*Nikki and her son, Jacob, after the Outlaws won back-to-back conference titles on November 5 at the Dierks football field, The Holler*

Previvor is a word that is not known by all, but for Nikki Kitchens Moore, this word is powerful, deep and life-altering. With Nikki’s determination to have a bright healthy future and continue to see her son growing up, she is now a previvor. Her perseverance and determination to get through the past year and a half has brought on surgeries, tears, and triumphs!

Growing up in Umpire, Arkansas, Nikki fondly remembers living on the family farm and tending to chickens, cows, goats, horses, among other animals. She would have to do farm chores to receive an allowance or to help pay on her vehicle once she was old enough to drive. Working on a farm as a child, Nikki was raised knowing what hard work truly was.

After her senior year of high school and graduation from Umpire Public Schools, Nikki went on to college at Southern Arkansas University where she received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Business and Agriculture. The years she had spent living on the farm and tending to her chores led her to go in the direction of agriculture in college. Things can change though from the original plan.

*Nikki’s best friend, Michelle Weerts, was a tremendous help to her after her surgery by helping her shower, wash her hair, and change dressings.*

A couple of years after graduating college, Nikki knew that she wasn’t on the right career path for herself. She ultimately decided that she wanted to go into Emergency Medicine after spending years as a first responder in her hometown. “My dad and my uncles were volunteer firefighters in Umpire. I love helping people, and when you live where we live, it’s 35 minutes or so for an ambulance. I enjoyed my time as a first responder.” This led Nikki, at the age of 23, to enroll in the EMT program at Texarkana College.

Since graduating from the EMT program at TC, Nikki has gone on to gain certifications as a nationally registered EMT in Texas and Arkansas and has received certifications in pediatrics, neonate, trauma, geriatrics, advanced medical, stroke care, and advanced cardiac life support. She is currently employed full-time with Pafford Medical Services as a recruiter for all medical positions. And also works part-time with LifeNet EMS and Signature Care ER. “Working in the ER is a whole different type of care than it is working on the truck,” Nikki stated. “I really enjoy it!” Nikki is currently busy trying to recruit for Pafford Medical Services through their Virgin Islands contracts, recruiting all positions for hospitals and EMS there.

*Two of Nikki’s biggest sources of strength throughout her journey are her son, Jacob, and father, Dennis.*

As passionate as Nikki is about helping others and working in the medical field, her whole heart, soul, and passion is for her son, Jacob. A senior in high school at Dierks, Jacob is the light of Nikki’s life. Right now, he’s staying busy playing football for the Dierks Outlaws, and Nikki loves showing her support for her son and the team! He’s also preparing for college coming up, and Nikki is emotional about that new path Jacob will begin soon. He has been the main reason she has fought ahead and became a previvor.

In June of 2020, while in the shower one day and having a deep conditioning treatment on her hair, she unintentionally felt something on the side of her left breast. “I felt something that wasn’t normal, and I wasn’t doing a self-breast exam. I was truly just taking a shower and conditioning my hair,” Nikki remembers. “I was like, ‘what is that? That’s not normal. That shouldn’t be there.’ I immediately got out of the shower, covered in soap, with conditioning treatment in my hair and went and laid down on my bed and did a self-breast exam.”

Nikki had her yearly appointment already scheduled with her OB/GYN the following week, so she didn’t have to make an appointment after discovering the suspicious spot. Once at her OB/GYN appointment, the doctor agreed that it felt odd and scheduled a mammogram for Nikki at the Wadley Breast Center. “I went in for that mammogram, and they said that they were going to do about 10 images on each breast. And they told me I needed an ultrasound and immediately took me back. I wasn’t expecting that,” Nikki said.

