Marisol Lopez

For many Catholic women, an ACTS retreat leaves a lifelong impact. For Marisol Lopez, it may have saved her life. 

Marisol is an active member of St. Jerome Catholic Church. From February through May of this year, Marisol was a member of the Women’s ACTS Retreat Team at her church. The retreat is an event for Catholic women that helps participants grow in their faith and relationship with God. 

As part of team building activities, each team member gave a mini talk about herself. Debbie Williams talked about her breast cancer journey and her role as a volunteer at Methodist Hospital | Metropolitan, helping other breast cancer survivors.

Marisol was sitting next to Debbie and whispered to her that she had found a small lump on her breast. Debbie encouraged Marisol to set up a mammogram, and she did.

Marisol said she has been consistently performing her breast self-exams while in the shower, but recently she had felt a lump. “I knew that it had not been there in the past two weeks,” she said. “I thought it was caused by fluctuating hormones.”

“During our 13 weeks of planning the retreat, I learned that a few other women who were serving were breast cancer survivors,” she said. “Since the beginning of the teaming process, I had a feeling that the retreat was going to be life-changing for me…I just didn’t know how.”

Marisol received the results of her biopsy while she was on retreat, sharing a team room overnight with Debbie and a few other women who were either survivors or knew breast cancer survivors. “I know that God put me in a place where I was going to get unconditional support both mentally and spiritually, especially after receiving such daunting news,” she said.

Her tumor was diagnosed as invasive ductal carcinoma. Testing showed her tumor as ultralow risk and her genetic testing results were negative.  She had a lumpectomy in August and in early October started 20 rounds of radiation.

“Since the beginning, I knew God would be there to take care of me,” she said. Marisol also is receiving lots of support from her husband and four daughters, ages 13 to 20, her family, Debbie and the whole St. Jerome Church Community as well as from retreat friends Mrs. Gayle and her Sweet Magnolias group.

Marisol recalls a passage shared during the retreat that she says brings her strength and hope: “She is clothed in Strength and Dignity and she laughs at the days to come.” Proverbs 31:25