Autopsy technician sees job through new eyes after diagnosis

LaShonda Jackson's work as an autopsy technician took on a new meaning after a cancer diagnosis. LaShonda Jackson's work as an autopsy technician took on a new meaning after a cancer diagnosis. Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Autopsy technician sees job through new eyes after diagnosis 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

LaShonda Johnson of Missouri City didn't have any experience working with human anatomy before she applied for her first autopsy technician job nearly eight years ago, but she had always been fascinated by it.

In spite of her lack of experience, her confidence and determination landed her the job and launched her career.

"I have a knack for working with the deceased," Johnson said.

Over the years, she'd never been one to get emotionally attached to the people who came through the morgue. She understood that a level of professional detachment was necessary in a job like this.

That changed when, while working in the morgue at MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Texas Medical Center, Johnson was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. Johnson had long suspected that she might get breast cancer, even at the age of 43. Almost all of the women on her father's side of the family had it at some point. One aunt had passed away.

When she found a lump in her breast in October 2015, she went straight to her doctor. Johnson had just had a mammogram a few weeks before and the results showed no sign of cancer, so the doctor dismissed it. But by December, the lump had grown much larger. The week of Christmas, Johnson decided she had to go back to her doctor and insist on additional testing. She had an ultrasound and a biopsy, and then she waited.

On Jan. 25, 2016, Johnson sat in her doctor's office. When the doctor stepped into the room, she didn't need to say it. Johnson could see from her expression that it was cancer.

"I just broke down crying," Johnson recalled.

"It's not good," her doctor told her.

The tumor in her breast had grown rapidly. Johnson was thankful that she had accepted the job at MD Anderson the year before. At the time, she was choosing between two job offers - one at Methodist Hospital and the one at MD Anderson. Methodist Hospital offered more pay, but Johnson's gut told her to take the job at MD Anderson. Now she knew why.

Johnson enduring 12 rounds of one type of chemotherapy that was ineffective before doing six rounds of a heavy chemotherapy known as the "red devil" because of how brutal it is on the body.

"It just sucks the life out of you," Johnson said.

Still, even as she went through chemotherapy, she continued to work. Because her job was in the same building as her chemotherapy, she was able to go right upstairs to her office before or after rounds of treatment.

But her work had taken on a new meaning. While she had been able to remain emotionally unaffected in the past, she connected more with the cancer patients who had lost the battle she was currently fighting.

"What if I end up in one of these coolers?" she thought.

One day, a woman just one year older than Johnson was brought into the morgue. She had breast cancer, but had been declared cancer free before another aggressive resurgence took her life.

"It scared me to death," Johnson said.

But she pressed on through the brutal months of chemotherapy with the support of her husband, two children, mother and countless friends. In September of last year, she stood with her mother and rang the bell of celebration indicating her final chemotherapy treatment.

Johnson decided to get a double mastectomy to limit the chances of the cancer returning, especially since she discovered that she has a gene that doctors believe greatly increases the chances of developing breast cancer.

For the past year, Johnson's shown no signs of the cancer returning, but she still sometimes fears that it will. Cancer and chemotherapy forever changed her, from how her body functions to how she looks at life.

She believes her experience has made her more empathetic to the cancer patients she sees at MD Anderson every day. While she knows there can be healing, her job at the morgue reminds her that not everyone will survive.

"I tell (the patients) that they're going to be ok," she said. "But I know some of them are going to come through the morgue."

While that same fear lingers for Johnson, she is determined to make the most of the life that she is grateful to have. Now, she doesn't put off the things that she wants to do in life.

"When I was going through it, there were certain things I wanted to do," Johnson said. "You never know what going to happen."