By Chanda Temple
Every Thursday, right after Tonya Adams’ breast cancer office visits, she and her mother had a standing date at Edgar’s Bakery in downtown Birmingham.
They’d walk in and the staff already knew what they wanted: a chicken salad box with a croissant, fruit and a slice of strawberry cake or strawberry cupcake.
For Tonya, it was like eating hope on a plate.
“My mom would say, ‘Yeah, you have breast cancer, but you are still here,” Tonya, 58, recalled. “You can still be here, eat this pink strawberry cake and put a smile on your face.”
Tonya was 32 when she was diagnosed with early stage of breast cancer on March 13, 1999. She had a double mastectomy on April 13, 1999. But because Tonya was anemic at the time of her mastectomy, she couldn’t have reconstructive surgery. She had to delay it. To get her ready for her future reconstructive surgery, doctors put in tissue expanders, which were filled with saline to stretch her skin to make space for implants. She had to get her tissue expanded for four weeks.
Tonya was in so much pain from the tissue expander treatments, her mother figured that food, mixed in with some of her own humor, would be a good salve.
“She does chicken salad, but when we tasted the chicken salad from Edgar’s, she said, ‘Oh, OK. They got me beat,’ ” Tonya said, laughing. “She said, ‘This will be our little date, and we will come here after your treatments.’ ”
Today, Tonya is cancer-free, and she and her mother still return to Edgar’s Bakery every year. Only now it’s to get the strawberry cake to celebrate Tonya’s mother birthday.
“That day, when I was at Kirklin Clinic in March of 1999, my mom called … (her employer) and said, ‘Hey,
Tonya has breast cancer. I won’t be back. I’m talking FMLA.’ ”
“And right there, that touch my heart,” Tonya said. “I’m forever grateful for her being my co-survivor and taking care of me, cooking and taking care of the the kids.”’
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 their 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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