Daily Journal Brave Hearts

BRAVE HEARTS

HEARING THE NEWS

Everything freezes COPING WITH CANCER

‘You have to fight’ NEW TREATMENTS

Screenings save lives NUCLEAR OPTION

Preventive mastectomy MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Raising money, hope Almost 200,000 women this year will learn they have breast cancer. But as those who’ve fought the disease know, amid the despair, fear and pain can be found hope, life and even laughter.

DAILY JOURNAL

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 C1

C2 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

BRAVE HEARTS

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

Someone dies from breast cancer once every

40,000 70% 14 minutes Women in the United States expected to die from breast cancer this year

Breast cancers that develop in women with no family history of the disease

From the editor

L

ife takes on a new hue when you hear the words, “You’ve got breast cancer.”

To be sure, there is disbelief and fear. But in the midst of tears and treatment comes power. The power of hope. The power of inspiration. The power of faith. And even the power of laughter.

We’ve felt that strength as we have spent the past few months talking to dozens of families, caregivers and breast cancer survivors who all have stared down a disease that kills one person every 14 minutes.

Our initiative focuses on breast cancer, but the stories really are about the remarkable resiliency of the human spirit.

The Brave Hearts in this special section graciously and frankly shared what it means physically, spiritually and mentally to be confronted with their mortality.

They let you in on their darkest hours. The moment in the still of the night when she wondered if her children would grow up without a mom. The moment when she took a deep breath, looked in the mirror and saw only scars where her breasts had been. The moment when she learned the cancer had spread beyond her breasts. The moment when she buried a sister.

But they also show you how light overtakes darkness.

The moment when she knew God and her faith were stronger than any disease. The moment when she put on a rhinestone tiara and pink boa and did the dance of joy after a clean mammogram. The moment when she heard her husband tell her she was the most beautiful woman in the world even if she was bald and sick. The moment when she thought cancer just might be a blessing that taught her the most important of life’s lessons.

There’s Stephanie Stewart, who first thought cancer was a curse.

“To me, it ended up being a good experience. It changed me in many ways. I’m closer to God,” she said There’s Kelly Gough, who lost a sister to cancer and now knows life is a precious gift.

“I could be filled with anger because of my sister’s outcome, but instead I am a little more patient and positive in everyday life,” she said.

There’s Terese Carson, who learned strangers can be angels.

“I realized how much people love and care for you, even if they don’t know you. People who I didn’t even know were praying for me, and that’s a powerful experience,” she said.

Indeed it is.

We are grateful to the men and women who opened their hearts and so honestly shared their stories. We were inspired by their brave hearts.

You will be, too.

— Scarlett Syse, editor

A family history

Missing the call

D6

C6

Don’t give up hope

Drawn together

E1

D1

Breast reconstruction restores normalcy .....................................C4 “No one knows what you’re going through but God.” ..................C5 Better technology leads to better screenings ...............................C7 Genetic mutation radically increases cancer risk .........................C8 When preventive mastectomy is the best choice .........................C9 Patient urges others to keep sense of humor .............................C10 Husband recalls wife’s fighting spirit .........................................C11 Woman insists on visit to specialist ............................................D2 Mother, daughter battle cancer decades apart..............................D3 Fundraiser inspired by late sister ................................................D4 Hitting the pavement for a good cause ........................................D5 Tissue bank researchers working for a cure.................................D7 Breast cancer makes second appearance ....................................D8 Woman struggles with side effects of treatment........................... E2 “Why not me? Look at the statistics.” .......................................... E3 Changes to federal screening guidelines spread confusion ......... E4 Children help woman through cancer fight ................................. E5 “Being aggressive is what I needed to do.” ................................. E6

On the cover: Photo illustration by Scott Roberson; section design by Jennifer L. Gaskin. Statistics throughout provided by American Cancer Society and health agencies.

4,400 80% 337

Indiana women who died from breast cancer between 2003 and 2007

Risk of developing breast cancer if BRCA genes are present

Women in Johnson County diagnosed with breast cancer between 2003 and 2007

BRAVE HEARTS

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 C3

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BRAVE HEARTS

C4 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

Getting back to

normal

Bargersville resident embraces reconstruction process

J

udy Allen has offered to let near-strangers touch her And she didn’t want people to see her bald head, even if that breasts. meant she put on a wig whenever she left her house.

The 62-year-old Bargersville resident doesn’t mind Losing her hair was extremely upsetting to Allen, something being open with fellow cancer survivors when they ask others just couldn’t understand. her about reconstructive surgery. She believes that “Everybody else would say that should be the least of your knowledge is what women need when worries. But it was really important to me,” she making decisions about their treatment. said.

And she lost most of her bashfulness when she

By February, when her hair began growing went through months of surgeries and treatment back, Allen started becoming more comfortafter being diagnosed with breast cancer in able going out without her wig. And she was October 2009. surprised at people’s response: They didn’t “Before, I would never even go shower in a stare. state park. But now, I’m not modest. I’ve She got one question from a child at an showed my breasts to so many doctors and nursEaster egg hunt, asking what kind of cancer es, it doesn’t matter anymore,” Allen said. she had. And she was shocked that he was so A year after being diagnosed with Stage 2 familiar with it. cancer, Allen is undergoing a mild version of Her quest for normalcy may have been chemotherapy treatments every three weeks another reason Allen decided to have reconand is nearly finished with reconstructive surstructive surgery, which she knew would gery after a double mastectomy. require extra surgeries.

Allen tells anyone who asks about the process After the tissue expanders were put in of reconstructive surgery, one that scared her place during her mastectomy, doctors would initially but now fascinates her. fill them every so often so they could expand When she decided to have a double mastectoher breasts. This summer, when she felt they my, Allen was terrified of the pain she thought were at the size she wanted — the same size she’d be in. she’d always been — Allen went in for anothShe had never had surgery in her life, not er surgery this summer to have implants put even a tonsillectomy, so she had no idea what to into her breasts. expect.

Her surgeon did tell her that if she ever But she was surprised when she woke up to wanted to change her breasts, now would be Judy Allen find a small incision where they had cut her the time. And he joked with her husband before Bargersville open, taken off her nipple and hollowed out her surgery about what larger size he would want breast. them to be.

She took pain medication for a while, but a “He said, ‘The first time, you get what nature few days after surgery, she was back on her feet, eating normally gives you. The second time, you get to pick,’” she said. and feeling fine.

Once the implants are in place, the next surgery is to create The day of her surgery, she had the doctors insert tissue nipples. The surgeon cuts three triangular pieces of skin into the expanders, the first step of reconstructive surgery. breast and twists them to form a nipple.

She hadn’t initially been worried about losing her breasts.

The final step is to have the skin tattooed a darker color, “To me that wasn’t important. I just wanted them to get it all,” resembling the look of natural nipples, she said. she said.

Allen was amazed at pictures she saw of women after they had She already had been through so much, with chemotherapy reconstructive surgery and how natural their breasts looked. that left her weak and dehydrated and then the mastectomy. She And that’s why she is willing to let new patients touch her questioned whether she wanted to go through even more surgerbreasts, so they can have an idea of what they will feel like if ies to have her breasts reconstructed. they decide to have surgery.

Her husband said he didn’t care if she had the surgery, but he Since being diagnosed, Allen has become much more interestdidn’t want her to regret her decision later if she chose not to ed and involved in cancer groups and awareness. She attends have it done. meetings with support groups, where she tries to help women Then she read books her doctor gave her that talked about con- recently diagnosed. fidence and self-esteem and she thought about the pool in her And she has become an advocate for regular mammograms, back yard, where she often swims with her grandchildren. since that is what likely saved her life.

“I thought I may as well go all the way. It puts you back to as Allen was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in October much of a normal appearance as you could be,” she said.

2009, only five months after a mammogram in May showed a tiny Normalcy was important to Allen while she was going through spot, likely about the size of a grain of sand. In September, she treatment. found a lump in her breast while she and her husband were on During chemotherapy, she continued working long days for a vacation in Europe. local accounting firm, helping out during tax time. Her typical Her mammogram showed she had two lumps, the size of her 12-hour days sometimes were shorter and often broken up by a thumbs. nap or two at the office.

She can only imagine how much the cancer could have spread if But working was important to her. she had waited a year or even two years for her next mammogram.

“That kept me determined. I’m going to beat it. It’s not going “If I wouldn’t have caught it, it could have spread fast,” she to slow me down. I’m going to continue working,” she said. said.

“

Before, I would never even go shower in a state park. But now, I’m not modest. I’ve showed my breasts to so many doctors and nurses, it doesn’t matter anymore.

Judy Allen Age 62

Residence Bargersville

Diagnosed October 2009; Stage 2 Her2-positive

Treatment Double mastectomy, chemotherapy, Herceptin

What cancer taught me I have a new appreciation for life. I don’t take family or friends for granted.

How cancer changed me I do more volunteer work. I am working with cancer support groups to help other women who have been diagnosed. I talk to almost everyone I see about cancer.

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer Do research. Know your options. Talk to other patients about what they did and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Pictured: Nurse Deanne Lough attaches an IV to a port that was placed in Judy Allen’s chest last year. The port makes giving medication simple and keeps veins from being damaged by needle sticks.

STORY BY ANNIE GOELLER PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

BRAVE HEARTS

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 C5

‘Enough surgeries’ Medical crises follow chemotherapy

A

s she lay on the operating table, her skin pale and her Brownfield was short of breath, which was a possible side effect body weak from blood loss, Barbara Brownfield wonof the chemotherapy. dered for the first time if breast cancer was going to But she got concerned when the symptoms didn’t stop, so she claim her life. went to the hospital. They found a blood clot in her lung. Shortly She already had gone through multiple hospital after, doctors found another in her leg. visits, chemotherapy and a double For about a month, Brownfield spent nearly mastectomy. Now, she had to have yet another every weekend in the emergency room. surgery to fix a hematoma, where blood pools Her body ached from the chemotherapy treatinside the body. ment, but with every ache and pain, Brownfield She was exhausted, mentally and physically. panicked and wondered if it was yet another And she was worried what would happen next. blood clot.

Brownfield, 65, doesn’t like to tell everyone “I was in tears. I was just so tired of it,� she said. about her cancer treatment.

Doctors put her on a blood thinner to stop the clots.

