Power of Pink 2017

THE

POWER OF

PINK ARM IN ARM Survivors help one another in victory over cancer | INSIDE

PINK

RIBBON

PILATES Flexibility, strength & friendships | Page 15

IN CONTROL Baptist Health Floyd clinic offers genetic testing | PAGE 9

FILLIES WITH LOVE Blankets for recently diagnosed brings comfort | PAGE 12

C2 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS

PERSONIFY COURAGE

T

wo words — breast cancer — evoke a range of emotions.

Spoken to a patient following a biopsy, they can prompt fear, sadness, depression.

Spoken by a survivor following treatment and healing, the words — like the disease — lose their power to harm. Defeat of the disease empowers those who struggled, survivors tell us.

Five breast cancer survivors shared their experiences with the News and Tribune for the 2017 edition of Power of Pink: n Sisters SHEILA MEREDITH and SUSAN HIGDON say they were always together when they were growing up.

They were together in battling breast cancer, too. Now, they make blankets — together, of course — for cancer patients through Fillies Blankets of Hope.

n Two-time cancer survivor PATSY DAWSON says she is a better person now, after beating back lymphoma and, years later, breast cancer. n Following cancer surgery, MELISSA DELUCA found her happy place — the beach — thanks to her husband, who whisked her away to a Jamaican resort. n The last place anyone wants to spend their birthday is in the doctor’s office. But that’s exactly where ANDREA VANMETER found herself on her 44th birthday.

These stories reflect the courage of their tellers, who serve as an inspiration to other women and men knocked on their keisters by breast cancer, but who get up and fight to live.

We are grateful to the survivors for sharing their journeys through cancer with us, so that we might share them with you, our readers.

Also inside this Power of Pink section are stories on genetic testing, blankets of comfort, the upcoming fundraising gala and much more. The content also will be available on the News and Tribune website at www.newsandtribune.com.

As always, your feedback is welcome.

Thanks for reading!

WHAT’S INSIDE

SUSAN DUNCAN EDITOR Bill Hanson PUBLISHER Susan Duncan EDITOR

▲ 06 Gala showcases Power of Pink A night of fun, raising funds hallmark of fifth-annual event

05 Never Give Up

Cancer battle ‘life-altering’ for two-time survivor Patsy Dawson

Michael McCleery ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Elizabeth Beilman Aprile Rickert Danielle Grady Erin Walden STAFF WRITERS Bob Orlandini Coltin Hanson STAFF DESIGNERS Josh Hicks Tyler Stewart STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS CLARK COUNTY OFFICE: 221 Spring St. Jeffersonville, IN 47130 812-283-6636 FLOYD COUNTY OFFICE: 318 Pearl St. Suite 100 New Albany, IN 47150 812-944-6481 newsandtribune.com TWITTER @newsandtribune FACEBOOK.COM /newsandtribune To Subscribe: 812-206-2107 To Advertise: 812-206-2133

10 The Positive Side Cancer survivor Melissa DeLuca gains hope, desire to help others

13 Worry Not

VanMeter and friend face cancer separately, together

17 Sisterly Strength Sisters Susan Higdon & Sheila Meredith triumph over cancer

NEWS AND TRIBUNE | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | C3

C4 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

THREE TIMES A SURVIVOR

D

BY AUDREY KIRBY

CNHI New Indiana

ALEVILLE — Susan Smith, 47 years old at the time, walked out of her bathroom in tears, shoulders slumped. In both hands she held clumps of her hair that had fallen out from drying it after a shower.

Her husband, Brent Smith, who was playing a video game, volume up on his headset, still heard her crying and abruptly threw down his controller to comfort her. He knew this was serious.

Tears streaming and tufts of her own hair in hand, Susan was in the midst of her third, and most gruesome, battle with breast cancer. She had felt exhausted for years, but this was one of the first times she ever revealed those feelings to her husband and five children.

“You can’t even explain that kind of feeling,” Susan said. “I had never lost my hair before.

I was scared. This was a lot more intense than what I’d been through before, and this was toward the beginning of it, so I was thinking, ‘If it’s this bad already, what is it going to become?’”

It’s bad enough for anyone to hear those dreaded words, “You have cancer.” Susan went through those emotions three times: that pit in her stomach awaiting the doctor’s diagnosis, the initial sting from hearing the bad result and the treatments that took tolls on her body.

CAUGHT EARLY

A free screening at a local hospital in Florida brought Susan’s first bout of Stage 1 breast cancer to her attention at age 23. She said she was devastated. Because she was adopted, she wasn’t aware of her family medical history and therefore wasn’t prepared for this sort of news. Luckily, doctors caught it early, and six months of oral chemo ousted the disease. Afterward, she continued with regular checkups.

She received multiple can-

cer-free screenings. So, she stopped going.

Almost 20 years later, Susan got her second breast cancer diagnosis after meeting her biological brothers, who urged her to get a mammogram because being more than 40 years old put her at greater risk. This time, the cancer was Stage 2, and Susan had to take chemotherapy intravenously. This treatment made her sick, but not enough so her family knew it was cancer. In fact, she refused to let them see her suffer.

“I didn’t want to scare the kids,” Susan said. “I didn’t want to scare the family.”

She started chemotherapy in November of that year, met her current husband Brent in December and finished treatment in January. It wasn’t until the end, when the disease was almost eliminated, that any of them found out.

Though she went through all of the pain twice, it still took her nurses at St. Vincent Anderson Hospital to convince Susan that she should continue regular checkups. She jokingly calls herself stubborn for not going to the doctor, and Brent agrees with a chuckle. Then, Susan hesitates and gets serious.

“I’m afraid they’re going to tell me (I have cancer) again,” she said. “Because it’s always been worse each time.”

And the third time surely was.

Along with her hair falling out, chemotherapy made her visibly sick. She threw up after coming home from treatments. She lost her appetite. Normally an avid hunter, fisher and camper, Susan would be out of breath, gasping for air after hiking half a mile.

“It almost made the first two times seem like it was the flu or something,” she said. “That’s how severe the third time was compared to the others.”

To make the situation worse, her ex-husband, with whom she shared her five kids, died from cancer in his lung and pancreas.

Not only did it bring up thoughts of her own mortality, but also put stress on her as she tried to help her children cope.

Susan Smith, 49, was first diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 23 and has been cancer-free for a year after beating the disease for a third time. | PHOTO BY DON KNIGHT / CNHI NEWS INDIANA

PLENTY OF SUPPORT The side effects from her third stint of treatments were impossible to hide from her friends and family. So, one positive from her third diagnosis brought, unlike her first two, was more support.

When Susan was down, her daughter Cierra sent her a poem she wrote, telling her, “If only I could take even half the pain for you. They tell you to survive.

You’ll have to.” And when her family and doctors couldn’t be there, Susan said Cancer Services of East Central Indiana Little Red Door in Muncie filled in the gaps. The organization helped pay her rent, utilities, car tuneups, and volunteers even took her kids out to dinner when Susan needed to rest. She calls them “angels on Earth.”

That support kept her going.

Through her rigorous treatments, Susan still worked as assistant general manager at Daleville’s Pilot Travel Center, where she greeted customers and

stocked the store while wearing a baseball cap to cover her fading head of hair.

Management took notice of Susan’s work ethic and bought her a wig.

Susan’s co-worker and friend, Pilot manager Charlotte Tenney, said the company stepped in because “she’s family to us.” She added that Susan missed only a few days of work during her treatments, and it impressed the staff.

“She’s one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met,” Tenney said. “Even through what she was going you could tell she wasn’t feeling good, it didn’t matter. She has a really strong drive. (Cancer) didn’t slow her down.”

This Halloween, Susan, now 49, will celebrate one-year of being cancer-free, though the thought of having cancer again trumps any fear that holiday could otherwise instill. It’s always in the back of her mind, and it delays her from ever get

checked again.

