Ink For Pink October 2012

pink Ink for

A special publication in honor of Breast Cancer awareness

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A friend for the fight Kristen Thatcher helps breast cancer patients

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Survivor’s choice

Woman took extra precaution with cancer

Spirit of Women

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Heartland launches new health initiative

Joining forces

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Mayo Care Clinic Network complements care at Heartland

Ready to help Patient Assistance Fund lends a hand

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A friend for the cancer fight

By ERIN WISDOM

is so important. She’s a consistent presence for patients from the time a mammogram reveals an abnormality, helping them schedule any follow-up tests and then delivering the results of those. She is by their side during initial consultaKristen Thatcher is no stranger to meeting people at a crisis point in their tions with a surgeon, as well. lives.

“They probably won’t remember very much of it, so I’ll be able to clue them As the nurse navigator at Heartland Health’s Breast Center, Ms. Thatcher is in,” Ms. Thatcher says. a guide through the treatment process and a go-to source for answers for people She also provides other pertinent education and helps patients know what to who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. expect in regards to treatment, going as far as to describe how to get to treat“I’m the person they can call,” she says. “It’s kind of like I’m their personal ment sites and how procedure rooms will look. And while she doesn’t accompanurse.” ny patients through treatment, she does keep tabs to make sure they’re getting It’s a position Ms. Thatcher has held since the Breast Center opened in 2008. to the right places at the right times.

Previously, she worked as an oncology nurse, administering chemotherapy The Breast Center generally has 10 to 12 new cancer patients each month, she treatments. And while both jobs have focused on cancer patients, she notes that says, and even for those who make it through treatment and go into remission, when it comes to emotional needs, her former job was actually very different continued monitoring for the rest of their lives is the norm. Such is the case for from her current one: “Before, I was giving chemo to people who had already breast cancer survivor Brenda Wilson, who was diagnosed in 2008 and underbeen through the gamut of emotions and had calmed down. Now, I’m at the oth- went two surgeries and radiation. er end of the spectrum. With these patients, there’s a lot more emotional unMs. Wilson notes that Ms. Thatcher did a lot to make her fight against breast steadiness. Everything’s new.” cancer more bearable, including staying by her side during a biopsy and always This newness and uncertainty is precisely why the role Ms. Thatcher plays Please see FRIEND/Page 7

St. Joseph News-Press

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Kristen Thatcher, the nurse navigator at Heartland’s Breast Center, helps patients through the treatment process.

Matt Reid | St. Joseph News-Press

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A friend for the cancer fight CONTINUED FROM page 4

For breast cancer patients, Kristen Thatcher is there every step of the way

promptly returning phone calls with answers to questions.

“I was really scared, but I was able to call and talk to her. She was just there for whatever I needed,” Ms. Wilson says. “She was my go-to person. She was like my angel.”

Ms. Wilson adds that Ms. Thatcher also invited her to be part of a group she began about a year ago called BFFs (which stands for Breast Friends Forever).

Ms. Thatcher arranges for speakers such as doctors and therapists to come to meetings and address issues important to those who have been through breast cancer. Group members reach out to newly diagnosed patients, as well, to offer them support as they begin treatment.

“It’s been wonderful to be in a group like that,” Ms. Wilson says, adding that it’s one example of how Ms. Thatcher goes above and beyond to help her patients. “She just has the biggest heart. She’s there for all of us.”

For Ms. Thatcher, this commitment comes with its own rewards, and she’s glad for all the good outcomes she gets to be a part of.

“Even though we know we have a bad thing happening to a person … with mammograms and self-exams, the cases we’re catching are early. So the vast majority will walk out with a cure rather than it being the end of their lives,” she says, adding of her work in particular: “It’s really neat to have that sort of impact on a person’s life, to be a person they consider a friend, even though we met at the worst point in their life.”

Erin Wisdom can be reached at erin.wisdom@newspressnow.com. Follow her on Twitter: @SJNPWisdom.

