National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
OCTOBER 2012
DESTE LEE | DAILY JOURNAL
Judy Hester, left, and Sherry Abraham’s personal battles with cancer inspired them to create Women First Resource Center in Tupelo. “It’s the best thing that’s every happened to us,” Hester says.
The long run
More and more breast cancer survivors go the distance BY MICHAELA GIBSON MORRIS DAILY JOURNAL
F
aye Clement and Erlene McCaskill have been there, done that and have a closet full of pink shirts to prove it. Sherry Abraham and Judy Hester found purpose and passion, creating the Women First Resource Center out of their battles with breast cancer. The four Northeast Mississippi women are part of a distinct group that is getting bigger all the time – breast cancer survivors who can claim more than 15 years. “Women do survive breast cancer and lead normal, active lives,” said Cindy Edwards, social worker at the NMMC Cancer Center in Tupelo. Between 2002-2008, 60 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer had localized disease, according to the National Cancer Institute surveillance data. Five years later, 98 percent them were still alive. The overall five-year survival rate for all breast cancer patients was 89 percent for the same period. “Survival with breast cancer continues to improve,” said Tupelo gynecologist Dr. Ronny Young. “I see numerous long-term survivors.”
Keeping those follow-up appointments year after year can be difficult. “Diagnosis – that’s the easy part,” said Hester, who has 231⁄2 years as a survivor. “It’s the yearly checkups that are the hard part.”
STAYING BUSY
McCaskill, who is a 191⁄2 year survivor, and Clement, who will mark 25 years as a survivor in the spring, have closets full of Race for the Cure survivor shirts. They are fixtures in the I Can Cope support group sponsored by the American Cancer Society and at Camp Bluebird, a program for adult cancer survivors sponsored by AT&T Pioneers and North Mississippi Medical Center, but they don’t ruminate about cancer. “I think going to Camp Bluebird and support groups help,” McCaskill said. Clement didn’t expect to make it past the five-year mark. Her doctor gave her a stark outlook on her inflammatory breast cancer when she was diagnosed. “If I didn’t respond to treatment, one year would be a long time,” she said. “If I did respond to treatment, five years would be a long time.” Now, nearly 25 years later, that docYEARS TO COME tor says something else when he sees For a breast cancer survivor diagher: “Here’s my miracle girl.” nosed early and treated promptly, McCaskill and Clement are too busy there’s no reason most won’t have a living to worry too much. The two decade or more. But if survivors want friends stay busy with their church – to be around decades, they need to St. Mark’s United Methodist – and are tend to the business of their health. regulars at Spirit of Women events. There’s not a specific diet or exerClement used to get very nervous cise all breast cancer survivors need before her annual checkups. Her twin to follow, but healthy diet and exercise sister had ovarian cancer return eight programs matter. years after she was originally treated, “The better your health overall, the and it killed her seven years later. better you tend to do,” said Tupelo “I got to where I didn’t dwell on it,” oncologist Dr. Charles Montgomery. Clement said. “I was happy I had that It’s vitally important that survivors many years.” remain vigilant about their annual folThere have been hiccups along low-up appointments for the rest of the way. Clement developed a their lives. In addition to the risk of blockage in the main artery feeding cancer coming back, there are poten- the brain and required surgery. tial complications from treatment The chemotherapy that saved her that have to be monitored for years. life from breast cancer may have
caused the artery to constrict.
PARADOX
The survivors who do the best are the ones who don’t dwell on their breast cancer, but they don’t ignore it either. “Don’t let it eat up all your emotional and physical energy,” Edwards said. There’s no right way to handle the emotional toll of breast cancer. Support groups may be helpful for some; talking to a trusted friend one on one may be another. For most people, there’s a mixture of laughter and tears. “What works for one may not work for another,” said Abraham, who has 171⁄2 years as a survivor. “It hits every cancer patient at different times.” However, just like ignoring a lump doesn’t make a breast cancer tumor go away, it can be equally destructive to ignore the emotional and spiritual turbulence. Breast cancer can take an emotional and spiritual toll. Any cancer diagnosis forces people to confront their own mortality in a very concrete way. “You don’t want to let it fester,” Edwards said. “You don’t want to be in denial.” |
C. TODD SHERMAN | DAILY JOURNAL
Erlene McCaskill, left, and Faye Clement say they hope women newly diagnosed with breast cancer can find hope in their survival – 19 and 24 years, respectively.
RECOMMENDED CARE AFTER TREATMENT
|
WHO
PLAN FOR CARE
MEDICAL HISTORY AND PHYSICAL EXAM
All survivors
Every four to six months for five years, then every 12 months.
MAMMOGRAM (FOR REMAINING BREAST TISSUE AND/OR OPPOSITE BREAST)
Women treated with lumpectomy plus radiation therapy
Six to 12 months after radiation therapy ends, then every 12 months.
Women treated with mastectomy
Every 12 months.
PELVIC EXAM AND PAP SMEAR
Women on tamoxifen who have not had their uterus removed (have not had a hysterectomy)
Every 12 months.
BONE HEALTH EXAMS
Women at higher risk of osteoporosis due to risk factors
Regular bone mineral density tests.
Women at lower risk of osteoporosis
Office visit to check osteoporosis risk, every 12 months. SOURCE: Adapted by Susan G. Komen for the Cure, , from National Comprehensive Cancer Network and American Society of Clinical Oncology materials
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