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This week’s edition of Our Health takes a look at how cancer patients navigate their process as well as how they are paying forward their knowledge and support .

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Cancer runs in the family 1B · Survivor Stories 2B • Lesser known types of cancer 4B Saturday, October 10, 2015 • Page 1B

Local nurse finds positivite outcome through family and creativity at home Jess Fitzsimons knows better than most how routine checkups can mean the difference between life and death. The Irish-expatriate has been living in Houston since 1994, and in April 2014 a routine breast examination resulted in the discovery of a lump in her right breast. Fitzsimons admits she was somewhat combative with her OB-GYN specialist at first. “We had an argument about it and I know I shouldn’t have as I’m a nurse,” Fitzsimons said. “I had no prior history and no one in my family had it either. I came in for an ultrasound a few days later and they found three in the right breast.” To make matters worse, several weeks later doctors had Fitzsimons undergo an MRI and found that there were two additional lumps in her left breast. For the most part, Fitzsimons said she was calmer than most around her at first. “I took it more like a physician,” Fitzsimons said. “I went into a mode where it was all clinical and everything was amatter-of-fact.” Facing stage-2 breast cancer, Fitzsimons also had to make the decision to undergo a double mastectomy as doctors were very concerned at having cancer in five different places in both breasts. “It sounds strange but it was almost a good thing,” Fitzsimons said. “It was an easier decision to make and it was the natural thing to have them both

removed. Had it been cancer in only one place it would have been a hard decision to figure out what to do but I didn’t have a choice.” Fitzsimons spent six months receiving chemotherapy; however what she didn’t anticipate was losing her hair by the second dose of treatment. Her husband had offered to shave her head and Fitzsimons said the experience became very emotional. Fortunately, she had also had the support of her young sons as well. She can’t help but laugh as she recalls the initial reaction of both her and her boys. “The first thing I noticed is how cold I was,” Fitzsimons said. “When my youngest boys saw me, they started laughing and told me I looked like Smeagol. It wasn’t insulting, they were just being themselves and it made it so much easier.” Losing hair was the first emotional hit and Fitzsimons also recalls the second. “At the beginning of June after the surgery, my sister took me to a special shop for prosthetics,” Fitzsimons said. “Then it just hits you. You see all of these breast prosthesis and you realize you don’t have breasts anymore and it’s never going to be the same. You have to get through it though and life goes on and you realize, well, you’re alive and they are breasts and you can buy new ones.” One thing Fitzsimons wasn’t a particular fan of were wigs, however. She wanted to not only be strong for her See Scarves P. 3B

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Major Hospitals

Memorial Hermann Northwest 1635 North Loop West Houston, Texas 77008 Tel: 713-867-2000 memorialhermann.org Physician Referral 713.222.CARE

St. Joseph Medical Center

By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com

Contributed Photo Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital volunteer and three-time breast cancer survivor Shirley Cato (left) and Memorial Hermann Cancer Center-Northwest Oncology Nurse Navigator Angela Sisk, R.N., help run a variety of programs that help breast cancer patients and survivors in their battle against the disease before, during and after treatment.

Memorial Hermann Northwest battles breast cancer from behind the scenes

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cancer survivor and volunteer at Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital, is on call to operate the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) Reach to Recovery Program at the Center, which helps people cope with their breast cancer experience from the moment of a possible diagnosis and continuing for as long as the disease remains a personal concern. “Breast cancer patients can come in here and get just about anything they need to help them look better, to help them feel good, to give them hope,” Cato said. “To me, all of these ladies are beautiful. They can come in here with no hair and put on a wig and you just see how good they feel about themselves.” Reach to Recovery is a free program entirely run by volunteers who are breast cancer survivors. The program offers hats, wigs, information, insight and encouragement to women with breast cancer. “I have found this program to be very productive for women battling breast cancer,” Cato said. “There are so many that don’t know about it. They are all so appreciative when they do find out.”

When Shvon Lowe felt a lump in her right breast just before leaving on a ski trip with her sister last February, she was just 34 years old. She went to see her OB-GYN who calmed her concerns but also referred her for a mammogram. “I’d always done breast exams with the physician,” said Lowe. “I thought that maybe it was just fibrocystic changes.” At her mammogram though, Lowe said she could tell by the technician’s look that something was really wrong. Soon, the diagnosis was confirmed – Lowe had breast cancer. That’s when her cousin on her dad’s side shared news about that side of the family’s history with breast cancer. Lowe knew that her grandmother on her dad’s had beaten breast cancer but didn’t know that both her aunts had it too.

“One aunt died in her 30s when I was around 10,” said Lowe. “My other aunt I visited when she was in the hospital. I thought it was cervical cancer. I worked in health care but never thought about a genetic cause of cancer in the family, especially my dad’s side. It never dawned on me.” Lowe went for her genetic testing and tests revealed a mutation in her BRCA1 gene. As the National Cancer Institute explains BRCA1 and BRCA2 are human genes that produce tumor suppressor proteins. These proteins help repair damaged DNA and, therefore, play a role in ensuring the stability of the cell’s genetic material. Approximately 55 to 65 percent of women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 mutation and around 45 percent of women who inherit a harmful BRCA2 mutation will develop breast cancer by age 70

Medical Suppliers

This month, you’ll be seeing a lot of pink everywhere, including on the football field, and hearing the latest facts and figures about breast cancer.That’s because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and it is important to stay informed about preventing, detecting and treating a disease that affects one of every eight women in the United States. But there is more to the battle against breast cancer than mammograms, chemotherapy, radiation treatment and recognizing risk. Memorial Hermann Cancer Center-Northwest offers a variety of programs that help women and their families deal with breast cancer before, during and after they’ve beaten the disease. Many of those programs are made possible by breast cancer survivors who volunteer at the Center. “We’re really lucky at Memorial Hermann Northwest to have so many volunteers helping with our cancer programs,” said Angela Sisk, R.N., the oncology nurse navigator at the Center. Shirley Cato, a three-time breast

in The Heights 1917 Ashland Street Houston, Texas 77008 Tel: 713-757-1000 Physician Referral 713-757-7575

Contributed Photo Jess Fitzsimons (right) and her sister at work. Fitzsimons credits much of her ability to tackle her breast cancer diagnosis with a postiive attitude to the support of her family.

Family matters, for better or worse

For The Leader Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital