WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — A lot has changed in Crystal Schafer's life in the last 18 months.
"These things happen: it's you deal with them," she said.
Faced with the diagnosis of breast cancer one thing that has remained constant, and that's her positive outlook on life.
"I'm a pretty strong person and i feel like i have this because I can handle it," Schafer said.
Like so many people she was always on time for her yearly mammogram but then the pandemic hit.
'It was scheduled for March," she explained. "March came COVID came. So it got pushed back to April. It did turn out to be malignant."
"The doctors told me I would have never found it with just my self exams."
Crystal is the first person in her family that she knows of diagnosed with breast cancer. The support from her family and friends has been as therapeutic as the prescribed treatments.
"They've been my friends since middle school and they kept me laughing during chemo," she explained about some of them.
Through it all, Crystal's faith hasn't wavered, and her message hasn't changed.
"I encourage everyone to try to keep your mammograms on schedule," she said.