User: sburris
Time: 10-01-2013 10:04 Product: INIBrd
PubDate: 10-02-2013 Zone: Special
Edition: 1 Page: OfAdvFolio-Cov
AN ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT OF THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR
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Color: C K Y M
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2013 •
A custom advertising publication of The Indianapolis Star ✱ Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013
INDY’S in the
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Breast cancer awareness month: LIVING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS
Babies and breast cancer
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Whatever it takes By Angela Parker For Custom Publications
Megan Rosbottom was 33 years old and 29 weeks pregnant with her second child when she felt a lump in her armpit. Because swollen mammary glands aren’t unusual during pregnancy and typically subside after the birth, she and her doctor logically decided to wait and see. Rosbottom’s daughter, Fiona, was born Dec. 28, 2012. In the excitement that followed, she forgot about the lump until mid-January, when she felt something on the side of her breast. Her husband, Lucas, confirmed that it felt abnormal. By the time she saw her doctor and had both a mammogram and an ultrasound, another month had passed. Test results confirmed a cancerous lump and a second suspicious area, this one behind the nipple. “They were more concerned with that area than the lump,” Rosbottom said. “But [Dr. Erin Zusan, breast surgical oncologist, Community Breast
Megan and Lucas Rosbottom with their daughters, Fiona and Reese
Care South] wasn’t comfortable saying the lump was just a cyst. She wanted to biopsy it that day.” The procedure indicated cancer was present. Based on the tumor’s size and the lymph nodes involved, Rosbottom’s diagnosis was Stage 3 cancer. “Then the treatment began rapid-fire,” she said. Within the next week she had an MRI, an echocardiogram and surgery to place a chemotherapy port. A PET scan revealed that the cancer was located in the right breast only but had spread to the lymph nodes. “It was an aggressive cancer, and I was so young that they wanted to hit it hard. They wanted to do everything they could to get rid of it,” Rosbottom said. She began chemotherapy on March 1, 2013, and finished in June. In July she had a double mastectomy. Of 20 lymph nodes removed, eight were determined to be cancerous. Rosbottom also tested positive for the BRCA1 gene, an indicator for breast and ovarian cancer, so she had her ovaries
Pregnancy and cancer: The connection Is there a link between pregnancy and breast cancer? “Yes, there is,” said Stanley Givens, MD, medical director and radiation oncologist with the Hendricks Regional Health Cancer Center. “When a woman is pregnant, the cycle of estrogen and progesterone is different than in the nonpregnant state. This may make breast cancers behave much more aggressively and be somewhat less responsive to therapy in a pregnant female than one who is not pregnant.” The risk ranges from 1-in-1,000 to 1-in-10,000 pregnant women who develop breast cancer. According to Givens, either set of odds is relatively small. “Cancer in a pregnant woman is uncommon, but in that uncommon event, breast cancer is the most common to see,” he said. “The younger a woman is when she develops breast cancer, the greater the likelihood of a genetic link to that development.” Breast cancer in pregnant women typically is more aggressive Givens and more likely to be detected at a later stage, however. One reason, Givens said, is that some warning signs can mimic normal pregnancy changes. The breasts become fuller, more tender and lumpier, which makes it more difficult to identify abnormalities. Abundant estrogen also makes younger women’s breast tissue more dense, which can reduce the effectiveness of mammography. Some women don’t pursue a diagnosis for fear of harming the baby. “Treatment can be a challenge, balancing the needs of the mother with the developing fetus,” Givens said. “It’s got to be difficult. They’ve just gone through this tremendous process and given life to their child and all the joy that comes with that, but they’re immediately confronted with a very challenging health issue — all while trying to take care of a brand-new baby.” ✱
and fallopian tubes removed as well. Rosbottom was scheduled to begin radiation treatments last month. But before the first appointment arrived, she discovered another lump. Another biopsy — and yet another cancer diagnosis — quickly followed. Her doctors don’t expect the new tumor to require surgery — radiation therapy should take care of it — but a PET scan will help make sure. She’ll also have regular Herceptin therapy for the next year to prevent any recurrence. “It’s been a whirlwind at our house this whole year,” Rosbottom said. “My stepmom and my mother-in-law have been wonderful. One if not both of them have stayed with us since Valentine’s Day. I’ve just recently gone at it on my own. “And Lucas, my husband, is fantastic. He’ll say, ‘We have two girls, so whatever (the doctors) tell us to do, we’re going to do.’ Any time I get down, he reminds me of that. I have those three to live for. I’m not ready to say goodbye, so we’re going to do whatever it takes.” ✱
From zero to 10 to zero O
By Angela Parker For Custom Publications
n Feb. 3, 2013, Levi Rosenfeld came into the world a bit earlier than expected. After being cared for at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health, his family thought the worst of their worries was over. But just as life settled down, Levi’s mother, 28-year-old Brittanny Seybold, found a lump in her right breast. Her obstetrician, Ian Johnston, MD, sent her to the Hendricks Regional Health Women’s Center for a biopsy and ultrasound. The next day, March 22, Johnston called with the news: Seybold had breast cancer. “It was a shock because nobody in my family has had breast cancer, and we don’t really have a strong history of cancer at all,” she said. She even tested negative for the BRCA gene, an indicator of breast and ovarian cancers. Her doctor believes the cancer was present before the pregnancy, and the surge of hormones spurred rapid growth. ❯ See ZERO TO 10, on Page 2
PHOTO: SUBMITTED
very woman knows her body will change during pregnancy. But what if something changes in a negative way? How can she tell if her new normal is anything but normal? For these women, the joy of pregnancy was accompanied by a dreaded disease: cancer.
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