It’s not that she feels her experience was too A few months later, she had the double mastectomy. personal or she doesn’t feel comfortable talking A few days later, Brownfield woke up, sensing about it. Brownfield worries she will scare people. something was wrong. “You want people to be aware. I just don’t want Something in her body hurt, and she began people to think it is going to happen to them pulling at her skin. She turned on the light and because it may not,� she said. found that she was lying in a pool of blood.

After being diagnosed in August 2009, She called a neighbor, who works as a nurse.

Brownfield got two blood clots during chemotherShe helped wrap Brownfield and clean up the apy and suffered from a hematoma after a double bed. They called her doctor, who met them at the mastectomy. office and then sent her straight to the hospital.

She made multiple trips to the emergency Brownfield had a hematoma, causing swelling room, and she became a hermit for months, closand causing her body to drain too much blood. eting herself in her Trafalgar home to avoid any The doctor planned an immediate surgery to possible illnesses she could get by coming in condrain the excess blood and stop the swelling. tact with people.

Brownfield was pale and exhausted. Her family At times, she couldn’t even see her grandchildren. came to see her, with tears in their eyes and conShe remembers the looks on her family’s faces cerned looks on their faces. They kissed her and Barbara Brownfield as she prepared to go into surgery to drain the told her they loved her. pooling blood from the hematoma and stop the She didn’t speak. All she could think of was Trafalgar swelling in her chest. They were crying, and she stopping the pain. was barely strong enough to speak. “That day, when I went into surgery, was the Her surgeon stroked her arm, a concerned look on her face, and first time I thought, ‘Am I going to make it?’� she said. told her she’d be OK. She did, but her recovery was rough after that second surgery.

In the end, she was. But Brownfield credits her faith with helping She didn’t feel well. She had to visit the doctor two more times for her get through it all. problems with her incision. “Everything I went through is a blessing. If people aren’t reliIn the end, when she was presented with the option of having gious, they don’t understand that. You really don’t know what you reconstructive surgery on her breasts, Brownfield knew the answer can go through until you go through it,� she said. immediately.

Brownfield was diagnosed with cancer after a routine mammoNo way, she said. gram showed an abnormality. She was called back in, which wasn’t Not having the surgery can make clothing and bathing suit shopunusual because she’d had cysts in the past. ping more complicated. But Brownfield had had enough surgeries. “I said, ‘I’m 65, and I just don’t want any more,’� she said.

But she thought the doctor would want an ultrasound. Instead, Brownfield credits her family, friends and her faith in God with her doctor told her she would need a biopsy. helping her make it through her treatment.

When the tests came back, the news was cancer, but her doctor Family and friends came over and brought dinner. They sent her wasn’t sure how bad it was. flowers. They prayed with her.

At first, she thought she could do a lumpectomy; but when the But she felt like God was the only one who truly understood what cancer was determined to be Stage 2, that wasn’t an option. she was going through.

Brownfield was going to have chemotherapy and radiation, and “When you’re by yourself on those tables, no one else is with you or then she decided to have a double mastectomy. knows what you’re going through. But God does,� Brownfield said.

Soon after starting chemotherapy, problems began.

“

Everything I went through is a blessing. If people aren’t religious, they don’t understand that. You really don’t know what you can go through until you go through it.

Barbara Brownfield Age 65

Residence Trafalgar

Diagnosed August 2009 with invasive ductal carcinoma Stage 2 triple negative

Treatment Double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation.

What cancer taught me Slow down. Had always been a very stressful person. Took everything home with me. And I don’t anymore. More religious now, you have to turn that over to the Lord.

How cancer changed me More compassionate now. I really want to be a good example for a cancer patient and for my religion. I want to pay it forward. I want to use this to help other people.

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer Turn it over to the Lord. You’ll get through it. You think you can’t, but you can.

Pictured: Trafalgar resident Barbara Brownfield says her faith in God guided her through a bout with breast cancer.

STORY BY ANNIE GOELLER PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

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BRAVE HEARTS

C6 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

Wait lifetime of a

Entire family affected by delayed diagnosis

T

raci Cox turned in bed, clutching her sheets as to have her mother’s help, but at the same time, felt guilty, she looked to the clock on her nightstand. she said.

It was almost midnight and she still hadn’t fall“A lot of times it bothers me,” Traci Cox said. “I’m supposed en asleep. She sighed and turned again. Her mind to be the one taking care of her, not her taking care of me.” was buzzing with thoughts that wouldn’t let her Cox’s treatment started about a month after she was diagrelax. nosed. She had six months of chemotherapy, and each chemo She had cancer. Or at least she was pretty sure she had cansession lasted up to five hours. cer. She had to wait for the entire weekend to She’d sit in a room filled with seven or pass before she would find out for sure. eight people going through the same proceShe would have known already, but she had dure, and they’d watch television, look out missed her doctor’s call on Friday. So she the window at bird feeders and talk. had to wait. Until Monday.

They’d chat about how they were dealing Maybe it wasn’t cancer, she thought as she with their cancer, whether they still were turned again and tried to get comfortable. working and their families.

Maybe she had a calcium buildup or a “It was my little chemo clique,” she said. clogged duct or something.

The friends helped distract her from the No, that’s wishful thinking, she told herbags of chemicals pumping into her body self. through a small port surgically installed on “Deep down, I knew,” the Franklin resident her chest. said. “My body was telling me that someHer first few treatments were relatively thing was wrong.” easy, she said. She had expected severe nauCox was diagnosed with breast cancer in sea and crippling fatigue, based on horror July 2008, and after more than two years, stories she had heard. she’s still recovering from her battle with the But the chemo didn’t start to wear her invasive disease. down until after a couple of weeks.

Traci Cox A single mom, Cox didn’t have a hand to She often felt weak and didn’t want to get hold throughout the ordeal, but she did have out of bed. A part of her wanted to stop Franklin help from her children and her mother, she going to the sessions, but she knew that was On her daughter said. Cox’s mother is in her 80s but still ridiculous thinking. helping through her healthy enough to run marathons, she said.

“It was very nerve-racking,” Katt Cox Cox’s battle with cancer started when she said. “She would get up in the morning and recovery process kept getting pains on the right side of her be perfectly fine, then five hours later, she’d chest. be sick and wouldn’t move.”

She went to see her doctor, but a mammoCox lost her appetite during her chemogram showed no signs of lumps; neither did any of her mamtherapy, and for some reason, Wendy’s was the only food she mograms from the previous eight to 10 years, she said. She had a craving for, she said. later would learn the lump wasn’t showing because she had Her daughter would take frequent trips to the restaurant to dense breasts, she said. pick up baked potatoes with sour cream or Baconator sandThe pain persisted, and eventually, her armpits started wiches. swelling. She went to the doctor again for a different test, simTwo weeks of chemo passed before she started losing her ilar to an ultrasound. hair, and she decided she didn’t want to buy a wig, she said.

“That’s when everything started going downhill,” she said.

She’s not sure why; she just didn’t want to mess with one, She saw other women in the doctor’s office have the same and a bandana worked just as well for covering up her baldkind of test and leave immediately, but she was asked to stay ness, she said. and wait after her test was done, she said.

The only time she did wear a hairpiece was Halloween, “I knew then it wasn’t good,” she said. when she bought a long pink wig.

Doctors avoided using the “C” word when they shared her Katt Cox thought the reality of the situation had settled in, but then she saw her mother without hair for the first time. results and told her about the lump they had found, Cox said.

“That’s when it really hit home,” she said. “That was when I She had to wait about a week to get the results, and she first really realized she was sick.” assumed they would be positive. She wouldn’t have had to wait as long as she did, but she missed her doctor’s call on a Traci Cox’s moment of realization followed her double masFriday and had to wait until Monday. tectomy in December.

“They called, and I told them, ‘It’s positive for cancer, isn’t Afterward, she went home and looked at herself in the mirit?’” she said. “They said ‘Yeah, it is.’” ror. She saw herself with a flat chest and no hair, and the Her children were more worried about the results than she image showed her the seriousness of her situation and how was, she said. cancer had changed her, she said.

Their grandfather had died of cancer, and they wanted to But she didn’t break down and cry until later, during a visit know what would happen to their mother, Cox said. to a gas station.

“I had to keep telling them, ‘It’s going to be fine; it’s going She was wearing her bandana at the time and walked up to to be all right,’” she said. a clerk to pay.

Daughter Katt Cox was about to start her first semester at “She called me ‘sir,’” she said. “I just rushed out crying.” college when she found out about her mother’s cancer, but she Cox refused to let her grief and stress shut her down comdecided to take a semester off and stay home instead. pletely, she said.

“I knew college could wait,” she said. “I didn’t know how She kept working as a Greenwood police dispatcher during much help she was going to need, so I wanted to be there.” her treatment, although she had to take a leave of absence Katt Cox was used to having a mom who was always confrom a second part-time job she had as a bus driver for cerned and nagging, in that loving way only mothers can get Franklin schools. away with, she said.

Cox lost about $800 a month in income and at the same time “She was the one who was always asking me if I was doing had thousands of dollars worth of hospital bills. my homework and stuff like that,” she said.

Luckily, she discovered she had signed up for a cancer poliTheir relationship changed after her mother was diagnosed cy through her insurance without realizing it, she said. with cancer.

The insurance helped, and two of her co-workers with “I was asking her, ‘Do you need me to call you in sick? Are Greenwood police organized a golf benefit for her, she you making sure you’re drinking your water?’” Katt Cox said. said.

“It was very different. It took some getting used to.”

Everyone involved with the benefit signed a large pink flag Traci Cox’s mother would help by making meals and taking that Cox framed and hung on her living room wall. care of the two family dogs, Dodge and Maggy. She was glad “It’s my most cherished possession,” she said.

“

A lot of times it bothers me.

I’m supposed to be the one taking care of her, not her taking care of me.

Traci Cox Age 42

Residence Franklin

Diagnosed July 21, 2008. Doctors found a lump in her breast. Initially, mammograms showed no signs of a lump because she has dense breasts.

Treatment Six months of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and two months of radiation. She had reconstructive surgery in July.

What cancer taught me “If you want to do something, do it. Don’t wait.”

Whether you want to learn Spanish, take piano lessons or learn how to use a bow and arrow, don’t delay.

