Dr. Arlow’s advice was ‘exactly what I needed to hear’
October 19, 2026
She held it in for days, weeks, months. She downplayed for her three children. “It’s nothing, no big deal.”
This past June, Tiffany McDermott, 37, underwent a routine Pap smear, a screening test for cervical cancer.
As part of that same appointment, she also had a breast exam. It discovered a mass. A subsequent mammogram uncovered a second lump. Then imaging associated with a biopsy in early September turned up a third mass.
“I was horrified, petrified. But I held it all in because I’m supposed to. I’m a mom, a wife. Everyone depends on me,” said Tiffany, a Hastings resident and certified nursing assistant at a skilled-nursing facility.
“I couldn’t show fear to my kids. I kept saying ‘Nah, this is no big deal.’ But I was trembling inside. I knew that I needed help to carry this load.”
She hid the fear throughout the summer. Her favorite pastime – fishing with her son – continued, but her mind was elsewhere “every second, every day, every cast.”
On the day of the biopsy, Tiffany shared her fears with her physician, Conemaugh Health System breast surgeon Dr. Renee Arlow.
“I told her I was worried, and she said ‘I bet you are. Listen, just have faith. Stay close to God and you’ll make it through this,’” she recalled.
“That’s exactly what I needed to hear,” said Tiffany, a member of Queen of Peace parish in Patton.
“A lot of people don’t talk about God these days. But she did. Doctor Arlow listened to me and she cared. She’s more than a doctor to me. She’s a guiding light.”
Tiffany had to wait five days for the biopsy results. “During that time, I talked with God. I screamed to him to let the lumps be benign.”
When the results became available, she didn’t wait for a phone call from the hospital. Instead, she checked them herself on Conemaugh’s MyChart patient portal.
“Benign. Benign. Benign. All three masses were benign,” Tiffany said. “I just broke down into happy tears at work. And so did my coworkers.”
With all three benign, Tiffany said she won’t need surgery. But she’ll continue to have the lumps monitored and checked at her next appointment.
Between now and then, she plans to spend plenty of time trout fishing with her 12-year-old son, Bentley.
“We’re going out as often as we can. I’m so happy and relieved, I don’t even care if I catch anything,” she said. “I learned a good lesson. I was lucky and blessed. It’s important to get mammograms on a regular basis. Cancer can change your life in a nanosecond. And I’m going to do absolutely everything possible to make sure it doesn’t change mine.”