But after her third, and toughest cancer battle, Susan said she’s more prepared. If she faces a fourth diagnosis, she’s already decided she is having a mastectomy to “zap the problem” away.

Then, she thinks of Cierra, who is now the same age as she was when she got her first diagnosis, and she remembers her job as a role model. She knows that a mammogram takes only minutes, and it could save her daughter’s life, just like it did hers at that age.

“I want people to know that just because you hear the words doesn’t mean the end, especially these days because so much has changed with the treatment of it all,” Susan said.

After all, Susan is proof that beating cancer once, then twice and then a third time is possible.

“They tell me all the time that I smile too much, but hey, I survived cancer three times and my kids are grown. I smile all the time. I love life.”

The Mayor’s administration urges all women to get their regular screenings to beat breast cancer before it happens.

NEWS AND TRIBUNE | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | C5

A shared

battle

Patsy Dawson and her dog, Max

Cancer a family fight

BY AUDREY KIRBY

CNHI News Indiana

A

NDERSON — When Jill Thomas, 36, found out her mother had Stage 4 breast cancer, she took substantial measures to ensure she would never get the same diagnosis.

In June, she underwent a hysterectomy, removing her uterus. And this month, she will have a double mastectomy to remove her breasts.

“Some people think I’m crazy for doing it, but you know, I’ve got to be around my kids,” Thomas said.

Thomas is a single mother to 6-year-old twins Jonathan and Lily.

Her husband was in the military and died two years ago from heart complications. Thomas knows she has to be there for their children, so she’s not taking any chances.

Margery Frantz, Thomas’ 65-year-old mother, found out about her disease nearly three years ago. She considers herself very active, an avid gym-goer. Then, all of a sudden, she struggled with her mobility.

She thought, “Oh, it’s arthritis. It runs in our family.”

What she thought was arthritis was actually cancer.

To see if they could find the cause, doctors did 23 tests on Frantz after her diagnosis. It was discovered Frantz had inherited mutations in her BRCA gene from one of her parents. So, her daughter got tested, and she found she had inherited it, too.

SEE BATTLE, PAGE C8

NEVER GIVE UP Cancer battle ‘life-altering’ for two-time survivor Patsy Dawson APRILE RICKERT

S

OUTHERN INDIANA — Patsy Dawson was 30 years old when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

After extensive radiation treatments, she was cancer-free and her body began to heal.

But when she was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago, it was a blow she and her family weren’t ready for.

“One time is horrible,” she said. “Two times is life-altering. It changes you.”

THE FIRST BATTLE When Dawson was diagnosed with lymphoma, she

TYLER STEWART went into it not knowing much about the reality of cancer.

“I was 30, but a naive 30,” she said. “I didn’t really know what cancer meant other than death. Growing up, my mom and dad would said ‘Aunt Mary has cancer,’ and the next thing I know, Aunt Mary is not here.”

At the time of her diagnosis, Dawson and her husband, Frank, had a 4-year-old daughter, Morgan.

“For me, hearing ‘cancer,’ was like who’s going to take care of my daughter,” Dawson said.

When she went to the on-

cologist, the medical team explained the possible side-effects of treatments.

“They go over [things like] you could lose your hair, you could lose your smell, your taste, your teeth,” she said.

“You could have burns.

“And then they asked if we had questions. Of course we’re numb. We had no questions.”

TREATMENTS

When she began radiation treatments — 40, which is her lifetime limit — Dawson had a set of rules to follow.

“No shower, no soap, no lotion,” she said. “Just get out of bed, put your clothes on and get down here.”

After the third day, she started to lose her hair.

“I got up to comb my hair — I had a blue comb — took the first swipe and it was just black with all my hair.”

After the 10th treatment, she noticed pain under her arms.

She had second- and third-degree burns, from using deodorant during the treatments. She had to stop radiation for 10 days, while the burns healed.

After that, she completed the chest-up radiation, rested another 10 days, and underwent more precautionary 20 waistdown treatments.

The radiation took a toll on Dawson’s body, taking part of her hearing — she wears two hearing aids now — and permanently damaging her lungs.

SEE DAWSON, PAGE C8

C6 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

Gala showcases Power of Pink Fun, raising funds hallmark of annual event had the incredible support of the business community and individJEFFERSONVILLE — This uals to help keep the fundraisyear’s Power of Pink Gala is set ing going,” he said. “I think it’s to be a spectacular celebration of such an incredible gift that we life, honor and remembrance for can give people and it doesn’t breast cancer survivors, loved cost any one of us a lot of money ones and others touched by the if we chip in at the same time.”

The first two years, proceeds disease. were donated to the American The event, in its fifth year, will kick off Friday, Oct. 20, Cancer Society. Since 2015, with a reception starting at 6:30 funding has gone to support the p.m., dinner at 7:30, and a si- Norton Pat Harrison Cancer Resource Center, lent auction runwhich provides a ning through the CAN’T ATTEND? wealth of free serevening. It will be YOU CAN STILL HELP vices to people livheld at Kye’s in n To donate auction items for the Jeffersonville and Gala or monetary gifts, contact News ing with cancer — Tribune publisher Bill Hanson at wigs, prosthetics, feature the live and bill.hanson@newsandtribune.com stylings of The or 812-206-2134. You can also stop music and art therapy, massages, and Gatsby Gang Jazz by the Jeffersonville office at 221 many free classes.

Band.

Spring St. “Every dollar we This will also n To donate directly to the Pat be the third year Harrison Cancer Resource Center, raise is one more person helped that the gala has or learn more about using the sold out — which services offered, call 812-288-1156 in some fashion, visit the center at 1206 Spring St., w h e t h e r i t ’ s a means more funds or Jeffersonville. massage for tired, available to help achy muscles gomen and women in the area living with cancer get ing through chemotherapy or music therapy, just to calm their the support they need.

The first four years of the gala minds,” Hanson said.

“Everything you get there brought in more than $120,000, and each year that contribution is free. There are a lot of people with a lot of burdens when grows.

Last year’s was a little over they’re dealing with cancer, $47,000, beating the previous and they shouldn’t have to wor$35,000. News and Tribune ry about [whether] they have publisher Bill Hanson said he’s enough money to buy a headshooting for at least $50,000 scarf to maintain their dignity.” from the 2017 event.

Pat Harrison, namesake of “I’m very pleased that we’ve the resource center who’s celBY APRILE RICKERT

aprile.rickert@newsandtribune.com

This year during Power of Pink, attendees may bid on auction items using an application called Bid Pal on their phones, opposed to the traditional paper method.

ebrating four-and-a-half years cancer-free, said the facility has already helped so many people and she wants to see it continue.

“It’s a wonderful center,” she said. “They’ve done a beautiful job of keeping it the way it should be — it’s very friendly and peaceful, you feel good when you’re there.”

She talked of a man with prostate cancer who was referred there.

“He went in for a massage,” Harrison said. “And he said he never thought in this world he’d have a massage, but it made him feel better. So many people have called me [before] that had no place to go, and now they have a place to [go where they can] talk about their problems.

“If I would have had that venue to go to, it would have been a different attitude for me.”

She said that although we still don’t have a cure, she’s so happy to see awareness and support of those with cancer getting stronger. And she’s thankful to see some of the core fundraising groups — such as Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Gilda’s Club, named after the late Saturday Night Live star Gilda Radner — thriving.

“Women are very powerful when it comes to what they can do,” Harrison said. “And it’s all good. You can’t do enough to get rid of cancer. Every time you hear somebody come up with something, you’re thrilled because that’s a step closer.”

And the Power of Pink Gala will be another great way to show support, as well as a time to celebrate, she said.

“I enjoy being there with my friends and networking and seeing everybody’s smiling faces,” Harrison said. “It’s just a nice evening with good people.”