How cancer changed me “I used to tolerate a lot of things. Now, if something’s not going right, I don’t have patience.”

When dating, for example, she can tell within minutes whether a relationship with the man would work out. If she knows a relationship would never work, she doesn’t bother with a second date.

What I would tell someone recently diagnosed with cancer All of what you are feeling is valid.

Pictured: Melia Vandivier, left, draws eyebrows onto Traci Cox at her Franklin permanent makeup studio. Cox still is taking chemotherapy for breast cancer and has been self-conscious about not having eyebrows.

STORY BY JASON MICHAEL WHITE PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

BRAVE HEARTS

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 C7

New detection tools Better technology can find cancer in earliest stages STORY BY RYAN TRARES PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

A

tiny scope, inserted into the breast duct, can find lesions that are years away from turning into cancer.

Increasingly intense imaging can spotlight a cancerous cyst the width of a grain of rice.

In Dr. Denise Johnson Miller’s daily struggle against breast cancer, better technology means more survivors.

Since Johnson Miller took over as director of breast surgery at St. Francis Hospital, her approach blends high-tech tools with established techniques such as mammograms and self-exams. New tools seek out cancers in their infancy, making for earlier diagnoses and saving more lives.

“If you’re in early stage, chances are good you’re not going to die from breast cancer,” she said. “Get your screening done, and if something is found early, you’re most likely going to live.”

Johnson Miller joined St. Francis Hospital last year. Her specialty is breast cancer and melanoma surgery.

Before coming to Indianapolis, she was associate professor of surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. She also directed the melanoma surgery program at the school and was the general surgery section chief at Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Her focus in California was on general surgical oncology, but breast cancer education was one of her passions. Throughout the Stanford and Palo Alto, Calif., community, she helped organize cancer awareness events and screenings for the general public.

Dr. Denise Johnson Miller, left, talks with patient Phyllis and Sue Dumm during a post-operation follow-up appointDumm, right, and her daughters, Vicki Anderson, left center, ment at Johnson Miller’s office at St. Francis Hospital.

Coming to St. Francis presented an opportunity to work specifically with breast cancer patients, she said.

“Women are fun to be around, even after the worst circumstances,” she said. “Cancer can be a life-altering disease, but the support they show each other is incredible.”

Since arriving in Indianapolis, Johnson Miller has turned her focus on increasing both St. Francis’ capacity to treat cancer and informing the public on the best ways to be vigilant.

She has found that magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, has become increasingly important for detecting cancer that mammograms might miss. The technique uses a magnetic field and radio frequency pulses to produce a detailed picture

of soft tissue. Mammograms use low doses of radiation, which can underestimate the disease in women with dense breasts.

Johnson Miller recalls a 38-yearold patient who recently came into her office complaining of nipple discharge. A mammogram had not shown any cancer, but Johnson Miller recommended an MRI as well.

The scan lit up with tiny cancerous tumors.

“When you have to tell someone at age 38 that they have pretty bad cancer, it can be life altering,” Johnson Miller said. “But we caught it early, and that’s what is important.”

Newer tools allow specialists such as Johnson Miller to diagnose problems even earlier.

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One of her most exciting new tools is ductoscopy. A tiny scope, less than one millimeter, can be inserted into the breast duct. When a patient complains of pain or discharge from the breast, the physician can see inside the body to search for anything out of the ordinary.

Research has shown that 90 percent of all breast cancers start in the duct, Johnson Miller said. As that cancer progresses, it grows outside the duct and into the surrounding tissue.

Ductoscopy displays potential problems that a mammogram or MRI wouldn’t pick up, meaning Johnson Miller can spot a potential growth years before it develops into cancer.

“I don’t want to operate on breast cancer. I want to find these prema-

lignant lesions that could become a problem, before that can turn into cancer,” she said.

Another advancement, which Johnson Miller is working to bring to St. Francis, is positron emission mammography. The scan creates a three-dimensional view of the breast, allowing doctors to see angles that other scans don’t show.

The images can turn up cancerous tissue as small as 2 millimeters, or the width of a grain of rice.

“For every patient, the standard testing can still miss stuff, even with an MRI,” she said. “This lets us see even closer and makes sure we miss less.”

But as the tools have become more adept at spotting abnormalities in the breasts, challenges have emerged. Better equipment means the chances increase for more false positives, Johnson Miller said.

She points to a recent patient who came in for a breast MRI. The imaging showed a smattering of small, suspicious dots, and Johnson Miller could not tell what they are.

Additional imaging and biopsies revealed the growths were not cancerous. But the patient already had gone through the trauma of fearing the worst.

Still, Johnson Miller would prefer being overly vigilant in identifying cancer than waiting too long to take action.

Even with the prospect of a false positive, she recommends questioning any abnormalities that show up on a mammogram. She encourages patients to get a second opinion, even if your first doctor says everything is fine.

“It doesn’t hurt to hear ‘You’re OK, you’re fine,’ a second time,” she said. “Way too often our patients come to us saying their doctors told them they’re too young to have breast cancer. That’s never true.”

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C8 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

When it’s in your genes Rare genetic mutation dramatically increases risk

STORY BY ANNIE GOELLER

T

esting positive for the gene mutation that significantly increases the risk of ovarian and breast cancer wasn’t the main concern for a group

of sisters.

Kari Findley of Franklin and her two sisters were worried about being the only one who didn’t test positive and watching the other two siblings struggle with the diagnosis. But all three women learned they carry the genetic mutation that is found in only 5 percent to 10 percent of cancer patients.

Their mother’s breast specialist encouraged the women to get tested after both their mother and aunt were diagnosed with aggressive cancer. “(The doctor) said, ‘You need to.

There is something going on in your family,’” Findley said.

Findley and her sisters were among a small minority of people whom doctors test for genetic mutations, called BRCA 1 and 2.

The women who have the mutations have an up to 85 percent chance of getting breast cancer and 44 percent chance of getting ovarian cancer in their lifetime, compared with a normal risk of 8 percent and 1 percent, respectively, said Amanda Wood, practice administrator at Community Breast Care in Greenwood. Wood has studied the genetic testing and does genetic counseling at the practice.

Having the genetic mutation is rare.

Some studies have shown that the genetic mutations are found in fewer than 5 percent of people with cancer, others have shown the rate closer to 10 percent, local doctors said.

Dr. S. Chace Lottich, a surgeon with Community Breast Care, said she has heard from patients who want the test to be positive. That way, they can plan better for their treatment and their family members can, too, she said.

The testing has armed women with

even more information and data to make a choice about their treatment plan, Lottich said.

Not all tested When patients have the mutation, doctors and specialists try to focus on the positive aspect, which allows them to treat the woman before she gets cancer.

“The neat part of genetic testing is that if we find something, we can hopefully prevent them from developing breast or ovarian cancer,” Wood said.

Doctors don’t send all their patients to be tested, said Dr. Erin Zusan, a surgeon at Community Breast Center in Greenwood.

First, they look at the patient’s family history and her age. A counselor will sit down with the patient and go through the past four generations of her family, looking for people who had cancer and when they died.

If the woman has had several relatives with breast, ovarian or prostate cancer, and especially if she is younger than 50, then she likely should be tested, Zusan said.

The next step is determining if other relatives, who don’t have cancer, should be tested. And, if they test positive, what to do with the information.

Doctors don’t recommend the test for everyone because the gene mutations are so rare. Plus, the test can be expensive, costing around $3,000, and sometimes insurance doesn’t cover it, she said.

That was true for Glennda Watson and her mother, Madonna Musgrave, who both live in the Center Grove area. When they decided to have the testing done, they both already had had the same kind of cancer, and so had Musgrave’s mother. So only one had to be tested.

They chose Musgrave, since her insurance would cover the cost and Watson’s wouldn’t. The test was negative.

Some patients don’t want to be tested, Wood said.

Before a test is done at Community Breast Care, a counselor will sit down with the patient to discuss what the test is, what the mutations are and what it means if they test positive or negative, including treatment options.

Most patients who are recommended to be tested do get the test, but some decide they don’t want to know because they are scared, they worry it will affect their health insurance or they are afraid their children will view it as a death sentence, Wood said.

The decision is left completely up to that patient, she said.

What happens?

The test requires the patient to have one vial of blood drawn. The blood is sent to Myriad, the only company that does the testing; and results usually come back in 10 to 14 days, she said.

If someone tests positive for a mutation, that mutation is narrowed down to what it is, the typical risks of cancer it carries, and then treatment options are discussed.

In some rare cases, only about 7 percent of the time, the test may find a mutation that has not been identified. That information is then studied to try to determine what that new mutation is and what it might mean for patients who have it, she said.

If a woman gets a positive test, her doctors, genetic counselor and other specialists must talk with her about what that means, Zusan said.

“We don’t just test and say that’s it.

We tell them what that means,” she said.

Typically, they will develop a plan whether the test is positive or negative, she said.

If the test is positive, then one question patients must answer is whether they plan to tell their family members so they can be tested. If a person is found to have a mutation, then they have a 50 percent chance of passing that on to their children, both boys and girls, Wood said.

Doctors and counselors won’t tell a patient’s family members about a positive test, since that is private information, but they often encourage the patient to tell their relatives, Wood said.

Each family is different. Some parents may believe their teenage children are old enough to know and understand. Others want to wait until their children are older. And some others don’t want to tell them at all, fearing their children will think the worst.

If a patient does tell her children, the child then decides whether to be tested, Wood said.

And counselors and doctors try to talk to the patient and their family about what a positive test means and how it can help them, she said.

“We make sure they are well-educated. This is not a death sentence.

This is information that will hopefully help them in the future,” Wood said.

What to do?

Another question is what the women want to do to reduce their risks of ever getting cancer or catch it very early on. That includes multiple options, ranging from more vigilance in self-exams and twice-a-year testing to medication and surgery.

A patient can decide to go with extra surveillance, the most conservative route, including monthly breast self-exams, doctor examinations twice a year, instead of once, and alternating between mammograms and MRIs every six months, she said.

The middle of the road route is medication, which includes Tamoxifen, which can reduce a woman’s chance of breast cancer up to 53 percent, and birth control pills, which can reduce the chances for ovarian cancer up to 60 percent, Wood said.

The most aggressive route is surgery, in which women can decide to have a mastectomy before ever being diagnosed with cancer. If patients are considering a preventive mastectomy, then Zusan recommends they look at

the risks of that, since surgery has risks, too.

