After 32 years of caring for patients, Bowie County native Samantha Rogers found herself being cared for by others. Having only moved away from this area twice in her life, Samantha has planted deep roots in Northeast Texas. Her dad worked in the oilfield industry when she was an infant. He was moved with his family to Odessa, Texas, but the family moved back in Texarkana when she was just 4 years old.
Samantha started working at Wadley Regional Medical Center in March 1988, when they first opened the Imaging Center. After working there for a short time, a coworker recommended that she apply for the radiology program that was offered through the hospital.
"It was a hospital-based program directed by Linda Hodge. I was really just worried about whether or not I had to take any English classes," Samantha said with a laugh.
She graduated from the Wadley Regional Medical Center School of Radiologic Technology in July 1991. After almost 18 years in the Radiology Department at Wadley, Samantha followed her husband's career path and moved their family to South Carolina.
"My husband came home from work one day and said, 'They want us to move to South Carolina.' I just laughed it off," she said. "Apparently, he wasn't kidding."
Once in South Carolina, Samantha put her career on hold and tried her hand at being a stay-at-home mom.
She enjoyed the time off but soon missed spending time with patients.
"I began working parttime at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Greenville, and it was the most rewarding job I have ever had," Samantha said. "I had seen so many traumas in the years I worked at Wadley and enjoyed the mental and physical challenges that came along with that, however seeing those children overcome unimaginable physical abnormalities was so amazing."
In 2009, Samantha and her family found themselves back home in Texarkana. She worked at Texarkana Surgery Center until June 2012. She quit working temporarily to care for her son, Connor, who had a car accident.
He was at Arkansas Children's Hospital for two months suffering from a traumatic brain injury. A month later Connor had reconstructive surgery, and she was beside him through it all.
After months of speech, occupational and physical therapy, Connor returned to school and Samantha returned to work fulltime.
For Samantha, getting an annual mammogram was no big deal. She has not missed one in 11 years. She feared this year might be different because of the pandemic.
"When the mammo tech called me, the first thing I said was 'Please, do not tell me I can't have my mammogram done next week.' Unfortunately, that is exactly why they had called."
There was one appointment available for that day, and Samantha booked it. It seemed like a normal visit. The following week they requested a follow-up ultrasound, which was not alarming to Samantha at all.
"Out of all the times I have done this, I have had to have an ultrasound three times before, so it was no big deal," she said.
But Samantha could sense there was a problem during the ultrasound. The physician said the ultrasound was abnormal and had her return that afternoon to get a biopsy of a small area in her left breast.
Samantha found comfort in knowing the physician and staff at Wadley for many years.
"As I was getting up from the procedure table, Dr. Tripp told me that he was really concerned about the biopsy," she said. "That was the first time that I thought 'Oh wow! This might really be a thing,'" she said.
The results came back as invasive ductal carcinoma.
Everything in her life seemed to move very fast. The pandemic had put a hold on a lot of things in the medical field during this time, including doctor's appointments and some surgical procedures. Samantha was fortunate and started her treatment plan quickly, though she had to face surgery alone.
"Because of the COVID pandemic, my husband couldn't be there with me. That was hard for me but worse for Robbie - being at home waiting to get a phone call," she said.
Later that week her surgeon, Dr. Peterson, confirmed they were able to remove the entire tumor and two lymph nodes. The lymph nodes were clear, which meant the cancer had not spread.
Samantha completed four treatments of chemotherapy and 20 treatments of radiation therapy in five months. She recalled radiation treatment being more inspirational than she'd expected.
She sat in the waiting room with two elderly women. One was almost done with radiation treatments and the other had just started. Almost every day for a couple of weeks, they visited and talked about their treatments.
"I don't think that some people realize how the pandemic has affected certain things like support groups," Samantha said. "Those who need them have nowhere to go."
She felt that maybe that was why she was there. Not only for treatments, but to lend support to other survivors.
"We were all being blessed," she said.
Samantha continues to take medications to help her body heal and fight off the disease.
She has had her fair share of ups and downs during all of this, but she has remained positive. When she began to lose her hair - two weeks after her first chemo treatment - she made the tough decision to shave her head. Although it was a physical change to her appearance, it was an emotional change too. This time, however, she did not face it alone.
Surrounded by her husband and friends who brought flowers, candles and a lot of love, she watched her hair fall to the floor. Her friend Elizabeth McClure had cut her hair for a few years and was honored to help her during this important moment of Samantha's fight.
"I have had the most amazing people beside me through all of this," she said. "My friends and family have been such a huge support system for me."
Samantha's older brother is also fighting cancer and she credits a great deal of support from him as well.
But encouraging voices come from many places.
Samantha recalled that during a leadership meeting she'd attended, participants were asked to stand and say something positive about one of their coworkers.
"There were several who stood up and said nice things about me. I was humbled by what they were saying," she said. "It is hard for me to talk about myself, but it is also nice when someone takes the time to tell you that you made a difference."
Now, with an outpouring of love and support from so many people, Samantha is seeing how much of a difference she has made in the lives of others.
NAME:
Samantha Rogers
Occupation:
Registered radiologic technologist/director of Operations at Precision Spine Care and Surgery Center in Texarkana
Neighborhood:
Texarkana, Texas
FAMILY:
Married to Robert with a blended family of four children and two grandchildren
Favorite food:
Seafood, surf n turf
Favorite hobby:
Riding SXS-UTVs with my husband and our Kirby Tribe
Favorite author
James Patterson
Favorite TV SHOW
"Chicago Fire"
Favorite QUOTE
"A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor." - Franklin D. Roosevelt