Hanson said he looks forward to the night being a success.

“I tell everybody when they ask about it, it’s a party for a cause,” he said. “It’s just a time to get together and have fun and raise some money.

“More than anything, I want people to realize that cancer is not going to go away and we have to continue to fight the battle for those who can’t do it themselves.”

Silent auction items big draw at Gala Bid Pal allows monitoring, bidding by phone

BY APRILE RICKERT

aprile.rickert@newsandtribune.com

Another great way to support the Pat Harrison Resource Center is through the Power of Pink Gala’s silent auction, where 100 percent of the proceeds are donated to the center.

This year, featured items include spa packages,

consultation and mammogram screening, exclusive shopping parties at boutiques Colokial and Dress and Dwell, an IU basketball signed by coach Archie Miller, a golf outing, Washburn guitar and pink ukelele, and many more unique items.

New this year is a system designed to streamline

the bidding and checking out process — while making bidding easier for guests.

Bidders traditionally have to return to the table and bid sheets each time they want to up the bid.

This year, they’ll be able to bid through their phones using Bid Pal, allowing them to continue to mingle without constantly stop-

ping to check on bids or up the ante. Semonin Realty is sponsoring the Bid Pal system for this year’s Power of Pink Gala.

Staff will help them sign up at the beginning of the night and then they can work through their phones to bid. Phone charging stations will be set up and although using Bid Pal is not SEE AUCTION, PAGE C7

NEWS AND TRIBUNE | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | C7

AUCTION CONTINUED FROM PAGE C6

complicated, there will be staff on hand to help with any questions or issues.

“They can bid throughout the night,” Stephen Allen, marketing director for the Kentuckiana Newspaper Group, said.

“They don’t have to be right there on the bid sheets monitoring their items.

“Now they will be alerted. If they’re outbid, it will send them a text [saying] ‘Hey, you’ve just been outbid, would you like to increase your bid?’”

Allen said it will also aide in checking out — before, everything needed to be tallied. Bid Pal is an automated system, enabling quicker check out, during which top bidders receive their items and move on quickly without big lines.

“I think the most important thing is that it will streamline the checkout process, so that people aren’t waiting in line for a long time, and also gives them access to the silent auction throughout the night,” he said.

And guests who don’t attend can still bid on a select number of items, which will be posted on the Power of Pink Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ powerofpink.southernindiana/.

To see all auction items, check bidpal. net/powerofpink. The site is updated with new items as they are donated.

Clockwise from upper left, a pink baseball cap and scarf are bundled together in an auction prize basket, A pink bike sporting a large pink bow will be auctioned off during Power of Pink and a pink battery powered vehicle for kids will be among the auction items at Power of Pink. | PHOTOS BY JOSH HICKS

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C8 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

DAWSON CONTINUED FROM PAGE C5

A NEW FEAR

Eighteen years later, Dawson went in for a routine mammogram, which showed a spot on her left breast. At first thought to be a common abnormality and nothing to worry about, the spot proved to be breast cancer.

“Two weeks later, I got a phone call,” she said. “I was at the hair shop, waiting to get a trim. The surgeon said, ‘I’m sorry, you have breast cancer.’”

Dawson said she held it together in the beauty shop until she was done and left to get in her car.

“I sat there and cried and cried,” she said. “I cried all the way home.

I knew I had to come home and tell my husband.”

Dawson said her doctors believe it was the radiation, itself, that led to her developing breast cancer, since it was not hormone-driven, and there is no history of breast cancer in her family.

She said with this second diagnosis, very different from the first, she thought it would take her life.

She remembers thinking,”I’m not going to make it this time.”

“It was very hard to accept that second time,” she said. “The first time, I was so naive about cancer that I didn’t really understand what I was doing or what I was going through. The second time, I just thought ‘OK, this is it.’”

DECISIONS

Initially, the treatment plan was a lumpectomy and radiation. But Dawson’s earlier cancer and radiation meant her body couldn’t tolerate radiation again. She was left with breast removal as her only course of treatment, and opted for the removal of both.

“Losing my breasts to save my life, there was no option,” she said.

“There was no question.”

Dawson elected to have reconstructive surgery as opposed to wearing a prosthetic. Once healed from surgery, she began getting injections to expand her chest and hold the implants. But due to the previous damage to her skin from the lymphoma treatment, she was able to take less fluid than people usually get. “[Because of] the fear my doctor had of my chest ripping because it was so thin,” she said.

Dawson got her implants, smaller than she had been before but that is fine, she said. Since then, however,

she’s had some issues with them.

Early on, too-little scar tissue holding them in place had allowed the implants to deviate from where they’d been put in. She had procedures to help fix this.

Most recently, she’s felt like there’s a tight rubber band around her chest due to scar tissue buildup. This is common among women with implants after breast cancer, but again due to the previous lymphoma, it is more complicated. Everything must be removed, corrected and replaced.

“If I had to do it over, I would have just kept the prosthetics,” she said. “I could have done a lot more things for my family, things for me, instead of always [recuperating from surgeries.]

“However, if it was a breast cancer situation, I could have a double mastectomy again. That did not bother me one bit.”

HEALING

Dawson is now five-years free of cancer. She said that after the second diagnosis, it was hard. It was scary and she wasn’t sure if she could do it.

“But for some reason, the Good Lord still has me here,” she said.

“And I think that is to share this with other women.”

She said that 23 years ago, when she had to take that 10-day break in her radiation treatments, she didn’t think she could go back.

“I told my sister ‘I’m done,’” she said. “‘I actually feel like me. I’m not throwing up. I can eat. I don’t have blisters in my mouth. I could play with my daughter, Morgan.’”

But her sister made a sobering

point that clarified the situation.

“She said to me, ‘If you don’t go back, you won’t play with her,’” she said. “‘You won’t see her graduate.

You won’t see her get married.’

“I went back the next morning.”

Dawson said now, she truly lives her life — traveling with her daughter when she can, and her husband, too; they just got back from a cruise to Alaska.

“You can live life to the fullest or you can live it half,” she said. “And with my situation now, our situation, we try and live it to the fullest.”

She is hopeful that memories of happy times together can overwrite some her daughter has from her mom’s cancer battle.

“We tried to make her life normal with a parent going through treatments and sickness,” she said. “You can’t hide it.”

Dawson said her daughter was always a curious child, so when one day she asked to go to one of the treatments, her parents obliged.

“You never know what your kids are going to say,” she said. “And she asked my doctor if I was going to die. We never took her back. We didn’t want her to think that at 4 years old.”

SHARING

Dawson said that the experiences have changed her for the better.

“Once you’re diagnosed with cancer, one of the first things they tell you is [stay] stress-free,” she said.

“Well, you know that’s fairly hard, but you learn to let the small stuff go. And that’s so easy now.

“I’m a better person because I’m more compassionate now. I’m more caring.”

Dawson shares her story with other cancer survivors, and urges them to ask questions and educate themselves, so they can be active participants in their battle with cancer.

“Don’t give up hope,” she said.

“You have to maintain a positive attitude. You have to maintain that there is a purpose for everything and you need to get through those treatments. It’s hard, but get through those treatments.”

She also encourages them to be participants in fundraising walks and dinners, where they can connect with other breast cancer survivors. It makes you feel alive when you deal with other ladies who have been in your shoes, she said. Dawson believes the act of sharing your stories promotes healing, despite the tears.

“Share your story, don’t hold it in,” she said, “Everybody has a story, we just don’t know it.”

Jill Thomas, left, poses with her mother, Margery Frantz, during a recent outing. Frantz has Stage 4 breast cancer, and Thomas decided to get a hysterectomy and a double mastectomy after tests revealed she has the same gene mutation that caused her mother’s cancer. | PHOTO BY DON KNIGHT / CHNI NEWS INDIANA

BATTLE CONTINUED FROM PAGE C5

According to cancer.gov, BRCA1 and BRCA2 are human genes that, when they have inherited mutations, increase the risk of female breast and ovarian cancers, and these cancers associated with the mutations “tend to develop at younger ages than their non-hereditary counterparts.”