Whether a woman will have preventive surgery, such as a mastectomy, is a choice that they should make with their doctors, said Dr. Danielle Doyle, oncologist and medical hematologist with Central Indiana Cancer Centers.

Some factors they should consider is their age, whether they already have children or are married and their emotions and anxiety level, she said.

“Some women feel OK with just surveillance. Some would rather just go ahead and have surgery,” Doyle said.

Each woman makes the decision on her own, Wood said.

Some don’t want to have surgery.

And often younger patients opt to have surgery, so they can stop themselves from ever getting cancer, she said.

Findley and her sisters all chose to get a preventive mastectomy, which reduced their chances of ever developing cancer by nearly 90 percent.

‘It’s about my health’ The mother of Franklin resident Darci Wertz was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 31, when Wertz was 5. Her mother died when Wertz was a teenager after battling the disease for a decade.

When she tested positive for the genetic mutation, Wertz saw only one option for preventing the same thing from happening to her: Having a double mastectomy.

“It’s not about breasts; it’s about my health,” she said.

Typically, doctors will recommend patients try the more conservative routes of surveillance and medication before surgery.

But in some cases, such as if a person has had a long family history of cancer, the doctor will encourage them to be more aggressive and could recommend surgery, Wood said.

“We do know that’s not an easy decision. It’s very difficult for everyone,” Wood said.

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DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 C9

‘I felt like a time bomb’ Many with BRCA gene choose preventive mastectomies

STORY BY SARAH MICHALOS

A CLOSER LOOK

PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

Here is some more information about the genetic mutations that cause some cancers: What are they? Genetic mutations are found in 5 percent to 10 percent of patients with cancer. The mutations are known as BRCA 1 and 2.

What is the difference? BRCA 1 and 2 are different types of mutations that carry different risks of cancer for patients. BRCA 1 is more commonly known to carry a higher risk of uterine, breast, colon or ovarian cancer. BRCA 2 carries a higher risk of breast, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate cancer. But patients can develop any of those cancers with the mutations.

What is the test? A blood test, which typically takes 10 to 14 days. Many doctors also want the patient to begin genetic counseling before ever being tested to discuss what happens if they are positive and negative.

Who is tested? Only certain patients with higher risk factors are tested for the genetic mutations, since they are so rare. A person with cancer who is younger than 50, has had multiple family members with cancer or who has had cancer more than once is at a higher risk and is more likely to be tested. Then, the person’s family members who don’t have cancer can be tested to determine if they have the mutation and are at a higher risk for cancer.

What is the risk of cancer? Women with the mutation have an up to 85 percent chance of getting breast cancer and 44 percent chance of getting ovarian cancer in their lifetime, compared with a normal risk of 8 percent and 1 percent, respectively. They also have a 50 percent chance of passing the gene to their children, both male and female.

What happens if you’re positive? Women and their doctors decide how aggressive they want to be. If a person has a family history with a significant amount of cancer leading to death, her doctor may recommend a more aggressive route. Options include additional testing, medication and surgery. More testing could include more vigilance with self-breast exams, doctor visits, mammograms and MRIs. Medication can include Tamoxifen, which reduces the risk of breast cancer up to 53 percent, and birth control pills, which reduces the risk of ovarian cancer up to 60 percent.

Surgery, including preventive mastectomy and hysterectomy, is the most aggressive form of treatment but also can reduce the risk of cancer by 90 percent.

SOURCES: Amanda Wood, practice administrator at Community Breast Care in Greenwood; Dr. S. Chace Lottich, a surgeon with Community Breast Care; Dr. Erin Zusan, a surgeon at Community Breast Center; Dr. Danielle Doyle, oncologist and medical hematologist with Central Indiana Cancer Centers; and Dr. Subhash Sharma, medical oncologist at St. Francis Hospital and Johnson Memorial Hospital

D

arci Wertz knew it could come.

She felt it, and the odds were against her. The test results said her chances of developing the disease were nearly 90 percent.

She thought she would get breast cancer.

But the Franklin resident didn’t wait for the diagnosis, which could have come the next day or 15 years in the future.

Wertz didn’t want to face her 4-year-old daughter, Halle, and tell her that her mom had a chance of preventing breast cancer but didn’t.

Instead, Wertz had both her breasts removed as part of the most radical treatment available for women with breast cancer, even though she didn’t have a trace of the disease.

Wertz, like other local women with a deep family history, decided to get special testing that would reveal if she carried a gene mutation that makes her more likely to develop breast cancer.

Her results came back positive, and her doctor said she had an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer before she reached menopause.

Wertz’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 31, when Wertz was 5. Her paternal grandmother also had breast cancer, so Wertz already knew her risk was high.

“I felt like a walking time bomb,” Wertz said.

Positive tests results were enough to convince Franklin resident Kari Findley, 33, and her two sisters that they needed to

Franklin resident Kari Findley, 33, had a preventive mastectomy after a test revealed she had a nearly 90 percent chance of developing breast cancer before she reached menopause. get their breasts removed. Their mother also had tested positive for the gene, after both her grandmother and aunt died of the disease.

Findley’s doctor told her that she could take medication to reduce her chances of getting cancer and also could come in for frequent exams and mammograms to see if any tumors had developed.

“To me, that would be agony, the waiting,” Findley said. “Each day, in the back of my mind, I would be saying, ‘Will I find a lump today?’”

Both women also wanted to set an example for their young daughters to put your health, not appearance, first.

Living a long, healthy life is

more important than having your natural breasts, Wertz said. And unlike other women, the idea of being without breasts didn’t shock her.

Her mother had one of her breasts removed during her battle with cancer, which eventually claimed her life when Wertz was a teenager. Her mother slipped a prosthetic breast into her bra and also wore a specially designed bathing suit in the summer.

“It was really nothing unusual for me,” Wertz said. “I just never thought of it as odd.”

Having the mastectomy gave her and her family assurance that she did everything possible to keep cancer away, Wertz said.

Proud to help Take a Bite out of breast cancer in our community

She was given two other options — get mammograms and other special tests every six months that could catch cancer, or take a medication that blocks estrogen and lowers the risk for the disease.

But those options didn’t cut her chances of getting cancer as much as a mastectomy, Wertz said. Nine months after her first surgery, she has never regretted her decision.

Wertz often pauses when she’s around the dinner table with her husband, their daughter and their son, admiring the family she helped create.

“You look at it differently when you have kids,” Wertz said. “Why would I have ever made a decision other than to save my life?”

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C10 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

‘Lighten it up’ Woman uses humor, support from friends, co-workers STORY BY JOHN SCHWARB

Shara Haggan

PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

Age

S

hara Haggan tried to hide her cancer from the kids as best she could. She bought a wig similar to her pre-chemotherapy hair and always wore that or a towel on her head when at home. Neither would come off until the boys were sound asleep.

Then one day, a slip. Colin, then 4 years old, opened the bathroom door and caught Haggan in the shower.

Bald.

“And he started laughing — ‘Haha, Mommy doesn’t have hair,’” Haggan said. “So I started laughing.

“I had this conversation with people, about how if your kids catch you, whatever their reaction is, just kind of make a joke about it.

Lighten it up.”

No laughing matter, of course, in April 2009 when Haggan found a lump almost by accident in her left breast. On April 7, the breast cancer diagnosis arrived, and life would never be the same.

Yet at the same time, young sons Colin (now 5) and Sean (3) still needed a mother. The mother still needed to provide for them throughout almost a full year of chemotherapy and a mastectomy.

Haggan’s most intense chemo sessions lasted from April through July 2009. Less intense chemo sessions, once every three weeks, continued through March of this year.

She missed one day of work at her dental care office.

“There were times I was tired and sick, but I took care of the kids,” said Haggan, 32, of Franklin. “I had to do it; I’m a single mom. I needed money to pay for the mortgage and

32

Residence Franklin

When diagnosed April 7, 2009

Treatment Single mastectomy and chemotherapy

What cancer taught me Don’t sweat the small stuff.

How cancer changed me Brought closer to God, family

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer

Franklin resident Shara Haggan was diagnosed last year with breast cancer and had a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy. to send them to school in clothes.”

Not that this was easy; Haggan recalls Mondays after the Friday chemotherapy sessions in which she “totally zoned out” and is unsure how she got through. But co-workers knew what she was going through, and an extensive support system also helped.

“She had a lot of support from me and her father, and an absolutely fantastic medical team,” said Nona Pardue, Haggan’s mother. “And we know that prayer helps.

“We went on living like nothing was going on. I told her that was going to

be the only way she was going to get through it, just go with it and everything would be OK. She was one of the lucky ones — she got through it.”

There were some unusual circumstances along the way. One littleknown side effect of chemotherapy — at the other end of the spectrum from the hair loss that everyone identifies with — is memory loss.

“Chemo brain,” as some jokingly call it, can be no laughing matter.

Haggan’s most unusual brush with “chemo brain” came one day when talking to a friend about another

friend who had died a few years before. Haggan had no recollection of the friend’s death and later called her mother crying over the embarrassment.

“I had to very gently explain it to her, and after I started talking, she remembered it,” Pardue said. “She said, ‘What else have I forgotten?’ I said, ‘Well, we’ll find out.’ But so far, that’s as weird as it’s gotten.”

Today, Haggan feels fine but still has blood drawn every couple of months to monitor her progress.

The port placed inside her chest

There are other women in this world who have had to go through it and have gotten through it. You will be fine. for chemotherapy still is there, in case more treatment is needed in the next year. The hope is that her cancer is completely in the past — doctors said there was a 7 percent chance of cancer reoccurring in her right breast — but there are no guarantees.

What she can control is her outlook.

“It’s all about your attitude,” Haggan said. “You just have to think positive. You have to fight, or you’ll die.”

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DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 C11

‘She never stopped living’ STORY BY JASON MICHAEL WHITE

Jerry Ennis

PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

Age

J

erry Ennis lost his wife to breast cancer; but during her struggle, she never stopped living.

Jacque Ennis didn’t stop traveling with her family when her cancer resurfaced after three years.

While struggling with cancer, she planned family vacations around her chemotherapy schedule and took the trips even if she wasn’t feeling well.

