For Lisa Bartlett, time is measured B.D. and A.D. — before-diagnosis and after-diagnosis.

“It’s such an earth-shattering thing to be diagnosed with cancer, it changes everything, including your sense of time,” said Lisa, 44, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in June of 2016 during a routine examination at the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute at MidState Medical Center.

Thinking back to her life before her diagnosis, she recalls being concerned about things that don’t seem as important now — making it to appointments for the hair stylist (not so important when chemotherapy causes you to lose your hair) or getting the right clothes for summer. Despite its devastating emotional impact, the diagnosis has also put into perspective what is truly important.

“From the moment I heard the words ‘you have cancer,’ everything slowed down,” she said. “I want to have a life, I want to survive, I want to make the most of my time with my husband, my parents, my friends. It just becomes so clear to you what really matters.”

The fear and uncertainty that came with her diagnosis was made much easier, she said, by the warmth, compassion and confidence of the caregivers who have been guiding her along her journey. Within a month of her diagnosis, she underwent surgery to remove the tumor in her breast, and she then embarked on an aggressive course of chemotherapy that initially left her feeling sick and weakened, but which has since become much more tolerable.

“Everyone who cared for me explained everything that was happening, and why it was necessary, in such an understandable way that I knew I was in great hands,” she said.

She said her team of doctors, including surgeon Elizabeth Riordan, MD, medical oncologist Raj Nadkarni, MD, and Wendy Holmes, APRN, worked closely together to make sure she had the right course of treatment. Lisa said she was also grateful for the support offered to her by the staff of chemotherapy nurses at MidState as well as her nurse navigator, Priscilla Moreira, who as part of the team at the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute serves as the welcoming face and guide for all new patients seeking care.

Upon hearing about her diagnosis, Lisa said, several friends and acquaintances asked her if she planned to go to cancer centers in big cities such as New York or Boston for care — but she wanted to stay close to home. A lifelong Wallingford resident, Lisa was comfortable and familiar the services at MidState, and was already inclined to go there for treatment. But what made the decision even easier, she said, was the relationship between the cancer center at MidState — which is part of the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute — and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, one of the world’s premier cancer centers.

Through its membership in the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Alliance, MidState and other cancer centers within the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute are able to provide patients with access to many of MSK’s world-renowned advances in treatment and research, right in their own communities.

“I was like, ‘Why would I want to go to some big city with all the hassles, all the unknowns, when I can get the same level of care just a few miles away?,’” she said. “It was a pretty obvious choice, and I’m so glad I made it because it’s worked out so well for me.”

Now halfway through her chemotherapy regimen, Lisa is hopeful that she will complete her treatment by the spring with a positive prognosis for full recovery. But even if the news is good for her, she said, she intends to make the most of the cancer center’s connection with MSK by seeing if she may be eligible for an MSK clinical trial that shows promise in increasing the unlikelihood of recurrence in cancer like hers.

“I’ve been so lucky to have such support from my family, my friends and the people who have taken such good care of me,” she said. “If anything, this has only made me stronger.”