The organization also stated 55 to 65 percent of women who inherit the mutation will develop breast cancer by age 70.

“And I said, that’s too high of a risk for me to just not do (the mastectomy),” Thomas said.

Frantz remained calm after learning about her cancer. In fact, she used to tell her kids, “If I ever get cancer, I will not do anything about it.”

“Well, that’s before she had grandkids,” Thomas said.

Thomas said her children, especially Lily, are at an age where they ask questions about serious medical conditions. For example, Frantz is legally blind and has a plastic eye, and while not noticeable to some, Lily curiously pokes it. She isn’t startled by it. She’s intrigued.

The same interest applied

when Thomas had her hysterectomy and Lily was curious about the scars. Now, it also applies to Frantz’s cancer.

“She gets her little doctor kit out and she wants to check your pressure, and your heart,” Frantz said.

“She’s real compassionate.

I tell her, maybe she’s going to be a nurse because she asks all these questions.”

Frantz said she spends as much time as she can with her “grandbabies,” though she has trouble sleeping some nights and her energy is drained.

For now, she knows she will die from her disease.

Approximately 20 percent of the cancer is in her breast, while the remainder has spread throughout her body. So, she splits her time into doing what she loves and doing what she can to help others with cancer.

Last year, she bought season tickets to see the Indiana Pacers and missed only a few games. She also loves to travel. Her most recent trips were to California and Florida where she played one of her favorite phone gaming apps, Pokemon Go, and “caught” rare Pokemon.

And as for helping other cancer patients, Frantz has already experimented with different medications and participated in studies.

“If I could take a drug, if

NEWS AND TRIBUNE | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | C9

Putting patients in control Baptist Health Floyd clinic offers genetic testing, gene counseling

BY ELIZABETH BEILMAN

elizabeth.beilman@newsandtribune.com

T

Providers at Baptist Health Floyd’s High Risk Cancer Clinic counsel patients through the genetic testing process, preparing them for what they may hear and helping them decide the best course of action.

hough it involves a needle, the blood work is the easiest part of genetic testing. The hard part is deciding what to do if you discover you carry a mutation that predisposes you to breast cancer.

But taking an aggressive approach to prevent the cancer could save your life.

Providers at Baptist Health Floyd’s High Risk Cancer Clinic counsel patients through the genetic testing process, preparing them for what they may hear and helping them decide the best course of action.

“People choose based on what they’re most comfortable with,” Dr. Rosaline Okeke, director of the clinic, said. “Whatever decision they make, we support them through those decisions.”

Since the clinic opened in 2014, it has tested 404 people and found 60 of them to have genetic mutations for some kind of cancer. While some opt for double mastectomies,

others may take less aggressive approaches like preventative medication or lifestyle changes.

The most studied and common genetic mutations are found in BRCA1 and BRCA2. The genes produce tumor suppressor proteins that help repair damaged DNA. When mutated, they may lose some of their function, which can lead to cancer.

Cancer caused by BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations account for 5 to 10 percent of all breast cancers. But having these mutations leads to a 50 to 80 percent chance of developing breast cancer in a person’s lifetime.

They can also lead to ovarian cancer.

Recent research has proven that they aren’t the only genetic mutations that can cause breast cancer.

“Four years ago, for breast cancer screening, we had BRCA1 and 2 to screen for,” Okeke said. “But now, over the past two years, they’ve come up with myriad of tests, genetic mutations that have been shown to predispose [people] to cancer.

“I know in the next five to 10 years, we’re going to have even more genes to look for.”

Dr. Roseline Okeke is an oncologist, hematologist and the director of the Baptist Health Floyd Cancer Clinic.

Since the clinic opened in 2014, it has tested 404 people and found 60 of them to have genetic mutations for some kind of cancer. | STAFF PHOTOS

BY JOSH HICKS

The problem — scientists are finding gene changes that they don’t yet know what they mean. They’re called variants of unknown significance, though research estimates 80 percent of these changes are benign.

SEE CONTROL, PAGE C12

(800) 347–3415 www.padgett-inc.com

STRONG. DETERMINED. COMMITTED. Judy Meeks Porter has breast cancer for the fourth time. | PHOTO BY JOHN P. CLEARY / CNHI NEWS INDIANA

Indiana woman staying positive for fourth time

A

BY DEVAN FILCHAK

CNHI News Indiana

NDERSON — Immediately upon meeting her, Judy Meeks Porter seems like one of the most positive people.

Most people likely wouldn’t guess she has breast cancer for the fourth time.

Meeks Porter had some radiation treatment along her spine for where the cancer has spread, but she is now just taking medication that is fighting the cancer.

Meeks Porter first had breast cancer in 1989 and had a lumpectomy. She had been cancer free for more than a decade when her sister died of breast cancer in 2004.

She was diagnosed again in 2012 and then again in 2014.

Her most recent diagnosis came in February.

Because her disease is advanced after a fourth diagnosis, the Porters’ five children persuaded Meeks Porter to seek treatment with a specialist at MD Anderson in Houston.

Every three months, Meeks Porter makes the 18-hour drive to the Texas city with at least one of her children and husband to see her doctor.

The doctor said the tumors have stopped growing, which is very encouraging, Meeks Porter said. “(The doctor) said I see you living many, many more years,” she said. “We called that pretty darn good news.”

Meeks Porter said she had some thoughts about why she had to be the one to have cancer again, but then she said she thought, “Why not me?”

While it can be hard to stay bright and positive every day, Meeks Porter said she tends to get a text message or a phone call from someone checking in on her and saying they were thinking of her each time she has a rough day.

“I have always had a sunny personality,” she said. “My faith and my family are the top two motivators for me.”

Mike Porter, Meeks Porter’s husband of 17 years, keeps a cool and collected face, but he said they just do everything they can do.

“We just told each other that it is something we had to go through,” he said.

Porter has spent a lot of time researching foods that websites say can help people with cancer.

Meeks Porter said they have a top-of-the-line filtration system for the water she seems to drink endlessly all day.

She said her diet is primarily organic and full of vegetables. For certain vegetables she doesn’t like as much, such as broccoli sprouts, they order a powdered form for her to take along with supplements.

As far as meat goes, the Porters have cut out red meat essentially entirely. Veggie burgers and turkey are common substitutes they two indulge in now.

Other than that, Meeks Porter is taking the doctor appointments in Houston one trip at a time and is keeping up her positive attitude.

“I truly know that whatever happens, it will be OK,” she said.

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C10 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

TAKING A WALK ON THE

POSITIVE SIDE

Cancer survivor Melissa DeLuca gains hope, desire to help others DANIELLE GRADY

F

TYLER STEWART

LOYDS KNOBS — Melissa DeLuca was convinced that she was going to die.

The Floyds Knobs resident had discovered a growth on her chest, and she turned to the internet for information. There, she found pages upon pages of frightening facts about breast cancer, particularly regarding inflammatory breast cancer, or IBC, which carries a low survival rate.

DeLuca sat on her deck one day, not long after she underwent her first mammogram after discovering the lump, going through a mental checklist of what she needed to do before she died.

“I don’t have a will, I need a will,” she thought.

“I need to plan the funeral.”

Twelve years later, she’s able to chuckle at her | SUBMITTED PHOTO reaction. DeLuca, a breast cancer survivor of 10 years, didn’t have IBC. After undergoing a biopsy, DeLuca’s surgeon called her to tell her that yes, she did have cancer, but that it was invasive lobular.

At first, DeLuca hung up, assuming the surgeon meant IBC. But she eventually called back and asked the most important question: Can we fight it?