She fought hard against her cancer; but in 2006, she died after eight years of battling the disease.

What she taught her friends and her husband is that just because you have cancer doesn’t mean you have to stop living your life, Jerry Ennis said.

“People know this is a terrible disease and you might die from it,” said Ennis, a Greenwood resident. But they need to know that life doesn’t end the moment you are diagnosed.

“She got almost 10 years of life,” he said.

Ennis said he and his wife had known each other since they were 13.

They never dated while in school, but they were friends, and Jacque would occasionally try to fix him up with girls, he said.

“In high school, Jacque was way out of my league,” he said.

After high school, they lost touch until Jacque Ennis graduated from Butler University.

Jerry and Jacque Ennis met up with groups of friends to listen to a local band, and they saw each other there. They talked about how they hadn’t seen each other in forever and danced, although Jerry Ennis was wearing boots and kept stepping on his future wife’s toes.

They got married a month later, and their years were filled with family vacations to beaches and time spent with friends.

And she didn’t let her cancer diagnosis slow her down.

Jacque Ennis was first diagnosed with cancer when she was 39 in 1998.

She found the lump herself and made an appointment to see an oncologist.

54

Residence Greenwood

Children Cortney Hendess, 26, and Matt Ennis, 22

Details His wife, Jacque Ennis, was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 1998. Signs of the cancer were gone by 1999 but returned in 2002. She died in 2006.

Career Jacque Ennis was a library assistant at Center Grove Elementary School.

What cancer taught me Greenwood resident Jerry Ennis talks about his wife, Jacque, who died from breast cancer in 2006.

She was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer and soon went through chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries.

When Ennis thinks back to that time, he doesn’t think about the effects of the chemo drugs or radiation. What he remembers is the hope his wife showed and her ability to cope with the situation, which was an inspiration to all her friends and family, he said.

“She never stopped living,” he said.

Jacque Ennis would coordinate vacations around her chemotherapy schedule, so she knew she would be feeling as good possible for family trips, Jerry Ennis said.

And every year her family, friends and their families took spring break trips to Florida, family friend Janelle Clements said.

“She would be sicker than a dog, just exhausted,” Clements said. “But she would just say ‘whatever’ and go.

It was just amazing.”

One year her son Matt wanted to take a snowboarding trip to Colorado, and even though she had trouble breathing because of her cancer and that high altitude would have made it worse, Jacque decided that she and her husband would take him.

“She wanted to do that for her son,” she said. “Her family was so important to her.”

She never let her chemo get her down, Clements said. She’d be sick or nauseas but still go out to dinner, and she’d never complain about how she was feeling, Clements said.

She also made sure the people around her didn’t worry too much.

Her daughter Cortney didn’t want to go to college because she wanted to stay home with her mother.

“She kept saying, ‘I’m not going to go, I’m not going to go,’” Clements said. “But Jacque told her, ‘You’ve got to go. You’ve got to live your life.

You’re close enough to come home to me if you need to.’”

During her struggle with cancer, Jacque Ennis kept working as a library assistant at Center Grove Elementary School.

“Her doctor told her to stay home,” Clements said. “But she would be throwing up and still going to work.”

Her attitude after her chemotherapy and treatments was always to shrug it off and move on.

“It was just amazing how she let life go on and cancer was on the backburner,” Clements said. “I just couldn’t believe she did that. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you are so strong.’”

She did her best to stay healthy during her treatments, Ennis said.

She’d wake up at 4 a.m., jog on a treadmill and do crunches whenever she was able, he said.

Her inner strength was inspiring, and the struggle they went through together let them know their love was real, and that their relationship was not a simple matter of convenience, Ennis said. He still would have mar-

We’re here to eliminate

Just because you are diagnosed with cancer doesn’t mean you have to stop living. Live your life.

What I would tell someone recently diagnosed with cancer Cancer is not a death sentence. ried her even if he had known what was going to happen to her.

“That’s 25 years of knowing that somebody loves you and vice versa,” he said.

The last trip they took together was in the fall of 2005. Jacque Ennis was feeling good and decided she wanted to take an anniversary trip to Jamaica.

They decided to leave the children at home and travel alone.

“We had never done that before,” he said. “Thank God we did.”

She died a few months later.

S. Chace Lottich, M.D., F.A.C.S.

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C12 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

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DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

BRAVE HEARTS

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 D1

‘You’re supposed to

help me’

Chance encounter draws women together

O

There are so many things that God used cancer to teach me. Mostly I learned to slow down and listen to the messages.

n a fall day just more than two years ago, Janna Shepard was on the sideline of her son’s soccer game; but her attention was elsewhere.

She couldn’t help overhearing what the coach’s wife told another parent: The coach’s wife had survived breast cancer.

For days, Shepard couldn’t get the woman’s words out of her head. She had a job, two young children, a husband and a home, but the coach’s wife was living in her head.

Within days, Shepard did a self-exam and found a lump.

She immediately went to her doctor and had a mammogram.

A biopsy was scheduled for Wednesday. At noon Thursday came the diagnosis of invasive cancer.

She went home and crawled into bed.

Morning came, and she attempted to work.

She dropped her children off and drove to the Franklin library parking lot to access the Internet on her laptop computer in her job as a vaccine sales representative. A vehicle backed in next to her.

The coach’s wife came around to get books out.

Shepard rolled down her window and said these words to the woman: “I just found out I have breast cancer, and I think you’re supposed to help me.”

How cancer changed me

‘Part of my life now’

I am more grateful for life’s gifts and more patient with myself. I don’t try to rush through life anymore.

Stacey Byerly, the coach’s wife, had been diagnosed more than two years earlier. With a young child and a 15-month-old baby, she had fought through her living hell, her fear that breast cancer was going to kill her, chemotherapy and radiation. She had survived.

But since her recovery, she has talked about breast cancer to as many people as possible.

“I’m not shy to talk about it. It’s part of my life now. We don’t live and die breast cancer, but we are very aware of it.”

She still wonders what prompted her to talk about breast cancer that day on the soccer field. The man she was talking to already knew her story. But deep down, she knows it was because Shepard, a Franklin woman she barely knew, needed to hear what she was saying.

“God places people in your path for strange reasons,” Byerly said.

The women met at Starbucks within the hour of that chance meeting at the library. Byerly gave Shepard a list of doctors and information to find online and was immediately impressed.

Shepard was dressed up, calm and cool.

“I remember thinking, ‘How did you have it together?’” Byerly said.

Because when Byerly, of rural Franklin, was within days of diagnosis, she believed she would die from breast cancer. And she didn’t hide it.

When she was 39, she found her third lump.

The first two had been benign, and this lump definitely felt like the others. Her doctor went on and on about reasons it probably wasn’t cancer but said to watch for changes and come back in six months.

But she went to the doctor before the six months had passed because she felt like the lump was growing. On a Friday, all three lumps were removed. She would have the results by Wednesday, but the doctor was 99.9 percent sure it was not cancer.

Janna Shepard Age 40

Residence Franklin

Diagnosed September 2008, with invasive cancer, borderline Stage 2, triple positive tumor

Treatment Initially a lumpectomy, followed by a double mastectomy, six chemotherapy treatments and a year of the drug Herceptin

What cancer taught me

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer Bring someone with you to appointments who is good at asking questions and taking notes. There is just so much to take in at first. Husband Brian stayed up late one night compiling notes from all appointments we had been to and researched and inserted definitions of medical terminology so we would have one document to refer back to. That helped and helped him.

Wednesday came, and she was standing in her front entryway talking on the phone to the doctor’s office. The first two lumps looked OK. The third they think is cancer.

Byerly froze. Everything was surreal. She said she simply stopped functioning.

The next day’s results confirmed the cancer.

She went on autopilot. She couldn’t eat. She couldn’t sleep. She could only cry.

That week she went into the surgeon’s office with her husband.

“I think I’m going to die,” she told the surgeon.

“I just don’t think that’s going to happen,” he responded.

Her tumor was 1.7 centimeters, which is considered small, and was not fueled by hormones.

Another surgery was scheduled to determine the stage of the cancer based on nearby tissue. None of the seven lymph nodes that were removed had been invaded by cancer, and doctors were able to get clear margins, meaning no cancer was found between the edge of the lump and the surrounding tissue.

The oncologist said there was no greater survival rate.

That was the good news. The bad news: Her type of cancer was highly aggressive and quick moving. The oncologist recommended four rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.

Byerly sought a second opinion and settled on a combination of both. She had eight rounds of chemotherapy and 28 rounds of radiation.

She took a year off from her job at Indianapolis Public Schools but continued to teach aerobics throughout chemotherapy. She never had a bout of throwing up but did develop a fever and had to go on high-dose antibiotics.

She survived, but the memory of her paralyzing fear hadn’t faded.

Her immediate response to a breast cancer diagnosis was in stark contrast to the woman she barely knew asking for help.

“I swear, it was fate she was placed there,” Byerly said.

Mutual support Shepard and Byerly considered each other acquaintances when their preschool sons played on the same soccer team. To be honest, they probably wouldn’t have ever developed a friendship had it not been for the sisterhood of breast cancer.

Byerly is a loud 43-year-old who has worked as a reading specialist and taught aerobics.

What you see is what you get.

Shepard, 40, is more reserved. And more sensible, Byerly said.

Byerly is the yang to Shepard’s yin.

“She’s pragmatic, I’m emotional,” Byerly said.

It took Shepard time to get used to Byerly being more emotional and sensitive. Byerly was the hugging type, she said.

The differences would become key in how they helped each other through breast cancer.

Although Shepard was the one experiencing cancer at the time, time would show that Byerly needed her as well.

At first, Byerly gave Shepard instructions on whom to call, where to go and what questions to ask.

“You’re scared, you’re alone, you think you’re on death’s door, and it freaks you out,” Byerly said.

(SEE HELP, PAGE D10)

Stacey Byerly Age 43

Residence Rural Franklin

Diagnosed March 2006 with 1.7 centimeter triple negative Stage 1 tumor

Treatment Had tumor removed with two cysts, eight rounds of chemotherapy, 28 rounds of radiation

What cancer taught me It reiterated the fact to put family first and life is too short

How cancer changed me I’m definitely more anxious about health now, not that I didn’t take care of myself before. But I get freaked out by any test I have to go through. At times, it makes me more patient.

