Local woman points to power of prayer in battle against breast cancer

Earnestine Pinkston stood at the podium to pray for those not only fighting breast cancer but those who have survived their fight against the disease.

It is something she knows all about.

When Pinkston was 41 her sister, who was in medical school, encouraged her to do a mammogram. She traveled to Macon for her mammogram, and was informed by her doctor that they believed they found something. She followed up with an ultrasound on her left breast. It showed a mass. That is when her doctor asked if she was a praying woman.

“When I got home, I said, “Lord, I don’t know why this has happened to me, but I thank you right now in that you will get all of the glory, honor and praise in the name of Jesus,” she said.

Surgery was scheduled to have the mass removed. The doctor also scheduled for reconstruction surgery on her breast immediately following the first surgery that was held on Nov. 9, 1991.

“I had to be at the hospital in Macon at 5 in the morning,” she said. “It was 6 in the afternoon when I got out. It was a miracle.”

In early September, Pinkston, a member of Dublin-Laurens Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., stood in front of other breast cancer survivors for an event held to honor them.

“It is my testimony,” Pinkston said. “When I tell others what God did for me, they know that they can do it too. What God did for one He will do for another. We’ve had a lot of people who have breast cancer at our church. When that happens, I am asked to go talk to them. I am used to encouraging others. It is not about me. It is about God.”

Pinkston is now 74. She was happy that she did not have to have any radiation or chemotherapy.

“All I have to do is make sure I have a breast exam every year,” Pinkston said.

Sorority member Tammy Howard knows Pinkston’s story.

“As a sorority, we have heard her story 100 times,” Howard said. “But we know that once she is through, other women feel comfortable telling their story. And that is what happens all the time.” 

Pinkston is open to telling her story, like she did at the brunch held by her sorority. She stood in front of a room decked out in pink and talked with confidence about turning everything over to God. And then she sat down and listened as other women who were diagnosed with breast cancer took their opportunity to share their story.

“We have had sorority members who have gone through the process of maybe not getting breast cancer but maybe feeling a lump,” Howard said. “It is good to have her there for comfort, and to let you know how the procedures go. When you see how well she has recovered, it makes you feel better. It is so good to have somebody in your sorority who is so open about it.”