Breast Cancer journey a learning experience for El Paso County Attorney

The role of El Paso’s top prosecutor is to advise the County’s public officials on legal matters.

County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal also fights for the rights of victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. But 18 months ago, she had to wage a different battle outside the courtroom: a fight to stay alive.

“If I hadn’t gotten sick, I wouldn’t have realized how important things are in my life that I wasn’t paying attention to,” Jo Anne told ABC 7 anchor Estela Casas, who has also been battling breast cancer for the last nine months.

The county attorney underwent 15 rounds of chemotherapy for HER2 negative breast cancer.

Jo Anne had a double mastectomy. A few weeks later, doctors removed expanders because her body wasn’t strong enough to heal itself.

Then came 33 rounds of radiation. In some ways it was an awful journey: it was painful and scary and sad.

“There is a reaffirmation of the world around you. The goodness around you, the people around you. But it’s also isolating because no matter how many people care for you and love you, it’s just you and your body and you’re either going to fight or not,” Jo Anne told Estela.

Jo Anne continues to fight. She plugs in a device around her legs and arms to help fight lymphedema or swelling because doctors also removed 21 lymph nodes.

Eddie Castillo, her husband of twenty years, says they appreciate each other more now. They share their faith in God and communicate more often.

He says that when they text each other, “it always ends with ‘I love you’ and when we say good bye to each other, it’s “I love you” and the response is “I love you more.”