SARASOTA, Fla. — Linda Davey is no stranger to Sarasota Memorial Hospital. 

What You Need To Know

  • Linda Davey says she is an eight-time cancer survivor

  • She now works at the hospital that saved her life, Sarasota Memorial Hospital

  • Davey advocates for self-exams and regular doctor check ups 

  • She said those two things allowed her to catch the cancer early in all of her cases

Along with working there, she became a patient during the pandemic after being diagnosed with breast cancer — again. 

"Dr. Kimball was there for me. She held my hand throughout COVID. She checked on me before, and she checked me back. And she called me in my house to let me know they got everything. There would be no chemo," said Davey with tears in her eyes. 

The tears are ones of joy, knowing the cancer was gone following a double mastectomy. 

“This month will be four years that I'm breast cancer free," she said. 

But that bout with cancer was not her first or her last. Discovering cancer for Davey spans decades for the 60-year-old. 

“1991, endometrial cancer," said Davey. “1993, melanoma on my nose. I got that, they got that, caught that in time. And then 1998, my left breast.”

She said doctors also found cancer in 2012, 2020, and then two types of skin cancer in June of this year. Both were surgically removed. 

Davey credits preventative checks and yearly primary care appointments. 

“Cancer does not sleep. I lost my mom at 61. I'm 60," she said. "You know, I have no family left. So that's why I stressed this.”

Those who deal with cancer every day at Sarasota Memorial Hospital agree. 

“Screening and being persistent," said Michelle Gould, a breast oncology nurse navigator at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

Gould works as a resource to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. Her best advice for people worried about breast cancer: get a mammogram starting at 40. 

However, if you have other risk factors, speak up and share that information with your doctor. That is what Davey did. 

“People that have breast densities, they have a family history. They have other indicative factors that maybe we need to look a little bit deeper. So just if you are concerned and you feel something, be persistent," said Gould. 

While Davey hopes her days of counting cancer battles are over, she won't stop being persistent with her health check-ins. 

“I want to live until I'm 100," said Davey, laughing. "My mom died at 61, my brother died at 64. I want to pass all of that. My dad, I lost him at 72.”