The surgeon said yes.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” DeLuca said. “That’s all I needed.”

Treatment was difficult. Chemotherapy exhausted her, she needed a double mastectomy, and she also had to undergo radiation.

But she still managed to find the positives in her situation. Hair falling out? DeLuca just thought about all the money she’d save on shampoo and razors. An infection? At least DeLuca didn’t have to be hospitalized.

She never entertained the thought of dying again, and in 2007, DeLuca took her last dose of Herceptin, a drug that keeps her type of cancer from coming back. DeLuca and her husband, Mike, celebrated the milestone with a trip to Jamaica. There, the two snorkeled and enjoyed the beach. “…It was just cathartic,” she said of the experience. “It was just, ‘I’m done. I got through it. We survived.’”

Three years later, the couple started a fundraising event, called the Triumph Gala, to raise money for local cancer centers to buy wigs for chemotherapy patients. DeLuca wanted to help others who were going through what she did.

The annual event went on for three years, growing bigger each time — too big for the DeLucas. The couple asked Clark Memorial Hospital, then owned by the county, to take it over.

The hospital agreed, but the annual fundraiser only happened a few more times before the county sold the facility.

Today, DeLuca is part of a local breast cancer group called the Fillies, which puts on an annual fundraiser. DeLuca also offers to counsel anybody she knows who finds out they have breast cancer.

“Because I wish I would have done that,” DeLuca said. “But I was too stubborn and too self-reliant.”

Cancer has taught DeLuca that sometimes when people say they want to help, you have to say OK. So far, she’s helped three or four women, who agreed to let her in.

Vacations have also changed for DeLuca since she kicked cancer. As often as they can, she and her husband head to the beach for a getaway.

“It’s just our way of celebrating another year of life,” DeLuca said.

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NEWS AND TRIBUNE | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | C11

C12 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

FILLIES WITH LOVE Blankets for recently diagnosed brings comfort

BY DANIELLE GRADY

danielle.grady@newsandtribune.com

S

OUTHERN INDIANA — Still not quite believing she had breast cancer, Tammy Sharp was perplexed by the light pink blanket dropped in her lap by a well-meaning medical professional in 2010.

“What am I going to do with this?” she thought.

But the felt covering soon became Sharp’s constant companion. It warmed her in the chilly doctors’ waiting rooms, The women in Sharp’s group furiously work to make the blankets, cutting and it comforted her when she the felt, tying the edges together and sending the finished product off to returned home, exhausted from one of their volunteers, who embroiders the group’s name on the crethe radiation treatments. “…This is the first thing that ations. The blankets come in all sorts of patterns and colors, Sharp’s own I went to, and that’s what we all touch to the program. | STAFF PHOTOS BY JOSH HICKS Sharp said. say,” she said.

But the undertaking is also The group that gave Sharp her blanket made them for multiple hard work. The women furiously work to make the blankets, new breast cancer patients.

Six months after Sharp start- cutting the felt, tying the edges ed treatment, her blanket was together and sending the finalmost totally worn. She wrote ished product off to one of their a check to the creator for their volunteers who embroiders the gift, but it was sent back. The group’s name on the creations.

The blankets come in all sorts organizer had passed away.

“So I thought, you know of patterns and colors, Sharp’s own touch to the what, we ought HOW TO DONATE program. (The to do this, and get them out to some of • Visit filliesnetworkingluncheon. b l a n k e t s h e r e the places around com and click the “donate today” ceived in 2010 only came in one color). here. Or start get- button At the last event, ting them in some of the cancer care centers,” the Fillies made 100 blankets: the most they’ve ever crafted at Sharp said.

Four years later, Sharp final- one time.

Later, Sheila Meredith drops Tammy Sharp smiles as she tells ly began her own blanket-making organization. Blankets of the blankets, along with letters stories about the group she startHope is an offshoot of another telling the story of who made ed, “Blankets of Hope,” an offshoot group Sharp created: Fillies — them, off at three local cancer of another group she created: for women who have survived centers: Pat Harrison Resource breast cancer and for those who Center, James Graham Brown Fillies — for women who have surare still fighting it.

Cancer Center and the Cancer vived breast cancer and for those The Fillies gather four times Care Center of Southern Indi- who are still fighting it. a year at Country Lake Chris- ana. that she wanted to help them From there, the Fillies can make more. tian Retreat in Underwood to make the blankets. They typ- mostly only imagine the good Sharp and Meredith celebratically arrive on Saturday and they’re doing for women who ed — “because I really would don’t leave until the next day. were once like them. But they The 25 or so women who did recently receive a letter like to hear from them more,” come stay up until 1 or 2 a.m. from one of the patients who Sharp said.

“And it makes you know that making the blankets, talking, used one of their blankets. they’re getting them,” Meredith laughing and even dancing.

The woman told the Fillies “It’s a lot of fun, it really is,” that she loved her blanket and added.

The Baptist Health Floyd Cancer Center is located at 2210 Green Valley Rd. in New Albany. | STAFF PHOTO BY JOSH HICKS

CONTROL CONTINUED FROM PAGE C9

“We tell patients if they have to move away to maintain contact information because in 5, 10 years, if they learn the gene is a problem, at least I can track them and notify them,” Okeke said. “That way, they can have the appropriate treatment or recommendation.”

Until then, doctors and counselors at the clinic look at more than just genetic test results when guiding a patient. They also consider family history and lifestyle choices as risk factors.

Some patients with strong family histories of cancer — multiple cancers at young ages — don’t show any genetic mutation. That doesn’t necessarily mean the care ends there.

“So those patients, we still follow them aggressively because they do have strong history, even though we don’t know of a specific gene mutation that could be responsible,” Okeke said.

The absence of breast cancer in the family also doesn’t mean someone doesn’t have the mutation. Okeke recalled a patient with a strong family history of other types of cancer who carried the BRCA2 mutation.

“We know that not everyone who has a BRCA mutation will even get cancer...,” she said. “But I believe when people know what they have, I think it’s good to be proactive in that if cancer is going to occur, we find it at a very early stage where treatments or recommendations will be less intense... .”

A patient who comes to the clinic will talk to a counselor about what to expect if a blood test finds genetic mutations.

“The counseling’s important because before a patient embarks on getting this type of information, they have to understand what the implications are,” Okeke said. “It’s not good practice to offer a test and we don’t prepare them for the results.”

A double mastectomy reduces the risk of developing cancer by 90 percent, but some women shy away from the surgery because of possible psychological impacts of losing their breasts.

Alternatives include an anti-estrogen medication that reduces the risk up to 60 percent and more frequent exams.

“In that case, our hope is that if we’re going to find cancer, we’re going to find it at a very early stage where they have a higher chance of surviving it,” Okeke said.

While the choices can sometimes be difficult, Okeke believes the high-risk clinic has helped many of her patients. “ ... I’ve had people come here, strong family history, but hasn’t had any testing,” she said. “And I test them and they are positive. And then they go through the surgeries and are doing well and thriving — and they also remember family members who didn’t get the chance or have the opportunity.”

NEWS AND TRIBUNE | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | C13

Tomorrow will take care of itself VanMeter and friend face cancer separately, together ERIN WALDEN

A

JOSH HICKS

ndrea VanMeter wasn’t sure the doctor had it right when she first heard the word

“cancer.”

No one on either side of her family had ever been diagnosed with the disease and it was less than three weeks since she first called her gynecologist, concerned because she thought her nipple had been starting to turn inward.

“At first you think it’s your imagination. I decided I better just call and check on it and my gynecologist wanted to see me that afternoon,” VanMeter said.

The nurse practitioner felt a lump in VanMeter’s breast and a few weeks later a biopsy revealed the diagnosis: breast cancer.

THE CALL

She was working at Ray’s Lawn and Garden Center, the business her family owns and operates in Sellersburg, when she got the call.

