"You always feel like it's a death sentence."

Marcia Moffatt spends much of her time belting out numbers with the Shreveport Opera but just a day after this past Easter, her entire world turned upside down.

"They discovered something a little bit different from last year."

That something was a small lump in her breast -- found through mammogram -- that was not much bigger than a child's fingernail.

Moffatt's first reaction was shock, then relief at the early detection.

"Even when a doctor says low grade, pretty much self-contained, those words just don't seem to resonate," she recalls.

But Moffatt was lucky and her Radial Oncologist. Dr. Roscoe Chan, at CHRISTUS Schumpert Cancer Treatment Center in Shreveport says the key is to be pro-active with your health.

"Anyone here in this country older than 40 years old is supposed to have a regular breast exam and discuss with the physicians about how soon they should start getting mammograms," Dr. Chan explains.

He reminds women that not every diagnosis of breast cancer will require chemotherapy or mastectomy.

"Many studies have shown that radiation after lumpectomy gives you the same cancer control rate as mastectomy."

Moffatt is now cancer free and encourages other women to take control of their health.

"It's their responsibility to see about themselves."

Moffatt's cancer was found early enough that the only treatment it required was radiation.

She says that's a small price to pay for what could have been much more serious.