*Following her surgery, Nikki’s friend, Amber Davis, drove her to get pedicures and to doctor appointments.*

After the ultrasound was completed, the tech went to get the radiologist. Dr. Trippe then let Nikki know that there were some areas that either needed to be biopsied or they could start with a breast MRI and get a surgeon onboard. Nikki agreed to the breast MRI. “I don’t know any general surgeons, so I wanted the best. I asked for Dr. Mark Sutherland, who is in my opinion the best trauma surgeon in Texarkana,” Nikki stated. An appointment was scheduled with Dr. Sutherland, and Nikki visited with him in August of 2020. Because of Nikki’s medical background, she personally knows this doctor and knew he would take excellent care of her. He ordered the breast MRI after an examination. “He told me that my insurance would deny my breast MRI because of my age. There is still very much a stereotype behind that mammograms shouldn’t happen until you’re 40 years old. Even though technically, if you have a family history of breast cancer, you should start getting mammograms when you are 35. And I have significant family history of breast cancer on both sides of my family, paternal and maternal.” The breast MRI was initially denied by insurance, just as suspected. But the doctor had already prepared and filed a rebuttal. Two days after the rebuttal was submitted, insurance approved. And the very next day, Nikki had the breast MRI done at Wadley Breast Center.

While waiting on the results of her breast MRI, Nikki had genetic testing done. The results of the genetic testing showed that she was a carrier of the CHEK2 mutation. “I was actually told that my CHEK2 mutation was nothing and that I didn’t need to worry about it. Those are the two main genes associated with breast cancer. And most people only know about BRCA. CHEK2 is not talked about but it is a very prominent gene in breast cancer,” Nikki said. After the breast MRI results came back, along with the genetic testing results, she met with Dr. Sutherland again. “He pulled up his chair and sat down beside me and told me that between my MRI and my genetic testing results, I needed to have a prophylactic double breast mastectomy, because it wasn’t ‘if’ I got breast cancer, it was ‘when’ I got breast cancer. That was really hard to hear. So, I sat there and cried, and he let me cry. Then he told me, ‘I’m going to give you the best piece of advice I can give you as a trauma surgeon. You need to ‘date’ your surgeons, because these are the people who will affect the rest of your life. Because for the rest of your life, you are going to take your clothes off, you are going to look in the mirror, and you will see nothing but scars. You don’t want to hate the person you see in the mirror,’” Nikki remembered. “So I did. I took that piece of advice and I ‘dated’ surgeons. In fact, I ‘dated’ 18 surgeons before I picked who my surgeon was.” She visited with surgeons across the Four States area, all the way from New Orleans to Fayetteville to Oklahoma City. Nikki ultimately decided on one breast surgeon and one plastic surgeon both in the Little Rock area.

Nikki’s breast surgeon, Dr. Robertson, at CARTI Cancer Center is heavily involved in cancer research and understanding genes. As Nikki remembered back, “She told me, ‘You are absolutely making the very best decision that you could make for yourself. CHEK2 is a prominent gene for breast cancer.’ So, for me to have heard that it wasn’t anything to worry about from pretty much every other surgeon I had met to now hearing CHEK2 is a huge deal was very reassuring.”

On February 22, 2021, Nikki had her first surgery, a partial mastectomy. “It was to go in and cut out the areas of concern because I wanted to do a prophylactic nipple-sparing mastectomy. Most cancer patients aren’t able to keep their nipples, but with mine being prophylactic, I wanted the chance to keep mine,” Nikki stated. Then on July 29, she had her complete mastectomy with expander placement. “Recovery was really rough. You don’t realize how much women associate their self-image with their breasts until you don’t have yours anymore. I have expanders placed now, but it’s still not the same,” Nikki added. Sometime this month, Nikki should be having her final plastic surgery with Dr. Melanie Prince of Prince Plastic Surgery in Little Rock. This surgery will be to replace the expanders with breast implants. She is incredibly thankful to have such an amazing and caring support system of family and friends at home to help her get through her times of recovery.

The definition of previvor, according to CARTI Cancer Center is “someone who has an elevated predisposition to being diagnosed with cancer due to a risk running through their family.” The term is meant to explain how many of these people feel about having a higher chance of developing cancer, and the struggles they go through to navigate the distinction. But for Nikki Kitchens Moore, the word previvor means “the opportunity to still be here for my son. Because I knew that there was something I could do to prevent and not risk taking me away from Jacob.”

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