“I was just kind of shocked. I was like ‘Are you sure?’” VanMeter said of that conversation with her surgeon.

The very next day — her 44th birthday — she was at the doctor’s office.

“I was sitting in the surgeon’s office and they were awesome. They brought in a birthday cake for me. Right then I knew I was in the right place,” she said.

The next six months were a “whirlwind” for her — a double mastectomy, four rounds of chemotherapy and reconstructive surgery.

“If I have too much time to sit and think, I’ll drive myself crazy, so the fact that this was on the fast track worked out really well,” VanMeter said.

She says family and close friends played a large role in getting her through those

Andrea VanMeter has worked at Ray’s Lawn and Garden in Sellersburg since 2004.

“

“I used to stress over everything and worry about this, that and the other and now I look at things as, you know what. if it gets done it’ll get done. and if not. it’ll be here tomorrow and I’m not going to stress about that.” months, but one in particular was able to help in ways the others couldn’t.

VICKI The first person that VanMeter told was her husband, Jeff, just minutes after finding out herself. Next, she called Vicki.

“She and I had always, from day one, just hit it off,” VanMeter said, smiling at the thought of her friend.

Vicki knew cancer in her

own right; she had been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer before. Thanks to aggressive chemotherapy, she was living cancer-free for about five months when VanMeter got her diagnosis that June.

“She was probably the key person… because she had been through chemo and had already done all this. She told me, ‘You are gonna be fine.’’’ She

was my go-to person,” VanMeter explained.

Vicki told Andrea that day that she was allowed to cry and have a “pity party,” but only for about four minutes or so and after that, she needed to “put big girl panties on and deal with this.”

As it turns out, when VanMeter called her friend to tell her about the diagnosis, Vicki was leaving her own doctor’s office

— Andrea VanMeter

for a routine blood draw.

A week later, Vicki got a phone call from her doctor and found out that her lung cancer was back. They were in it together.

A SHARED BATTLE

Their diseases and treatments were vastly different. As before, Vicki’s tumor was inoperable, so she had to go for chemotherapy.

SEE VANMETER, PAGE C14

C14 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE | STAFF PHOTO

BY TYLER STEWART

VANMETER CONTINUED FROM PAGE C13

Andrea says despite her lump being cancer, she considers her diagnosis lucky. “You almost at times feel a little guilty,” she said. “When my doctor called to tell me I had cancer, she said, ‘If you’re going to have cancer, this is the type to have because we can treat this cancer.’ I was very fortunate, I was able to deal with mine, get rid of mine.”

Throughout their treatment, the duo leaned on each for support. By November, VanMeter was done with treatment and learning how to live as a breast cancer survivor.

For Vicki, the tumor wasn’t responding to the chemotherapy.

“She started chemo for the second time a week before I did, and I was going every three weeks, she was going, I think, every week.” VanMeter said. “When I made it through, she was suppose to be done with chemo, but unfortunately she had gotten so sick at

the end that her blood counts were at such a level that she got pushed back even further.

So she started chemo before I did and was still finishing up her chemo when I finished.”

In July of the following year, Vicki lost her fight and passed away.

“It was horrible, because of anybody, she was such a fighter and such a positive person and to think of all she did for me while she was fighting her own battle. Here I had something that could be taken out and gotten rid of, and she knew that she was going to have to always battle it from the time she found out. It was always going to be in her body, it was just a matter of containing it.”

NOWADAYS VanMeter’s doctors told her that once it was over, she should take some time to decompress and process what she went through.

“At the time I thought ‘oh please, I’m fine’ — but it’s

true. Not quite a year after everything, you start looking back. Now I think, ‘How did I stay so positive and upbeat through all of it?’”

Two years later, VanMeter says she doesn’t worry about the small stuff anymore.

“I used to stress over everything and worry about this, that and the other,” she said, “and now I look at things as, you know what. if it gets done it’ll get done. and if not. it’ll be here tomorrow and I’m not going to stress about that.”

Maybe the only thing she does stress is the importance of others taking their own health seriously and getting regular check-ups.

“You look at other people and you want them to go get their check-ups, you want them to follow through on things because you don’t realize how quickly things can change in your life. I guess with me, everything was going great. Cancer was the last thing I thought I’d have to deal with.”

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NEWS AND TRIBUNE | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | C15

Susie Stewart leads a pilates class called Pink Ribbon Pilates for Southern Indiana women who have survived breast cancer.

PINK RIBBON PILATES

Program helps survivors regain post-treatment flexibility, strength, confidence — not to mention friendships. group exercise opportunity. From sharing their yearly mammogram results to trading stories on treatment ows of women sweat and ex- options and doctor reviews, the surercise on a late Wednesday vivors have formed a bond that no afternoon. Some have on pink one saw coming. shirts, others have pink cups, “We all thought we would benefit one even has a pink ribbon tattoo, but from the exercise; we didn’t know they all have one thing in common: we would benefit from the friendeach is a breast cancer survivor. ships,” Faye Banet said.

Even women like Kelly Blaylock, PINK SWEAT who initially scoffed at the thought The Pink Ribbon Pilates class was of a support group found kinship in started in January 2013 as a way to the sorority, saying, “I really didn’t help women regain dexterity and want to be a part of a group. I went strength after cancer treatment. to another group that was a cancer At the helm of the class is Susie group and I decided that that was not Stewart, a petite woman whose perfor me.

I don’t think that every group sonality is anything but. Stewart, the is right.

You have to find your group. instructor, has never had breast cancer, though she says people often I don’t think that every person needs assume that she has. Rather, her own a group, but I think most people do, nurturing personality combined with they just don’t realize it. I have a familial experience makes her apt for huge church family, a loving husband and boys and a work group that the position.

“My family is riddled with cancer. was behind me, and never thought My mom and sister both had breast that I needed anything else, but now cancer. My mom is now deceased, I hate to miss Wednesday [Pilates].”

“Mentally and physically, it builds not from breast cancer, but I walked through that with her. That she was us up both ways,” Regina Kerber given information and expected to added.

Sharing news is not uncommon, make life saving and altering decisions… it is more stressful and emo- some days half the one-hour block tional than people realize,” Stewart can be dedicated to talking through things, according to Stewart. said.

“We exercise the emotional Even with her prior life experiencstrength just as much the physical es, Stewart said she didn’t understrength without really forcing it,” stand “how strong breast she said. “It just hapcancer survivors were” pened.” before she started leading The women who attend Pink Ribbon Pilates. the class are used to re“We exercise AN EMOTIONAL WORKOUT ceiving and sharing bad The class is based on the emotional news, but in April, news a national program de- strength just as of a much worse nature signed to help breast hit the group: a member cancer survivors regain much the physical lost her battle with breast post-treatment flexibility strength without cancer. and strength in a six-week really forcing it.

LOSS OF A SISTER time period.

It just happened.”

Since the group was “There is nothing about — Susie Stewart, l a u nche d in 2013, no this group that starts class instructor one had lost their life to here, you move out, anthe disease and the passother group comes in. All of you have been in for much lon- ing deeply shook the usually upbeat ger than six weeks. Some have left crew.

“That was a very, very hard thing and then come back,” Stewart said.

“When I first started, they only want- for all of us to absorb and deal with,” ed me to have eight people at a time Stewart said. “Linda [Townsend] in here and I said, ‘I’m not turning was of our very first ones and I had any people away,’ so tonight we had known her for a long time and she 16, I think. I’ve had as much as 18. came religiously and after her first year, she started having some issues.

We have a base of about 28.”

The specialized workouts work for With her cancer, they thought it was the ladies, whose bodies just don’t back and she was having some tests seem to function like they did before run. She was going back and forth for a long time. She shared her good their treatment.

“When I first came, I had no range news with us, she shared her not-soof motion. I had 17 lymph nodes tak- good news with us,” Stewart said.

