By Lornna Bates
Managing editor
Seven years ago I could not have told you much about breast cancer, or any type of cancer for that matter. I did not like the color pink either. I went out of my way not to be the “girly-girl” type, the ones who wear pink, play dress up and dream of their wedding day.
While I still don’t play dress up or dream of my wedding day, I do love the color pink and all that it represents in the fight against breast cancer.
I now have an extensive knowledge of breast cancer and its implications on a family.
I remember the day that my mother told me and my sisters that she had breast cancer. You know the roller-coaster feeling in the pit of your stomach when you experience a moment of fear so overwhelming and unexpected that you don’t know how to react? That was how I felt.
I called my mom to refresh my memory on her experience. My memory was unclear on a lot of the process she went through due to my ignorance of cancer and all of the procedures that accompany its discovery at the time of her diagnosis.
June 2005, during a routine annual mammogram, her doctor noticed an abnormality in her left breast. An ultrasound was performed and her doctor was still not sure what they had come across, so she was then referred to a general surgeon who specialized in breast surgery.
The surgeon performed a biopsy, and the results came back positive for cancer (stage two) after a week of agonizing and waiting for the results.
Within two weeks she had a partial mastectomy, and they also removed some lymph nodes from beneath her arm to make sure that the cancer had not spread beyond the specific site.
The lymph nodes were negative for cancer so the cancer had not metastasized, and she was able to receive an innovative (at the time) and new procedure for treating post-surgical breast cancer with radiation.
She received a Mammosite breast brachytherapy, where a small bead is surgically inserted in the breast at the specific site and the bead is targeted for the radiation treatments. Two times a day over a five day stretch and she was finished with the radiation.
For five years, she took Tamoxifen, a medication used to block the actions of estrogen in an attempt to prevent and treat breast cancer, and extensive follow up appointments during the following five years and she is now back to annual routine mammograms and no more fear of cancer.
The scariest part for her was hearing for the first time that she had cancer and the unknown implications of the diagnosis. “With all of the options available, today breast cancer is not a death sentence anymore if checked regularly and found early,” she said.
Within the past few months, my father’s mother discovered a lump, went to the doctor, found out it was breast cancer, had surgery and also went through radiation. She is 88 years old. My mother was 48 at the time of her diagnosis.
Both were lucky; the detections were early enough to quickly remove the affected areas and to administer treatments effectively.
There was no history of breast cancer on my mother’s or father’s sides of the family. Now my sisters and I face a history on both sides, more than doubling our risks of developing breast cancer in our lifetimes according to the American Cancer Society.
If you think that this does not pertain to you or your family, you are wrong. All women face a risk, and there are contributing factors that continue to increase the risk for each woman, such as age, lack of exercise and excess weight. Men are also susceptible.
Over 85 percent of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer do not have a family history, according to the American Cancer Society.
My mother is right, fear was the worst for all of my family to experience, the fear of the unknown. Fear is a great motivator though. Regular check-ups will go a long way toward early detection and prevention of breast cancer.