St. Francis Hospital brings state of the art Digital Mammography in the fight against breast cancer. www.stfrancismaryville.com 2016 S. Main, Maryville, MO (660) 562-2600 Ink for Pink

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Survivor’s choice 8

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Local woman took extra precaution to ensure cancer didn’t return

Amy Ellis is a cancer survivor. She was 36 years old when she was diagnosed. After a double mastectomy and chemotherapy, she’s cancer-free.

JESSICA STEWART/St. Joseph News-Press

By JENNIFER GORDON St. Joseph News-Press

At 36, Amy Ellis faced a choice. Two surgeries or the chance that she’d once again hear the words that changed her life: You have cancer.

She opted for the surgeries.

In July 2009, Mrs. Ellis discovered a lump on her breast. It wasn’t much bigger than a pea, but her mother encouraged her to have it checked. Within a week of her first doctor’s appointment, Mrs. Ellis had a mammogram, a sonogram and a biopsy. She learned the pea-lump was Stage I breast cancer. Two weeks later, she had a lumpectomy.

The results of her lumpectomy went through a test called Onctotype DX, which helps to identify the best treatment options for that specific type of cancer. It also classifies how aggressive patients’ forms of cancer are and the chances of a re-occurrence.

Mrs. Ellis’ Oncotype DX result revealed that it was very likely her breast cancer would resurface.

Cancer also runs in Mrs. Ellis’ family. Her maternal grandmother had breast cancer at 45. Her paternal grandmother died from ovarian cancer at age 51. Her father died of stomach cancer. Her uncle died of pancreatic cancer.

The family history made the diagnosis especially difficult.

“The only thing I knew from cancer was death,” Mrs. Ellis says.

Her oncologist, Dr. Rony Abou-Jawde, recommended she get a genetic test to see if she carried the BRCA gene mutation, which increases the risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

Dr. Abou-Jawde said that’s standard procedure for any patients who are younger than 45 who present with breast or ovarian cancer.

She tested positive for a BRCA-2 mutation.

Mrs. Ellis caught her breast cancer early. The American Cancer Society estimates there’s an 88 percent survival rate for stage I breast cancer. After four months of chemo, she was cancer-free.

The gene mutation complicated her case, Dr. Abou-Jawde said, because it

increased her lifetime chance of getting breast or ovarian cancer to about 80 percent. They took proactive steps to make sure that wouldn’t happen.

In January 2010, she had a double mastectomy.

“It was a hard decision, but it was an easy decision,” Mrs. Ellis says.

She wanted to see her daughters, who at the time were in fourth and fifth grades, graduate from high school. She had gone through a host of experiences she didn’t want to repeat.

Mrs. Ellis had worn the itchy, hot and sometimes smelly wigs. She had eaten her way through her nausea and downed Sonic peppermints to get the metallic taste from chemotherapy out of her mouth. Her youngest daughter had changed Mrs. Ellis’ dressings after her surgeries.

The next fall, more than a year after her diagnosis, Mrs. Ellis got a hysterectomy. Six weeks later, she had her breast reconstruction surgery.

The last surgery, she says, was by far the most rewarding. It made the dayto-day easier. The surgery gave her a new sense of normal, of what life would be like after breast cancer.

“Wearing something that is not under your skin is not quite real. I know these aren’t real either, but at least it’s a part of you,” she says.

Mrs. Ellis has been cancer-free for more than two years now, and she speaks to other breast cancer patients about her experience at Heartland Health’s Cancer Center.

Looking back, she credits her positivity in helping her through the illness.

She went into survival mode early on.

“You can survive. Sometimes it’s by choices you make, how you react to what you’ve given. I could have said, ‘No, I don’t want to have the double mastectomy,’ because technically the cancer was gone, but the likelihood of having to do it again was very high and so I didn’t want to do it,” she says.

Dr. Abou-Jawde said her decision to do the preventive surgeries gives Mrs. Ellis an excellent prognosis, a 95-percent chance her breast cancer will be cured.

