from the reality of cancer. And for that one moment at the dinner table, a bowl full of glistening green or orange melons was the only thing that mattered.
“It was soothing and it was putting me in a place where I could almost feel normal,’’ she said. “When you go through chemo, there’s a heaviness where your limbs don’t feel the same.”
Eating the melons lifted the heaviness and cleared the gray skies.
Today, there’s only sunshine beaming around the 67-year-old judge, who is cancer-free and feeling like a kid once more. She credits exercise.
“I’m walking one mile, three days a week,” she said. “I’m getting older, and I’m trying to make sure that I have mobility and flexibility into my old age. I feel good.’’
Last weekend, she walked in Brenda’s Brown Bosom Buddies’ Sistah Strut with ease at Birmingham’s Legion Field.
“For the last couple of years, I would go out to the walk, but I wouldn’t be in the walk because I wasn’t physically fit,” she said. “Walking more has made all the difference.”
***NOTE: In America, one in eight women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I will be profiling one female breast cancer survivor each day in October 2025. The stories will also highlight a food from a Birmingham, AL restaurant or food vendor they liked at some point during their breast cancer journey or today. The series is called “SurviveHer at the Table: Food. Faith. Fight.”
Each story posted this month is the opinion of the survivor, with a goal to increase awareness about early detection and treatment for breast cancer. Readers should consult with their physician for medical and health advice and a nutritionist for healthy eating tips. Links to area resources will be shared in future posts this month.
Chanda Temple is an award-winning writer living in Birmingham, Ala. She blogs at http://www.chandatemplewrites.com. If you have a food story idea, email her at chandatemple@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram at @chandatemple.
Copyright © 2025, All rights reserved.
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