Kristen Barry, Ph.D., CTT

Founder, Space Coast Thermography

 

Dr. Kristen Barry grew up in Western New York near Lake Ontario, and after completing college she moved to California to complete her Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology.  She completed an internship at the Children’s Hospital in Tulsa Oklahoma and then relocated back to New York. Dr. Barry worked as a Clinical Psychologist in an inpatient psychiatric hospital, outpatient residential treatment center, private practice, and for the New York State Office of Disability for a total of 14 years before relocating with her family in 2010 to the Space Coast of Florida.

 

Just a few short months after moving, she was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Breast Cancer. She found the cancer herself after three annual mammograms had failed to identify it due to her dense breast tissue.  At the time of her diagnosis she had little knowledge of the disease or the treatment options available.  She had no family history of breast cancer, had never smoked, was not overweight, exercised regularly, and did not evidence any of the typical “red flags” for breast cancer.  Unfortunately, she felt she was rushed and pressured into traditional treatments including a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation.  Over the course of the next several years she underwent a total of six surgeries due to failed expanders and implants, infections, and lymph node issues. She completed a grueling four month course of two high-dose chemotherapy agents, a full year of a third chemotherapy, and 28 rounds of radiation.  Dr. Barry experienced many severe side effects from the surgeries, the chemotherapy, and the radiation treatments including lymphedema, edema, sudden sensorineural hearing loss (going completely deaf in her right ear), neuropathy, permanent alopecia, severe low white and red blood cell counts, imbalanced hormones, emotional instability, back pain, radiation induced shoulder pain, post mastectomy pain syndrome, fluid filled cysts and scar tissue in the breasts, nerve damage, and bone density loss.

 

To help overcome these many issues, she spent the next several years researching natural ways to heal her body, became involved in several breast cancer support groups throughout Brevard County, and attended multiple national conferences. In 2017, Dr. Barry was introduced to thermography, a non-invasive and radiation-free option to monitor breast health, and she became excited about the potential of bringing the latest thermography technology to Brevard County.  Later that year she became certified as a clinical thermography technician and in March of 2018 she opened Space Coast Thermography, now the leader in preventative breast health screenings in Brevard.  Her passion and mission has become to encourage as many women as possible to monitor their breast health, be alerted to any changes or issues in order to address them early, and to help them prevent going through everything that she endured.

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