Special Section: Pink Moments

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Pink Moments

The capital city is home to the largest Race for the Cure® in the country, drawing more than 21,000 walkers and runners to the Downtown 5K event last year. In addition to raising awareness about researching, treating and curing breast cancer, it also raises funds: 100 percent of the race’s net proceeds—$1.6 million in 2019 alone—go back to Komen Columbus and the Susan G. Komen program. Originally scheduled for May 16, this year’s Race for the Cure has been rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic. You can visit komencolumbus.org for updates, to participate in the virtual “The Race Never Ends” experience on May 16 and to gain entry for the rescheduled event. Read on to meet four women who are involved with the Columbus race and learn why they dedicate their time.

Stories as told to Emma Frankart Henterly Photos by Tim Johnson

photo: thinkstock

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MAY 2020 Columbus Monthly

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DEMETRA MUTCHLER RESIDENCE: New Albany BIO: Franklin County Board of Elections employee and retired Ohio Department of Mental Health employee; mom of three, grandmother of seven, married 43 years VITALS: Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995; cancer-free for 25 years WHY I RACE: My mother and grandmother both died of breast cancer, so I was not surprised to get my diagnosis—just two years after my mother passed. The common thing then was lumpectomy and chemo.

A second opinion recommended a mastectomy, and it just made more sense to me. Everybody has to make their own choices as to what the best course of action is for them, and I think I made the right choice.

I don’t think a person has breast cancer. I think it has her—forever. I will be a cancer survivor until I die.

But I got through it, and I’m enjoying as many days as I can get now.

At Race for the Cure, the feeling of solidarity is wonderful. All those people there for the same reason— even if it’s not for you personally, it’s for the same reason, and their energy and concern spills over to you. They often hand out paddles that you can carry, and I started putting my survivorship status on mine at around 10 years. Women started telling me, “I want to live another 10, 15, 20 years like you.” That makes me feel good—giving them hope and showing that cancer is not always a death sentence. It can be another reason to be happy to be living.

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There is no routine breast cancer.

Breast cancer is never logical or straightforward or routine. That’s why fighting breast cancer with routine treatment just isn’t enough.

At The James, you get the expertise of a multidisciplinary team that specializes not just in cancer but breast cancer.

They apply their collective thinking toward discovering the most effective therapies, and delivering them at exactly the right time, for you — which means you can count on comprehensive breast cancer care that’s far beyond routine.

To learn more, visit cancer.osu.edu/breast.

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STASI TROUT RESIDENCE: Hilliard BIO: Nutrition and fitness coach, Stasi Trout Fitness Training LLC at the Energy Lab; instructor at Premier at Sawmill Athletic Club; mom of two, married 20 years VITALS: Diagnosed with Stage IIA breast cancer in 2011; cancer-free since late 2011 WHY I RACE: I ran my first Race for the Cure with my running buddy back in 2000, and I’ve done it most years since. We had never done an official race before, and she wanted to support a cause, so we chose Komen. Neither one of us had known anybody that had had breast cancer, at that point. Who would have thought that it would happen to me?

My mom was diagnosed with noninvasive breast cancer just a few years later, in 2004, when she was 77. She opted for a mastectomy and didn’t need any other treatments. My husband’s mother died from breast cancer in 2006; it was very aggressive by the time they determined she had it. Then in 2011, I went to my OB-GYN for a regular checkup and she noticed something that felt suspicious.

They did a biopsy and then we knew—it was cancer.

My doctor immediately recommended a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy. I was like, “Take them! I don’t need them.” When they did my surgery, they found that the lymph nodes were affected too, so they took out almost all my lymph nodes on one side and recommended chemotherapy. The hardest part of that wasn’t the actual chemo—I did great with it, I was never sick—but the anxiety of knowing that I was going to lose my hair was horrible.

Once I got through those first couple of months, my husband and I both felt we had to do a Race for the Cure team, because we’re both runners. I’ve had over 100 people on my team and since then, we’ve raised close to $57,000. I think that planning my first team in 2012 helped me heal. It gave me a purpose for what was happening to me and how I can reach out to others. I had such wonderful support through my journey, and I want to carry it forward.

