Rosemary Griggs and David Ray

The Ken Burns documentary "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies" debuts on Georgia Public Broadcasting Monday, March 30 at 9 p.m. In conjunction with the airing of the three part documentary series, this story profiles a breast cancer survivor who battled the disease through art.

Rosemary Griggs is an artist, author and ceramic sculptor who lives and works in St. Simons Island, Ga. Her husband is a retired speech pathologist who sings and plays a mandolin in a band.

Rosemary is also a breast cancer survivor. She had a double mastectomy and then four related surgeries. She wrote about her battle in a self-published book called “Mammary Lane: A Sketchbook of Breast Cancer Survival”. (Find the book and her other works at www.rosemarygriggsclayart.com).

For the full story, scroll down to view an audio narrated slideshow of Rosemary Griggs and her husband David Ray.

That experience took Rosemary and her husband David Ray on a path filled with stress and joy.

They were both shaken to the core when she first received her diagnosis.

“David Ray and I were both on the phone to hear the diagnosis that yes I had breast cancer,” she recalls. “David Ray never cries. And we just clung together and cried and cried.”

“We just got cancer and I say I use the plural because it was a we kind of thing or at least I felt it was,” he chimes in.

Watch this audio narrated slideshow.

They learned that Rosemary had a nine centimeter ductal carcinoma in one breast. She chose to have both breasts removed because she did not want cancer appearing in the other breast. During the mastectomy, doctors discovered two other aggressive tumors.

She had multiple rounds of chemo among other targeted treatments. She lost all of her hair. She had chills and sweats. She couldn’t work her clay, or exercise or garden. Her breasts were gone.

“Well that was a biggie because I had big breasts and I just couldn't look at my body and imagine not having breasts,” she says. “Looking back, small things mattered so much that really didn't matter at all like ‘Oh My God! none of my clothes are going to fit anymore’. You know that's - that's small potatoes.”

Tags: rosemary griggs, cancer film, cancer survivor, breast cancer, cancer the emperor of all maladies