LIFE
12 • Thursday, October 1, 2020
OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL
HEALTH SPECIAL SECTION
‘You’re a Survivor’ BCRFA’s Amy Passey Shares Her Decade-Long Breast Cancer Journey
By Emily Williams
this for me,” Passey said. “Somebody did this for my mom way back in the day so that I could have a normal life while somebody else was sitting with my mom when she was going through chemo. So, I feel like I am paying back and paying forward.” Over the years, she has found that cancer truly knows no bounds, finding people from all walks of life present whether in a support group or at a fundraising event. “There are so many people who want to find a cure, not because it’s going to help someone they know right now who has breast cancer, but it’s going to help somebody down the road,” Passey said. And it is the future that drives her continued support for cancer research.
Cheerleaders Create Posters to Cheer on O’Neal Cancer Center Patients ....PAGE 17
Photo courtesy Amy Passey
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ater this fall, Amy Passey will celebrate her 11th year as a breast cancer survivor, counting back from the day she received her diagnosis in 2009. “I always tell the people I mentor that you become a survivor the day you are diagnosed,” Passey said. “Because if you don’t fall over of a heart attack the day you are diagnosed, you’re a survivor.” The more than 10 years since have changed her life, she believes, for the better. “It’s an incredible journey … I remember saying to my husband when I first finished treatment, ‘You know what, this might be the best thing that ever happened to me,’” Passey said. “And he went, ‘I’m not there yet.’” Breast cancer is not only a bullet point in her life but a constant theme that has driven her past and continues to shape her vision for the future. “My mother died at 41 of breast cancer,” Passey said. “She was diagnosed at 33. I was 14 and am one of four daughters.” Passey’s youngest sister was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2009, shortly before her own diagnosis, and passed away several years later. Despite the bad, Passey has continued to see the good that has come out of her relationship with breast cancer. It’s not something she has in common with others, she said, even her sister. “Some people see breast cancer as a fight, and some people view it as a journey,” she said. “I chose to view it as a journey and I still feel like it’s a journey. “It doesn’t end when you finish treatment. There are still side effects, there’s still medicine I have to take, but, as I say all the time, they are very mild because I’m here. My baby sister wasn’t that lucky.” When Passey’s sister found out she had breast cancer, all four siblings began more seriously monitoring their own risk. “We asked a genetic counselor what we needed to do to be proactive and she said you need to alter-
Advocating for Awareness
Amy Passey
nate a mammogram with an ultrasound every six months,” Passey said. “I just routinely scheduled it and they caught mine.” Before her cancer journey, Passey was a fulltime teacher with a vision for her future. When she quit working, she would devote her time to her passions – Camp Winnataska and her church, to name just two. “Of course, now my priorities have changed because breast cancer is one of the main things I want to devote my time to,” she said. For about the past eight years, Passey has been involved in some way with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama working to further research efforts. She has worked as a volunteer, served on the board of directors and, most recently, worked parttime for the organization as an office assistant. Unofficially, she mentors other women on their cancer journey. It’s often someone who is a neighbor of a friend or another acquaintance who later becomes a great friend. “What I always tell them is that somebody did
Passey celebrates Breast Cancer Awareness month in a similar fashion each year. She promotes awareness as far as she can reach, sharing Breast Cancer Research Foundation events and sending out text messages to her closest friends to remind them to make sure they get their annual mammograms. Promoting breast cancer screenings such as mammograms and self-checks is huge for Passey. “It’s really huge to me because my baby sister felt the lump, went to the doctor … and he told her because she had just finished nursing three babies back-to-back, that it was probably nothing.” When her sister was finally diagnosed, the lump was at 8 centimeters and the diagnosis, in turn, was far more severe than it might have been earlier. “I think women so often let their health slide, especially when they have young kids,” she said. “My mom did the same thing. She felt the lump in the spring and didn’t go to the doctor until almost a year later. By then it had spread, and she lived for eight years.” “Out of four sisters, every one of us had girls,” Passey said. “So, there are nine nieces.” Many of Passey’s nieces already have been connected with a high-risk clinic to monitor their own health. Her eldest daughter just turned 25 and is in the process of getting into the high-risk clinic at UAB. “One in eight women are usually diagnosed with breast cancer, so I’m determined that we will have a cure,” Passey said.
Risk/ Reward Cancer Patients Need to Continue Treatment Even Under the Threat of COVID-19, Doctors Say
By Emily Williams
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randview Cancer Center’s Dr. William H. Ennis doesn’t work in public health, so pandemic shutdowns were as much a surprise to him as they were for much of the public. As a radiation oncologist, many of the patients who Ennis works with are at a higher risk of having a more serious case of COVID-19 should they contract the virus. But the hospital hasn’t closed its doors during the pandemic, and not a single radiation oncology patient missed a treatment because of hospital actions, he said, despite hospital workers spending the first months of the pandemic battling with a lack of testing and a nationwide PPE shortage, as well as general fear. “Certainly, with the shutdown, initially we had folks who weren’t coming for regular screenings,” he said. “It’s something that we wouldn’t recommend missing a whole year of.” The hospital has since implemented a variety of safety measures to ensure the safety – and peace of mind – of patients and staff. “We know that radiation can impact the immune system,” he said. “It’s not as overwhelming as chemotherapy is, but a lot of our patients are on chemotherapy as well as radiation or have just finished chemotherapy.” In addition, many people suffering See REWARD, page 13
Beyond Physical Activity By Solomon Crenshaw Jr. Jeff Underwood remembers when staffers at Lakeshore Foundation went to the board and asked for more space. Underwood remembers that request, which came about 22 years ago, being met with questions from
board members about what would be accomplished with that space. “I remember the presentation I made, and we had a lot of conversation,” said Underwood, the Lakeshore CEO. “If we get this building, we’ll do this many more classes, we’ll serve this many more people. We’re going to do everything we can to
become the (Olympic/Paralympic) training site, we’re going to start a research program.” That request yielded the Lakeshore Foundation Fieldhouse, which has given prospective Olympians and Paralympians a place to train. It’s also provided a place where disabled indiSee LAKESHORE, page 16
Journal photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
New Additions Will Help Lakeshore Surpass Its Goals, CEO Says
Lakeshore CEO Jeff Underwood in the new multipurpose room.