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer Call a survivor who has gone through the same thing because they can give you a first-hand account. Doctors haven’t been through it. Survivors can give you a better first-hand account, and they also offer hope. Wow, if they can beat it, I can too.

Pictured: Stacey Byerly, left, and Janna Shepard were drawn together because they both battled breast cancer.

STORY BY MICHELE HOLTKAMP PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

BRAVE HEARTS

D2 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

Something wasn’t right Visit to breast specialist reveals tumor at age 30

A

s a nurse, she knew that something was lurking inside the tissue of her right breast. She can’t explain why.

“I just had that nagging feeling that something wasn’t right,” Stephanie Stewart said.

Her doctor said that the liquid leaking from her breast was nothing, that it was normal even though she had her baby two years before.

The rural Franklin resident requested a mammogram, which came back negative.

Stewart had doctors test the discharge, and results revealed nothing unusual.

Her final step was meeting with a breast specialist, who gave her a thorough exam and recommended a biopsy.

When the results came back, Stewart’s nagging feeling was solidified. The biopsy showed a cancerous tumor nearly 2.5 inches wide in her right breast.

“I had to push,” Stewart said. “If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

This was nine years ago, when Stewart was 30 and the mother of 5-year-old Travis and 2-year-old girl Sydney.

Today, she delivers speeches to people about how to take control of their own health and not let a diagnosis of breast cancer be a death sentence.

A self-diagnosis

Stewart never felt a lump in her breast, and a mammogram came back with normal results. It was only after a thorough exam by a breast specialist and a biopsy that her tumor was discovered.

Doctors told Stewart that the cancer was difficult to spot because of her dense breast tissue. Younger women have firmer, more compact breast tissue, she said.

Stewart wouldn’t typically have gotten a mammogram because she was 30.

Although she can’t identify exactly why, Stewart knew something wasn’t right inside of her and asked for a mammogram 10 years before doctors recommend women get them.

She hopes other people listen to their bodies and push for more tests and answers.

“I was diagnosed with Stage 3, which means I was pushing the doors right there,” Stewart said. “If I had not gone to see a breast specialist, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

Cancer patients can never let their positive attitudes waver, even after receiving devastating news, Stewart said.

Her cancer was designated as Stage 3, which means the disease has spread into lymph nodes on the sides of her breast and along the arms.

Many people view breast cancer as a Stephanie Stewart The oncologist told Stewart that if she curse, and it was no different for Stewart lived five years after her surgery, she Rural Franklin when she was diagnosed in December would be in remission. Stewart didn’t 2001. Her immediate thoughts were that want to look at things in terms of timeshe could lose her breast or potentially lines. her life.

“My kids would be 12 and 7 after five years,” Stewart “Being 30, you think, boobs are everything,” Stewart said. “That’s still too young to lose their mom.” said. “Your life is the most important, but boobs are an important part of a woman’s identity.”

Because of the size of her growing tumor, Stewart chose Her kids don’t remember much about when their mom the most aggressive approach — rounds of chemotherapy was battling cancer, especially Sydney, who was 2 at the before having both breasts removed, lowering the chance time. the cancer would ever return.

The toddler was used to seeing her mother’s bald head, Stewart chose to have reconstructive surgery the same and posed an interesting question when Stewart walked day as her double mastectomy. Surgeons spent eight hours into the room wearing a new wig. removing her breasts, giving her a tummy tuck and using “She said, ‘Mom, where’d you get all that hair?’” Stewart the flesh to form new breasts. said.

Family members chronicled the day in a journal they Her husband, Tom, took over most of the parenting while gave to Stewart after her surgery. Entries detailed the Stewart took naps after chemo treatment and stayed in bed tense hours in the waiting room, like, “It’s 3 p.m. and for days after her extensive surgery. you’re still in surgery. Come out soon.”

Stewart also relied on her sisters and mother, Sandy Stewart’s quick recovery is best described by a fortune Weddle, during the long months after her surgery. Weddle she got at a Chinese restaurant after her last chemotherapy found little things to do around the house, like watching treatment, shortly before her surgery. Stewart cracked open her grandkids, doing laundry and making dinner. the cookie, and the message read, “Your health is wonder“You feel like you can’t do a lot,” Weddle said. “But you ful.” She still keeps the tiny scrap of paper in her wallet. need to take care of them. Even though they’re adults, In the nine years since her diagnosis, Stewart’s cancer they’re still your children.” has not returned.

Getting the cancer out

“

I was diagnosed with Stage 3, which means I was pushing the doors right there. If I had not gone to see a breast specialist, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here today.

Getting through treatment

Stephanie Stewart Age 39

Residence Rural Franklin

Diagnosed December 2001 with a 6-centimeter cancerous tumor.

Treatment Underwent a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in one day. Doctors gave Stewart a tummy tuck and used the flesh and skin to create new breasts during the eight-hour surgery.

What cancer taught me First, I thought cancer was a curse. To me, it ended up being a good experience. It changed me in many ways. I’m closer to God.

How cancer changed me Brought my husband and me closer. I used to care about how I looked, but I went bald because of my treatment. Tom told me he still loved me and I still looked beautiful. It strengthened our relationship.

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer Anything they wanted to know. When I got diagnosed, I wanted to talk to someone who had cancer and see what their experience was like. What did you think when your hair fell out? What food made you sick? My eyelashes fell out, my eyes watered, and any spaghetti-like casserole made me sick.

Pictured: Stephanie Stewart was diagnosed with breast cancer nine years ago after insisting on more tests after a mammogram and other tests were negative.

STORY BY SARAH MICHALOS PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

BRAVE HEARTS

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 D3

30 years, 2 patients Mother, daughter diagnosed decades apart STORY BY ANNIE GOELLER

Glennda Watson Madonna Age Musgrave

PHOTO BY MATT QUEBE

G

lennda Watson remembers the day her mother handed her a chunk of her hair in a paper towel and asked her to buy her a wig.

It was 1979. Watson was a teenager.

Her mother, Madonna Musgrave, was undergoing chemotherapy. She woke up one morning and pulled out a chunk of her hair. She told her daughter to go to a department store and match it to a wig.

Watson, 48, thought of that moment last year, as she searched for her own wig to cover up her quickly balding head.

Thirty years apart, both mother and daughter were diagnosed with breast caner.

Both had the same kind, invasive ductal carcinoma, meaning the cancer doesn’t stay in the milk duct. And both had it on the same side, the right breast.

As soon as she was diagnosed, Watson knew her mother would think it was her fault.

“I heard the diagnosis, and I felt so bad, like I had given it to her,” Musgrave said.

Eventually, some of that guilt was lifted when genetic testing showed Musgrave, now 82, didn’t have the gene marker that can predict a likelihood of cancer within a family.

But Watson viewed the repeat diagnosis differently than her mother.

She looked at Musgrave and saw a woman who had lived a healthy, happy life after breast cancer, even after two recurrences in 1990 and 2008.

And she knew she had someone to talk to, who would understand exactly what she was going through.

“I looked at Mom and said here is a woman who has lived more than 30 years since she got it. I can do that, too,” Watson said.

Now, both in remission, the women

48

Residence White River Township

When diagnosed May 2009 with invasive ductal carcinoma in right breast

Treatment Lumpectomy, mammocite radiation and chemotherapy

What cancer taught me Glennda Watson, left, and her mother, Madonna Musgrave, both have battled cancer. often share memories of their breast cancer experiences.

Despite having the same diagnosis, their treatment experiences were worlds apart.

When Watson was diagnosed, she felt empowered with the information she was given and the choices she could make about her own care.

Watson decided she wanted a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy, since she could get in for surgery quicker and the procedure was much easier. Plus, her mother had a mastectomy, and the cancer still came back.

She got a bag of pamphlets and handouts, a nurse who would guide her through her treatment and a sit-down question-and-answer session with her doctor. And when her doctors changed her treatment to include chemotherapy, she argued with them and debated whether a 5 percent change in her chances of reoccurrence was worth the awful side effects.

But for Musgrave, in 1979, arguing with her doctor was unheard of. She was

given two pamphlets and an order from her doctor to get a mastectomy and chemotherapy.

She never even considered questioning what her doctor told her, she said.

“I never felt I could question my doctors. And I wouldn’t know what to ask. I was just sort of dumb to a certain extent,” Musgrave said.

The difference is generational, Watson said.

With Musgrave’s generation, when a doctor told you what to do, you did it and didn’t ask questions. But Watson’s generation are the people who get second opinions and want options for their treatment.

And time has changed how doctors treat cancer patients.

When she was first diagnosed, Musgrave went for her treatments when her doctors told her to. But when her cancer came back two years ago, she was able to schedule her treatments around her granddaughter’s graduation.

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When diagnosed Initially diagnosed in 1979, reoccurrences in 1990 and 2008; invasive ductal carcinoma in right breast

Treatment

What cancer taught me

I hope that it didn’t. I didn’t want it to rule me. I wanted to be in charge.

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer It’s not the end of the world.

There are so many treatments out there. Would recommend they investigate their options since there are many out there. Pray a lot.

(SEE YEARS, PAGE D9)

To have patience and what kept me going was faith, family and friends.

How cancer changed me We’re a closer family. It made everybody closer.

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer Be patient. Think positive.

And faith, family and friends are the way to stay.

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BRAVE HEARTS

D4 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

Doing it for Holly Sister’s battle inspires Whiteland resident STORIES BY SARAH SCHULZ PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

A

Whiteland woman admires her big sister for fighting against breast cancer like a heroine.

Kelly Gough, 39, lost her only sister, Holly Harlow, to breast cancer in February 2007.

She vividly remembers the day her sister told her the diagnosis in 1996.

Together, she and Harlow sat at their mother’s kitchen table and cried for hours, Gough said.

“But we came to realize that it wasn’t the end of the world that day. And that’s what my sister always said.”

Harlow was a well-liked math teacher at Whiteland Community High School.

Despite losing an 11-year war with the disease, Harlow never let the illness conquer her everyday life, at school or at home.

Gough recalls her sister planning chemotherapy appointments around classes. She never missed a day of school until two weeks before her death.

Even if she felt lousy, Harlow attended her daughter Kailee’s swim meets and her son Jarrett’s baseball and football

Whiteland resident Kelly Gough holds a photograph of herself with her sister, Holly Harlow.