Members of the group described en out and I had to wear a sleeve and they told me I’d have to wear a Townsend as loving, deeply caring, sleeve my whole life because of the and always smiling.

For some, her death was hard in swelling… I have full range of moother ways beyond the loss of friend. tion now,” Nancy Cottrell said.

“The last thing Linda was on is “They’ve all had breast cancer, but it’s a different diagnosis… The treat- what I was on at the time she ment has been different, the recovery passed,” Blaylock said, who is curhas been different. It is so individu- rently fighting cancer.

Townsend’s passing caused Missi alized,” according to Stewart.” “Just because [a woman] says she has had Trobaugh to wonder about her own breast cancer, doesn’t mean that her future, but also to embrace life. “...[It story is the same as anyone else’s. feels] good to get up in the morning Some of these women have had a and that I have this day ahead of me lumpectomy, some have had a mas- and I feel blessed, but it’s scary.”

“I think it’s especially hard because tectomy, others have had a double mastectomy. Some of them have had she had breast cancer and everyradiation, some chemo, some both. one who comes to this class has had breast cancer,” Stewart said. “Some It’s just a wide variety.”

For the women in the class, it people are still fighting it and that’s serves as more than a specialized very hard when someone ends up

BY ERIN WALDEN

erin.walden@newsandtribune.com

R

“

Carolyn Nunn presses her arms together and cranes her neck to one side during a Pink Ribbon Pilates session. | STAFF PHOTOS BY JOSH HICKS / SEE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS C18

From left, Pat Densford, Regina Kerber and Valerie Helm stretch synchronously during a Pink Ribbon Pilates session.

dying from something that we all thought was gone.”

Due to inclimate weather, there was a very small class at Pilates after Townsend’s death, Stewart said.

The next week, the women were able to talk through how they wanted to memorialize Linda for her funeral service; the decision was made to send three pink carnations and a photo album with pictures of Townsend and all the friends she made at her Pink Ribbon Pilates class, signed by her friends.

“They continue to talk about her and I think she’s going to be very prevalent in our class, maybe even more so now than when she was here with us,” Stewart said.

Townsend will also be remembered during Floyd County’s Relay for Life, thanks to her friends in the Pilates class. These words were printed on a pink banner: “Walking in honor and memory of our Pink Sister Linda Townsend.” The women say they will carry it every year in her memory.

C16 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

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NEWS AND TRIBUNE | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | C17

(SISTERLY) STRENGTH Sisters Susan Higdon & Sheila Meredith triumph over cancer ELIZABETH BEILMAN

S

TYLER STEWART

andwiched between the oldest and youngest sisters, Susan Higdon and Sheila Meredith stuck together growing up.

“The two of us clicked, and we just seem to do everything together,” Susan said.

At 62 and 60, the sisters still talk on the phone every other day.

That’s why something seemed off 11 years ago, when Susan hadn’t heard from her sister for a while.

“I remember she wasn’t calling me, and I told my daughter, I said, ‘Something’s wrong, something’s wrong with Sheila.’ And she said, ‘Just call her,’ and I said, ‘I’m afraid.’”

Susan was right.

“It was a routine mammogram,” Sheila said. “I went in and had my mammogram done, and it was quite a shock. We have no history in our family, so it was a shock.”

At 49 years old, Sheila was told she had breast cancer. What’s even more weird than Susan knowing something was wrong — she was the one who urged her sister, who had gone a few years without an exam, to go for the screening.

“It was scary,” Sheila recalls. “It was probably the scariest moment I’d ever had, because until you know more, you think you’ve just been given a death sentence.”

What ensued next was a whirlwind that enlisted Sheila on a three-year recovery course.

A week after her diagnosis, she received a lumpectomy, or a surgical removal of the lump of cancerous cells. She then underwent 33 rounds of radiation.

Though her cancer was gone, the surgeries (11 in total) continued, as procedure after procedure just wouldn’t stick.

Mastectomy. TRAM flap reconstruction.

And finally, implants.

Knowing what she knows now, she “would have had a bilateral mastectomy and been done with it.”

SEE SISTERS, PAGE C19

C18 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

Warriors in action

Pink Ribbon Pilates program provides outlet for members after treatment while regaining dexterity & strength

Robin Kennedy holds a weight straight out as she works on arm strength during Pink Ribbon Pilates.

The class is based on a national program designed to help breast cancer survivors regain flexibility and strength after cancer treatment in six week time period. | STAFF PHOTOS BY JOSH HICKS

The Pink Ribbon Pilates attendees utilize equipment like weights and chairs during certain exercises to work different muscle groups.

Members of the Pink Ribbon Pilates group walk with a banner honoring the friend they lost to cancer, Linda Townsend. | SUBMITTED PHOTO

For the women in the class, their Wednesday night pilates group serves as more than a specialized exercise opportunity.

They share yearly mammogram results and swap stories on treatment options and doctor reviews.

“When I first started, they only wanted me to have eight people at a time in here and I said, ‘I’m not turning any people away,’ so tonight we had 16, I think. I’ve had as much as 18. We have a base of about 28,” Pink Ribbon Pilates leader Susie Stewart said.

We don’t know how STRONG WE ARE until strong is the ONLY CHOICE WE HAVE We all know a survivor. We all know that awareness is the first step on a long road. The Rasmussen family is proud to support breast cancer awareness in our community.

NEWS AND TRIBUNE | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | C19

SISTERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE C17

“When I was going through it, I did have moments where I felt very alone, because nobody in our family had had it,” Sheila said. “I didn’t have any friends who had had it, so I was kind of fumbling through and just letting the doctors lead my way, which is not always the best way, because you need to take care of yourself.

“But Susan was always there to listen to me when it got too much. She was my rock.”

Things were different for Susan four years later, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was told though it was caught early, it was invasive.

Susan was at a crossroads.

Should she take the same route as Sheila, hoping to save her breasts? Or should she opt for a double mastectomy from the get-go?

“The two of us ... it seems

Sheila Meredith ties the fringe of a pink ribbon blanket together at a coffee shop.

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like we do the same thing,” Susan reflects. The sisters often coincidentally buy the same clothes, the same household appliances. Even their health mirrored one another. One time, Susan got blood clots and then Sheila did, just six weeks later.

“I had watched what she went through and I thought, well, what are the odds that the same thing will happen to me?” Susan said.

She was told if she underwent a double mastectomy, she wouldn’t need to endure radiation or chemotherapy. The odds of her cancer returning lowered to 5 percent.

The choice made itself clear.

Susan opted for a double mastectomy, with the hopes of leaving it behind — and she did.

Two months stood between her diagnosis and her surgery.

Time spent waiting. Worrying.

“And you’re just sitting there thinking, ‘they don’t care if I live or die. They’re just taking their sweet time,’” she said.

That’s where her sister came in. Sheila helped educate her, so she knew what to expect.

She gave her tips on how to recover from surgery.

“There’s nobody like your

Susan Higdon looks over old family photographs with her sister, Sheila Meredith. | STAFF PHOTOS BY JOSH HICKS

sister,” Susan said. “I would tell her things I probably wouldn’t tell my husband, but I’d tell her.” (Both women agreed, though, that their husbands handled the diagnoses and recoveries wonderfully.)

Now both more than five years cancer-free, the sisters are stronger than ever.

They volunteer their time making blankets for Fillies Blankets of Hope. The blankets are dropped off at local cancer

centers. It’s their way of giving back.

“We just feel like when they’re sitting there going through chemo or they’re sitting at home watching TV, they’ve got that blanket to know that somebody out there cares about what they’re going through,” Sheila said.

The sisters are closer now, too. “... If we could get closer, I think we are,” Sheila said.