Jennifer Gordon can be reached at jennifer.gordon@newspressnow.com. Follow her on Twitter: @jjgordon.

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Heartland launches Spirit of Women initiative

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By SYLVIA ANDERSON St. Joseph News-Press

When the question comes up, “What’s for dinner?” all eyes usually turn to the woman in the family. She decides if it will be a fresh stir-fry, something out of the freezer or maybe pizza that she or Dad bring home after work. And the woman is usually the one who makes decisions on the majority of purchases, not only in the home with food and cars, but with other services, such as banking and health care.

In fact, women make approximately 80 percent of health-care decisions for their families, according to the United States Department of Labor.

That’s why Heartland Health has joined “The Spirit of Women,” a network of more than 170 hospitals and health systems throughout the U.S. “Women are the primary decision makers when it comes to family health, whether making decisions on care or treatment or making healthy choices in lifestyles regarding exercise and diet,” says Barbie Squires, chief development officer with Heartland Health. “We look at women’s health because we have to keep the woman healthy, but we also look at family health, such as prostate cancer, that would not necessarily affect the woman, but it would affect the family.”

Being involved with Spirit of Women is free and open to all women, she says, although the main focus is directed toward women from the age of 25 to those in their 50s and 60s. Once enrolled, participants receive early notification and VIP invitations to events, classes and seminars, the Spirit of Women quarterly magazine and monthly e-mail health topics related to their situation.

The first Spirit of Women event already is

proving to be a huge success, Ms. Squires says. It is called “Girls Night Out with the Kansas City Chiefs,” which will be held on Oct. 7.

“We had a great response,” Ms. Squires says.

“It’s actually an afternoon out where they go see a Chiefs game at Arrowhead.”

Heartland Health is taking eight buses to the game, and on each bus there will be two physicians who will conduct educational sessions on health-related topics of interest to women. There will be a question-and-answer period, and then when the group arrives at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, participants will have a tailgate party and see a football game.

“The goal is to combine fun with education,” Ms. Squires says. “We refer to it as ‘edu-tainment.’”

The next big event is being planned for sometime in February.

The theory is that with the right education, women can take charge of their health and wellness and stay out of the hospital, she says.

“That sounds kind of counter-intuitive for a health care organization, but that’s the way we contribute to the community,” Ms. Squires says.

“All of our reimbursements are going down with Medicare and Medicaid, so it just makes more sense to get ahead of the health-care problem and look at the total person and their health and well-being and how they live their life. We are trying to inspire people to live their life well and healthy.”

To enroll in Spirit of Women, sign up at the Heartland Health website at www.heartlandhealth.com/spirit.

The goal is to combine fun with education.

— BARBIE SQUIRES,

Heartland Health chief development officer

Sylvia Anderson can be reached at sylvia.anderson@newspressnow.com.

Follow her on Twitter: @SJNPAnderson.

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Mayo Care Clinic Network complements cancer care at Heartland

By KEVIN KRAUSKOPF St. Joseph News-Press

H

eartland — and by extension its cutting-edge breast cancer care — has seen a quick return on its membership in the Mayo Care Clinic Network since announcing the partnership in May. “This allows us to have one more opportunity to increase our knowledge in managing breast cancer,” says Dr. Robert C. Johnson, who specializes in oncology and radiation at Heartland Health.

Heartland utilizes the network’s E-Consult system to complement its care of all cancer patients, including those diagnosed with breast cancer.

The process, Dr. Johnson says, allows Heartland’s specialists to request additional evaluation by the Mayo Clinic’s physician experts when unique issues call for further analysis.

Electronic versions of a patient’s diagnostic X-rays, pathological slides and clinical information are relayed to the Mayo Clinic’s doctors, and in a very short period of time — often just a matter of days — the Mayo Clinic responds with a detailed review of the case and its recommendations tailored specifically to the individual patient.

“While this is not needed for the vast majority of our patients, it does allow us a unique opportunity for those very challenging cases,” Dr. Johnson says.