Kelly Gough Age 39

Residence Whiteland

Details Gough lost her only sister, Holly Harlow, to breast cancer in 2007.

Gough wants the world to know and carry on her sister’s positive outlook on life.

What cancer taught me and how cancer changed me I really think what cancer taught me is how cancer has changed me. So for me the two go hand in hand. Cancer has made me see life as a precious gift, appreciating all that we have in this world and realizing we should be grateful for it now. I could be filled with anger because of my sister’s outcome, but instead I think I am a little more patient and positive in everyday life. I know this is what my

sister would want and expect of me too. I try not to let little things get to me. In the grand scheme of things, I know the little things that go wrong really don’t matter so much. I think I am a stronger person with a can-do attitude and think often of my sister’s favorite saying, “Live for today!”

What I would tell someone who was just diagnosed with cancer I would tell them to be assertive in gaining as much information on your diagnosis, prognosis and treatment as you can. Do the research and ask questions. Also, lean on others for support. I think it is so important to involve family and friends, because you need them and in a different way, they are affected too. It is hard being on the other side too and not knowing how to help. But being together sure does help. Lastly, I would remind them that having a positive attitude is half the battle.

games. They were 12 and 16 at the time of their mother’s death.

“Quitting was never an option for her,” Gough said.

Harlow’s body never made it three years without the disease reinvading her body.

She took control of her disease instead of letting the cancer take control of her. Before the chemotherapy thinned and destroyed her hair, Harlow shaved her head.

She wore a wig throughout the first course of chemo but hated it, Gough said.

Harlow’s hair eventually grew back in; but when the cancer reinvaded her body, Harlow underwent more chemotherapy.

Gough shaved her sister’s head the second time.

Instead of the uncomfortable wigs, she told her students at school, “‘It’s hot, it’s itchy, and I don’t like it. So I’m gonna wear bandanas on my head,’” Gough said.

Harlow’s students started bringing her festive, bright-patterned bandanas to wear.

Harlow organized the annual Race for Cure with her students and co-workers at Whiteland Community High School.

Because she was so well-known and

(SEE HOLLY, PAGE D11)

Turning bad into good

B

“

y walking 60 miles a cure in her lifetime. with hundreds of “It’s hard to turn a negative other people affectthing into a positive. You can let ed by breast cancer, anger eat at you; but at some Kelly Gough has point, we had to turn this into a kept her sister’s positive for my sister,” she said. memory alive.

Gough and her energized clan The physical therapist lost her drove to Chicago on Aug. 5 and only sister, Holly Harlow, to were up by 4 a.m. the next day to breast cancer in 2007. She’s attend opening ceremonies. decided to do all she can until Walkers remembered those they there is a cure for the disease. lost and honored those who surFor the second consecutive vive. year, the Whiteland woman spent Last year, Gough remembered many hours training and fundthinking, “Oh my gosh, I hope it’s raising to walk the Susan G. not like this for 60 miles. I don’t Komen 3-Day for the Cure. have enough tears.”

Gough and her niece, Kailee, But the power of hundreds of (Harlow’s daughter) first compeople in pink, all walking for the same cause, overshadowed some of pleted the challenge in 2009.

Kelly Gough the sadness Gough felt.

It took them more than a year “When training and walking, you of talking about it before they Whtieland get in a zone. It makes you put actually signed up for the event On a charity event things in perspective and see in Chicago. They wanted to do it things in a brighter way,” she said. because Harlow was a huge supShe and a group of girlfriends porter of the Susan G. Komen covered 22.1 miles on Day 1. foundation, as she battled breast cancer for 11 A 19.3-mile jaunt on Day 2, accompanied by blisyears before her death.

After she finished it once, Gough was determined ters, was made a little easier by the appearance of three of Gough’s family members, her mother, an to do it again.

She said she wants to make her sister proud and (SEE GOOD, PAGE D11) help researchers get as close as possible to finding

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It’s hard to turn a negative thing into a positive.

You can let anger eat at you; but at some point, we had to turn this into a positive for my sister.

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BRAVE HEARTS

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 D5

Walking for a cure Chandy Wilcoxon

Nineveh woman training for event

I

Age 52

n her heart, she knows there one day will be a cure for way in her wheelchair, with her little bald head, and we made breast cancer, and Chandy Wilcoxon is doing what she eye contact. She looked and me and said, ‘Thank you, thank can to make that day arrive. you.’ So I was like, what am I griping about? Things like that So she walks. And walks. And walks some more. went on throughout the whole three days.”

When the Nineveh resident learned in Overwhelming support and encouragement 2007 that her high school friend was surrounded Wilcoxon and her daughter during diagnosed with breast cancer, she felt helpless. the event.

Wilcoxon’s daughter, Melissa Hannebaum, “There were people driving by, playing 25, saw a commercial for the Susan G. Komen music and honking their horns, yelling, ‘Keep 3-Day for the Cure. Since 2003, the 60-mile walk going!’” she said. travels to different cities across the country Teams were dressed up in outrageous outeach year to raise funds for breast cancer fits, pink wigs, accessories and other amusing research. garb to make a somber event more fun. “It’s Participants are advised to train for at least really something else,” she said. six months and are required to raise $2,300 in With sore feet and soaked shoes from walkorder to walk. About 75 percent of funds beneing in the rain, the thousands of survivors fit national research; and the rest supports the walking and cheering on the sidewalks gave Komen affiliate network and community-based her strength. breast health programs.

She realized she was walking for something In 2009, the three-day series took place in 15 much bigger. cities and raised more than $91 million.

“I just feel like I have to keep doing what I About 2,700 walkers are registered to walk can do to raise money. I just know that somewith Wilcoxon Oct. 28 to 30. thing’s going to happen. Someone’s going to In 2007, Hannebaum wanted to complete the find a cure.” walk as a physical challenge; Wilcoxon wanted A moment that stood out to Wilcoxon during to do it for her friend, Tammy Butrum of the 2007 three-day event was when an elderly Beech Grove. man stood up and told the story of how he had Even though she developed 13 blisters on her lost both his wife and a daughter to breast feet the first time around, Wilcoxon, 52, has cancer. His other daughter was expecting a been training since February for her second child at the time, and he hoped there could be walk in Tampa, Fla. It’s something she feels a cure for his unborn granddaughter’s generaChandy Wilcoxon she has to do, she said. tion.

Every year, Wilcoxon adds more names to After hearing the man speak, Wilcoxon realNineveh her list of people diagnosed with the disease. A ized that she doesn’t just walk in memory of member of her church was recently diagnosed; loved ones or for survivors. She walks for the woman she buys Pampered Chef items future patients like her two young grandfrom has breast cancer; and after receiving the most radiation daughters, Kaylie and Whitney Hannebaum. She had never her body could in a lifetime, Butrum had a recurrence in thought of the walk in that light before, but now her grandDecember 2009. daughters are an inspiration to her.

This year, Wilcoxon also will walk in remembrance of a fami“There may not be a cure in my lifetime, but hopefully there ly member. A close cousin, Paulette Hocker of Michigan, will be for them,” Wilcoxon said. recently passed away from the disease at age 42 after a fourWilcoxon feels extremely lucky breast cancer hasn’t affected year struggle. her, her daughter or granddaughters. It’s because she knows the Walking such a great distance can be tough, she said, but strain breast cancer can take on a woman.

Wilcoxon is determined.

She witnessed a longtime friend undergo multiple surgeries, “I have no idea what they (family and friends) are going struggle financially, loose her hair and breasts and fall into through, so I have to do what I can to raise awareness and depression. encourage people to get mammograms,” she said.

Her cousin’s struggle and ultimate death has taught Wilcoxon There were times during her first walk in 2007 when she felt to encourage women to get an annual mammogram. “It’s all like quitting, but something inside her kept her going. about catching it early. That way we’ll have more survivors Wilcoxon recalled a moment when she felt like she couldn’t instead of walking in memory of loved ones,” she said. move her right foot in front of her left anymore.

(SEE WALKING, PAGE D11) “Right then, there was this little old lady sitting in her drive-

“

Residence Nineveh

Details Wilcoxon’s friend, Tammy Butrum of Indianapolis, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. Butrum’s diagnosis inspired Wilcoxon to take action.

I have no idea what they (family and friends of cancer patients) are going through, so I have to do what I can to raise awareness and encourage people to get mammograms.

What cancer taught me It has taught me that there is always hope when you are diagnosed. With medical breakthroughs and ongoing research, the amount of people who are survivors is awesome.

How cancer changed me I complete my visits with my doctors each year. I think there are so many survivors because they have caught their cancer early.

My little scare when I was in the hospital was very enlightening.

What I would tell someone who was just diagnosed with cancer I would say something positive, ask questions about their treatments and let them know I care and will be there for them. I usually ask if I can add them to my list of individuals I walk for.

Pictured: Chandy Wilcoxon, left, and daughter Melissa Hannebaum walk near the Franklin College campus.

STORY BY SARAH SCHULZ PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

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BRAVE HEARTS

D6 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

Not if, but when

Woman determined to survive despite family history

H

er mother survived breast cancer, and so did her aunt.

Six of Terese Carson’s family members suffered from the disease, so she believed it was a matter of when, not if, she would be next.

She’s gotten annual mammograms and done monthly self-examinations since she was 22, so she could catch it early.

The Greenwood resident wasn’t surprised but still was terrified when she found a lump in her breast three years ago, when she was 42.

Despite her fear, she was determined she would survive.

Carson knew that she would get radiation, chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, like her mother did. She wanted to get all the available treatments at once to eliminate any chance that the cancer would come back.

Her family history meant there was a high chance of recurrence. So she planned to get a double mastectomy because it would improve her chances of survival and, also, make the reconstruction more symmetrical.

A genetic test she had after her diagnosis confirmed her fears by giving the worst possible results: inconclusive.

That result meant that she was genetically predisposed for breast cancer but with a marker that doctors hadn’t identified yet.

The test also meant the chances of her developing cancer in her other breast or getting ovarian cancer was 65 percent.

“It’s a ridiculously huge chance of recurrence,” she said. “I told all my doctors that I would do whatever they wanted, but that I would only do it one time. So you tell me what I need to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again, and I will do it with a smile on my face, but I will only do it one time.”