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WE BELIEVE YOU SHOULDN’T FIGHT CANCER ALON E

We’re going above and beyond for you and your support system. OhioHealth, in collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Network®, a program of MD Anderson Cancer Center, is dedicated to providing you more – more treatment options, personalized treatment plans created just for you and access to select clinical trials from MD Anderson, one of the nation’s top-ranked cancer hospitals.

Make a personal connection at CancerCall at 1 (800) 752.9119 (Monday–Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or visit OhioHealth.com/CancerCare. © OhioHealth Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. FY18-152685. 04/18.

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ALYNCIA MASON RESIDENCE: Columbus BIO: Student pursuing a master’s degree in public health from East Tennessee State University; care coordinator at Komen Columbus VITALS: Mother is a nine-year survivor of breast cancer WHY I RACE: I was a junior in high school when my mom was diagnosed in 2011. She was very private about it; she came home one day with surgical tape on and just said that she’d had a little procedure. It turns out, it was a biopsy; about three weeks later, she told me she had breast cancer.

She had a double mastectomy with reconstruction—a pretty invasive process—but didn’t need radiation or anything like that. I would say she was pretty blessed; she has a lot of African American friends who were diagnosed with breast cancer and didn’t have the same treatment options. She’s lost a few friends to breast cancer.

When I started working for Komen, I learned that African Americans are 40 percent more likely to develop breast cancer, and in those cases, they’re diagnosed at younger ages with more advanced cases. The fact that people in my community are at a higher risk of developing and dying from breast cancer definitely puts some fuel on the fire for me. It pushes me to continue to work to raise awareness.

At Race for the Cure, the thing I appreciate most is the community. To meet people who have been touched by breast cancer—whether they’ve lost a family member, they’re by someone’s side who’s going through it or they’re still going through the journey themselves—I just appreciate that we’re all there. It’s a space where we can find comfort or support to just keep going.

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SERA KITCHEN RESIDENCE: Columbus BIO: Senior at Ohio State University studying biological engineering VITALS: Lost her mom to breast cancer in January 2020 WHY I RACE: My mom was diagnosed in November 2017 with Stage IV triple-negative breast cancer. It had metastasized to her lungs, but her treatments were really focused on her breast. She had a mastectomy on that breast in the summer of 2018. We were really positive because they thought they got all of it. We thought it was over.

But a couple of weeks later, we found out it had metastasized to her brain. She went through chemo, radiation, all of that— she would do rounds of treatment on her breast, rounds of treatment on her brain, back and forth, for the entire two years.

She would have been 54 this June.

She had gotten annual mammograms from the time she was in her early 20s, when the mobile mammogram vehicle came to her office, but she stopped going probably five years before she was diagnosed. The first sign that something was wrong was a rash on her breast, which she didn’t think much of. People get random spots on their skin all the time, you know? She initially went to her doctor for hip pain, which they eventually found out was caused by fluid retention in her stomach from the cancer.

When she was first diagnosed, my roommate suggested making a Race for the Cure team for her. We called it Team Trinka—she was named Trinka Gail, in an homage to Tinkerbell—and everyone joined: family, coworkers, friends she and my dad had had for 30 years. She was so important to so many people. At her celebration of life, it was so crowded the entire time that you couldn’t walk around.

More than 300 people signed her guest book, but so many more couldn’t even find it in the crowd.

That first year, Team Trinka raised around $6,000. The next, another $4,000.

This year I want to raise $10,000 in her memory. At Race for the Cure, it’s really crazy to see the sea of pink—thousands of people, all there for the same reason.

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Taryn

Cerebral Palsy

LIFTING OUR COMMUNITY AT THIS TIME. Our children thank you for your support and care.

You wanted to help so we are launching The Joining Hands Fund: Helping Kids and Families Face Coronavirus. This fund allows each of us to join hands, pitch in, and help in whatever manner we can. The Joining Hands Fund will harness the strengths of people helping other people, while offering a symbolic hug and a virtual human touch.

Learn more at Give.NationwideChildrens.org/JoiningHands