Heartland surgeons also are able to further their knowledge base concerning cancer care through conferences and educational outreach opportunities with the Mayo Clinic, which in turn further benefits cancer patients in the St. Joseph area.

Dr. Johnson says Heartland and the Mayo Clinic share a similar philosophy regarding patient care that places an emphasis on a holistic approach — not just managing a patient’s illness but helping them lead a full and healthy life.

Those diagnosed with breast or any other form of cancer will continue to benefit from the partnership in both the short and long term.

Dr. Johnson says many exciting opportunities lie in the future of Heartland’s collaboration with the Mayo Clinic. Ongoing education and development through the network, he says, will allow Heartland to continue to offer the most cutting-edge cancer therapies available. In addition, he notes the potential of a virtual consultation and video conferencing system that would connect Heartland’s cancer care teams directly with Mayo Clinic experts.

“We feel strongly that we can grow in our relationship with the Mayo Clinic in education programs and clinical care opportunities with the ultimate goal of improving our ability to care for patients in our local community,” Dr. Johnson says.

Kevin Krauskopf can be reached at kevin.krauskopf@newspressnow.com.

Follow him on Twitter: @stjoelivedotcom.

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Patient Assistance Fund lends a helping hand When someone gets a mastectomy, there’s lots of swelling that can be very painful. So, even something as small as a $100 compression garment can help out in a big way.

— Barbie Squires, chief development officer and certified administrator of volunteer services at Heartland

By Shea Conner St. Joseph News-Press

Heartland’s Auxiliary Breast Cancer Patient Assistance Fund has drawn all sorts of support in the St. Joseph community — from Harley-Davidson-loving bikers to the Lafayette cheerleaders and the Central Crazies. But there’s nothing crazy about what this fund is doing to help breast cancer patients.

Since its creation in 2008, the Breast Cancer Patient Assistance Fund has raised more than $200,000 to support those undergoing breast cancer treatments.

These funds have been used in a variety of manners, some small, some big.

For several patients, this fund has paid for their treatments when insurance or support from other sources has fallen short. Barbie Squires, chief development officer and certified administrator of volunteer services at Heartland, recalls one patient who racked up $50,000 in debt while going through treatments because her insurance wouldn’t cover them. After get-

ting some aid from Heartland’s financial assistance services, the Patient Assistance Fund paid off the rest of her bills.

“We were able to completely eliminate that debt,” Squires says.

Money raised through the Patient Assistance Fund also has boosted the amenities of the Heartland Breast Center — a comprehensive breast health program that offers streamlined care coordinated by the Breast Center and mammography staff — and offered free mammograms for those who need them. In many other cases, the money has been used to purchase simple items like plush, cotton terry robes or handy compression garments for patients who are undergoing taxing mastectomies.

“When someone gets a mastectomy, there’s lots of swelling that can be very painful,” Squires explains.

“So, even something as small as a $100 compression garment can help out in a big way.”

Fundraising efforts for the Breast Cancer Patient Assistance Fund have been held by local high school groups, Missouri Western

State University and several individuals who have donated in honor or memory of those diagnosed with breast cancer. One of the most prominent of these events takes place in July when St. Joe Harley-Davidson hosts Riders Against Breast Cancer, an annual poker run open to motorcyclists and car and truck drivers.

Squires says that 100 percent of the funds raised stay within the St. Joseph region.

“It all goes to our friends, families and neighbors,” she says.

The Heartland Regional Medical Center Auxiliary always leaves its doors open to those who would like to donate to the Breast Cancer Patient Assistance Fund or volunteer at fundraising events. Those interested in helping can call Barbie Squires at 271-4055 or visit www.heartland-health.com and click on the “Partnerships” tab on the left hand side of the page, then choose “The Center for Healing Generosity.”

Shea Conner can be reached at shea.conner@newspressnow.com.

Follow him on Twitter: @stjoelivedotcom.

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