By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

MONTEVALLO – The morning after Hollie Cost celebrated her victory in Montevallo’s race for mayor, she received a life-changing call from her physician.

Cost, a 43-year-old mother of two, was diagnosed with breast cancer Oct. 10.

For Cost, the experience has been a “rollercoaster.”

“I consider myself very lucky,” Cost said. “They caught it in the very early stages, and it’s not an invasive form.”

After her annual checkup the day before the mayoral runoff Oct. 9, Cost’s doctor detected a lump in one of her breasts.

Two days later, Cost was diagnosed with DCIS or Ductal Carcinoma In Situ, which is the most common type of non-invasive breast cancer, according to Breastcancer.org. In the beginning, Cost thought she would simply have a lumpectomy and radiation to eliminate the cancer, but after another screening, her doctor found a second lump, which was not cancerous, but a “cancer marker,” she said.

The rollercoaster ride continued when Cost, a professor at the University of Montevallo, realized she would need a double mastectomy to completely eradicate the cancer. Cost said she will go into surgery Nov. 15, a little over a week after her swearing-in ceremony as Montevallo’s new mayor Nov. 5.

Cost said she plans to have reconstructive surgery after the mastectomy. After talking with her surgeon Nov. 12, Cost said she’ll know how long recovery will take, but she expects she’ll be “out of pocket” for about two weeks.

After the ceremony Nov. 5, Cost said she isn’t feeling sorry for herself, and she plans to hit the ground running in her new position.

“The outswelling of the community has been so beautiful about this,” she said. “No one’s been disappointed. It’s been amazing how supporting everyone has been.”

Cost said she feels confident in the City Council, and having Dee Woodham as mayor pro tempore gives her “a lot of security.”