C20 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

NEWS AND TRIBUNE | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | C21

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C22 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE

Tissue bank needs donations from women of color

BANKING ON A CURE

I

BY REBECCA R. BIBBS CNHI News Indiana

BY REBECCA R. BIBBS

NDIANAPOLIS — About three years ago when an unsolicited email from the Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the I.U. Simon Cancer Center popped up on Donna Zemlick’s computer, she could have just as easily sent it to the recycle bin as open it.

Instead, the Anderson resident found herself on a Saturday morning being ushered through a series of stations at the Coleman Center in Indianapolis, first giving information, then having a spot on her breast numbed and a core about the size of two peas extracted. The entire process, she said, took a couple of hours.

“I’ve been very blessed myself that I’ve never had (breast cancer), but I know other people who have,” Zemlick said. “If they could do a biopsy on mine and find a cure, that would be great.”

Zemlick, 46, who has donated twice, is one of several Madison County Breast tissue donor Donna Zemlick has a laugh with her grandchildren, Taylor Featherstone, 13, women who have contrib- Mason Featherstone, 11, and Shane Featherstone, 14. | JOHN P. CLEARY / CNHI NEWS INDIANA uted to the bank, the only repository in the world over the years, the cen- that bucket. It was like, different stages.

“Our goal is to try to dedicated to the collection ter has conducted 30 col- ‘Hey, this is something lection events in Souththat I can do,’” she said. provide as many version of healthy breast tissue. ern California, Detroit, “That’s just who I am beof normal as we possibly Some other banks collect Louisville and Chicago. cause everybody needs can,” she said. cancerous breast tissue.

In fact, Storniolo said, She is one of 5,000 Collection events are help. If I help one person or a hundred, that would planned for Nov. 11 in breast tissue can change women from 45 states and within the same month the District of Columbia New York City and in be great.”

D r . A n n a M a r i a V . because of the phases of March in Phoewho have donix.

Storniolo, executive di- the menstrual cycle.

TO LEARN MORE nated tissue and O n a v e r a g e , rector of the center, said “To be able to underb l o o d t o t h e • For more information b a n k s i n c e i t on the tissue bank, visit the number of the goal is to collect as stand the complexity of was renamed in komentissuebank.iu.edu. donors per drive many specimens as pos- breast cancer at a molecsible across the continu- ular level, you need to be is up to 200. honor of Susan Zemlick, who um of breast development able to understand norG. Komen in 2007. In all, more than 10,000 wom- s a i d h e r b o y f r i e n d ’ s from puberty through mal. Cancer is the ultien have contributed to the mother and sister are pregnancy, lactation, in- mate in abnormal,” she bank, established several breast cancer survivors, volution or weaning, to said. “Even in its normal said in the past she has menopause. That allows state, it’s an organ that’s years before then.

Because the breast tis- given to United Way and the changes to be mon- changing all the time itored and for research- throughout a woman’s sue bank is in Indiana, Wounded Warrior. “ T h i s w a s s o m e - ers to understand whether normal life.” most of the donations come from there. But thing that kind of fit in treatment is effective at SEE BANK, PAGE C23

CNHI News Indiana

I

NDIANAPOLIS — One of the challenges faced by the Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the I.U. Simon Cancer Center is the collection of samples from women of color.

Dr. Anna Maria V. Storniolo, executive director of the center, said having the tissue of women of varying ethnicities is important because they sometimes have different types of breast cancer, and their breast tissue can vary from that of white women.

For instance, African-American women are susceptible to triple negative breast cancer. That means the tumor is negative for the types of receptors that typically would fuel it, including estrogen, progesterone and HER2.

“The implications for treatment are very different. What that begins to tell us is that our efforts at breast cancer prevention is not one size fits all,” Storniolo said.

In addition, she said, black women have a type of cell structure even at age 50 that is closer to that of stem “What that begins cells, the basic type of cell that can transform to tell us is that into almost any oth- our efforts at er type of cell. White breast cancer women, on the other hand, have a more “ma- prevention is not ture” cell structure, she one size fits all.”

— Dr. Anna Maria V. Storniolo said.

“It kind of makes sense because the human race started in Africa,” she said. “What we’ve learned interestingly by putting some of these cells in culture is that our stem cells, the breast stem cells, are different race to race. And that interestingly, they mimic the kinds of breast cancer that develops in those races.

For many women of color, Storniolo said, cultural issues present barriers to tissue donation. In each instance, an effective message encouraging tissue donation must be delivered by women who look like them, she said.

“There are a lot of ethnic beliefs that we kind of really need to understand,” she said.

For instance, among black women, the Tuskegee experiment, the history of the use of slave women without anesthesia in the advancement of gynecology and the distribution of the cervical cancer cell culture of Henrietta Lacks have left them leery, Storniolo said.

But more African-American women took the center’s appeal more seriously over the past five years once the messaging revealed that they often have a different type of breast cancer.

SEE DONATIONS, PAGE C23

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BANK CONTINUED FROM PAGE C22

Once the tissue and blood are collected, they are processed on-site, with part of the sample snap-frozen in nitrogen and part fixed in a common preservative and processed the same as a tumor removed in surgery, Storniolo said.

“We try to keep it as unblemished as possible so that the individual investigator can do with it as he or she needs because science is always changing. It changes month to month,” she said.

Every sample, Storniolo said, is examined under a microscope.

Because the bank is collecting normal tissue, there is no expectation that cancerous tissue would be found.

However, Storniolo confirmed donors are told they would not be notified if their tissue was found to contain cancer.

“This was never intended to be a diagnostic biopsy,” she said.

Based on donor data collected by the center, researchers can requests specimens based on variables such as age or smokers versus non-smokers, Storniolo said.

“Some investigators interested in women who were hypertensive during pregnancy, and we were able to find enough specimens to send to that investigator.”

Costs include $75 per hour for tissue bank staff

to collect data from donors and samples from $50 to $225, depending on the sample type.

According to center statistics, tissue from the bank has been a resource for 117 research projects worldwide, including Purdue University, the Mayo Clinic and the University of Queensland in Australia. Samples from the bank have been used for 35 published studies.

“One person’s donation can be used something like 10 or 12 experiments, and that doesn’t even include the data they give us, which can be used without the tissue itself,” Storniolo said.

DONATIONS CONTINUED FROM PAGE C22

Among Latina women, Storniolo said, the issues include linguistic access, distrust and a Catholic religious tradition that differs slightly from that of women from a European background.

In short, she said, they tend to believe that when bad things happen, including the development of breast cancer, it’s the will of God, and that is not to be changed.

Among Asian women, Storniolo said, there’s a sense that breast cancer is a disease that does not affect them, so there is no reason to donate tissue. Also, Asian women have a very strong sense of propriety and keeping the body intact, she said.

Ethical considerations In 1951, researchers at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland were able to create an “immortal” cell culture, known as HeLa,

from the cervical cancer of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman who died that same year.

That culture became controversial because, as was the practice at that time, no consent was obtained from Lacks or her family to culture the cells, nor was she or her family compensated for their use, which over the decades has resulted in the exchange of millions of dollars. In addition, the source of the cells, which continue to be used in medical research today, raised concerns about privacy and patients’ rights.

Dr. Anna Maria V. Storniolo, executive director of the Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the I.U. Simon Cancer Center, said she and her staff have measures in place to resolve some of these past issues. For instance, tissue donations

are treated as a clinical trial, and consent is received from every donor.

“We take our responsibility, incredibly, incredibly seriously,” she said.

Stor niolo said only she and five employees know anything about the sources of the donations, such as names and demographic information.

“They will be forever for all intents and purposes de-identified,” she said.

Those who walk donors through the consenting process must pass a consenting course and become certified annually, she added.

“The consent clearly gives us permission to use and distribute the cells to other investigators who will use it for breast cancer-directed research,” she said. “It’s incredibly important that they understand what they sign to.”

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C24 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 | NEWS AND TRIBUNE