“

Inspired by mother

Terese Carson Age 45

Residence Greenwood

Diagnosed September 2007 after a self-examination revealed a Stage 3 growth, just months after a mammogram turned up no signs of a tumor

Treatment Underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation got into her car and drove more than three hours from central Ohio. She then summoned her daughters to her office and told them, so that they wouldn’t learn the news secondhand.

Knowing that there’s a really ‘It can be done’ She reassured them that she would do good possibil- everything she could to survive.

“Knowing that there’s a really good ity that they’re possibility that they’re going to be number eight and number nine, they need to going to be see that it can be done,” she said. “It will make them stronger, because my mother number eight set a good example for me. They can look at me and see that it didn’t get the and number better of me. If they can see that I made nine, they need it through all of it, then they can do it, too.” to see that it The only other person she told on the first day was her boss at Roncalli High can be done.

School, where she works as vice president for development. She had to tell her It will make employer because she got the news just them stronger, hours before a fundraising dinner she had spent months preparing for. because my Roncalli typically raises about $500,000 at the dinner, so Carson smiled, shook mother set a hands and never let on that she had received devastating news at a doctor’s good example office.

The next day, she was entirely focused for me. They on her treatment. She had to start checan look at me motherapy within a few weeks to control the cancer because the mass was so and see that it large and it had grown so fast.

Carson went in for chemotherapy sesdidn’t get the sions every other Monday. They left her so exhausted that she slept for entire better of me. days, including Thanksgiving. chemotherapy affected her memoIf they can see ry.The She had a harder time matching faces with names and became fuzzy that I made it about dates. through all of it, She lost her appetite, suffered from nausea and struggled to eat. She became then they can numb in her hands and legs. She lost so much feeling that doctors delayed her do it too. final chemotherapy session for fear that

She said she learned to defer to whatever doctors advised from her mother, Jane Paterson. Paterson was diagnosed with breast cancer three decades ago at the age of 37, considered young at the time.

Carson was 16 then. She initially didn’t know what to think and feared the worst for her mother.

But she was reassured when her mother kept working, didn’t let on about her worries at home and traveled out of town to Ohio State University to seek the most modern treatments available at the time.

Her mother’s strength in her battle with breast cancer gave Carson hope.

“It’s beneficial to know that just because you get this diagnosis, it’s not the end of everything,” she said. “You know you can come out on the other side of it positively and survive.”

Years of thinking over what she would do after she was diagnosed with breast cancer still failed to prepare Carson for the guttwisting fear she felt when she found a lump during a self-examination during the fall of 2007. She just had a mammogram that came back clean in May of that year.

“I was terrified,” she said. “Even though you’ve been preparing for it, it’s a whole different thing when it happens. It just turns your world over. It’s so very shocking.” it could cause permanent nerve damage.

But the decades of anticipation and plan“It was harsh,” she said. “It was a Terese Carson ning served her well. She immediately real shock to the system.” called the doctor who had given her mamGreenwood mograms over the years to get another On her daughters mammogram and talk about treatment She felt most tired right after treatoptions. ments but became more energetic after Carson had an aggressive cancer that a week passed. Though she didn’t have to, Carson continhad spread quickly within months. She had found a 5-inch ued to work at Roncalli during her 16 weeks of chemotheramass, but an MRI revealed that she had a second mass in py. the same breast.

“I didn’t work every day and I didn’t work all day,” she Both tumors ranked as Grade 3 on a scale of 4 in terms of said. “It really helped me to keep our lives at home and at severity. work as normal as possible.”

After learning from a biopsy she had two cancerous tumors, Carson first called her mother, who immediately (SEE HISTORY, PAGE D9)

Tattoos for support

What cancer taught me It taught me the value of your faith. I know that prayer and the prayer of so many people was a major part of my recovery. I had a positive attitude. I’m an extremely energetic, positive person and that was to my benefit. I already had that positive outlook on life, but it reinforced that that’s how you need to live life. Also, to realize how much people love and care for you, even if they don’t know you.

People who I didn’t even know were praying for me, and that’s a powerful experience.

How cancer changed me You feel a newfound strength. After you tackle something like that and come out on the other side, you find strength within yourself that you maybe didn’t realize that you had before.

What I would tell someone who was just diagnosed with cancer Be strong. There’s hope. There are so many survivors and there’s hope. Do what your doctors tell you to with a smile on your face. Your life is in their hands. Do whatever they tell and do whatever you need to do to survive.

Pictured: Ali Carson, Terese Carson and Kati Carson, from left, along with several other family members have pink ribbon tattoos in support of Terese’s battle with breast cancer.

STORY BY JOSEPH S. PETE PHOTOS BY SCOTT ROBERSON

BRAVE HEARTS

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 D7

Tissue donations aid research B STORY BY SARAH MICHALOS

lood and slivers of breast tissue from Hoosier women who have never had breast cancer are helping researchers find out why the disease develops and how to cure it.

Indianapolis’ Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tissue Bank was started five years ago by a Hoosier cancer survivor who learned that research had been halted because researchers didn’t have access to healthy breast tissue to compare with cancer-infected tissue.

The bank is the only facility of its kind in the world.

“My mantra has always been, we’re going to change the world,” tissue bank founder Connie Rufenbarger said. “If this is the number one obstacle and we’re going to address that, then certainly we’re going to change the world.”

Here’s how the bank works: Women sign up to donate either blood or breast tissue during one of the bank’s annual donation events.

Donating tissue is an hour-long outpatient surgery that involves a doctor numbing the side of the breast and using an automated tool to carve out a sample about 1½ inches long.

The samples, about the thickness of pencil lead, are frozen using liquid nitrogen within five minutes of leaving the body, said Susan Clare, one of the bank’s two doctors.

Since the center opened, about 1,100 women have donated breast tissue. Not all women can donate; only those who do not have breast cancer and who haven’t had breast implants or a breast reduction.

Researchers from as far as England and Australia have been shipped tissue and blood samples cataloged at the bank. They write proposals, which are kept secret until a detailed report with findings is published. The reports generated using the first round of tissue

About the bank What

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tissue Bank, which is the only healthy breast tissue bank in the world

Where

Indiana University Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis

How it works Women donate their blood and breast tissue so that researchers from around the world can use it to study breast cancer.

How to donate Requirements Donors must be at least 18, not allergic to local anesthetic, not be taking a blood thinner and not have breast implants or have had a breast reduction. The tissue bank takes donations of blood and breast tissue.

samples likely will be published in the next year.

The bank gets nearly all of its funding from Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The nonprofit agency gave $1 million to expand the bank in 2007 and has been the main funding source ever since. Details about the funding are not released.

The concept of opening a tissue bank was first discussed in the 1990s during a National Cancer Institute conference that Rufenbarger attended. At the time, she was working for a doctor, helping explain treatment options for breast cancer patients.

Researchers at the conference agreed that one thing was stopping

Who

Funding

Women with healthy breast tissue are asked to donate. The tissue bank also solicits donations from women of varying racial and religious backgrounds.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure began funding the tissue bank in 2007 and will provide the majority of funding until at least spring 2013. Donations also help support the bank.

Background

Employees

The tissue bank was started in 2005 by Connie Rufenbarger, a cancer survivor and breast cancer consumer advocate who learned that breast cancer researchers didn’t have access to healthy breast tissue.

Five full-time, plus two doctors who oversee the bank

1,083 Number of tissue samples collected since the bank opened

6,959 Number of blood samples collected since the bank opened

How it works

How often

Donating breast tissue takes about an hour and is done by a surgeon.

A piece of healthy breast tissue is surgically removed, cataloged and frozen until a researcher needs it.

People are allowed to donate breast tissue only twice in their lives, so tissue samples are varied.

The tissue bank hosts about five donation events per year.

More information komentissuebank.iu.edu

the progression of their research — a lack of access to blood and healthy breast tissue samples.

Individual researchers were responsible for finding donors and collecting enough samples to do their study, Rufenbarger said.

She talked to some of her patients and colleagues to see if people would be interested in donating.

“The women said, ‘What do you need?’” Rufenbarger said. “The consensus was, ‘If you need blood, tell us where to be and we’ll be there.’”

Rufenbarger’s first event for the tissue bank was a blood drive at the 2005 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Indianapolis. More than 1,200 women donated blood, which

was used shortly after in a study conducted at the Indiana University School of Medicine. The findings haven’t been published.

Collecting the same number of samples would have taken researchers five years, Rufenbarger said.

She immediately started planning a donation event for the next year and started exploring how to safely and ethically take tissue samples from women.

The tissue bank partnered with the IU Simon Cancer Center, where there already were guidelines in place for taking samples. All women who donate tissue have to sign a consent form agreeing it can

INDIANA

WES LEYAN UNIV ERSITY Greenwood Greenwood

be used for any research project, Rufenbarger said.

The bank hosts about five tissue donation events across the state.

So many women are interested in donating that a waiting list has been started.

Rufenbarger credits her passion to her own personal battle with breast cancer.

In the 1970s, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 34.

Rufenbarger started scouring medical journals and learned about different treatments.

Other women in her small city of Warsaw heard about her research and asked advice when they were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Soon, Rufenbarger was hired by a local doctor and began traveling across the nation to learn more about breast cancer. She’s been a patient advocate ever since, and her focus is now spreading the word about the tissue bank.

Many researchers are just now learning about the bank, which started accepting proposals from researchers in January 2009.

Last year, about 15 proposals were received during two application periods. Only a few are chosen, depending on the number of samples they need and what’s available.

A three-person committee reviews the proposals and decides which researchers will get samples and how many. Research proposals and their contents are confidential until the findings are published, Clare said.

That’s why it’s important for women to keep donating, so that researchers can continue using their samples to find a cure, Clare said.

The center can only collect so many samples each year because of the work it takes to catalogue them and the storage space available at the center.

“We can’t stop and say, ‘The bank’s full now and we’re done,’” she said. “Until we have an answer to breast cancer, we’re not done.”

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BRAVE HEARTS

D8 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

Going through it

twice

Beech Grove woman in 6-year battle

T

ammy Butrum doesn’t think she’ll ever be the same ment applications analyst, was understanding about her misswoman after experiencing the physical and mental ing months of work, she said. exhaustion of cancer.

For the next four years, Butrum’s mammograms came back After twice being diagnosed with Stage 2 breast normal. Then, in late December, almost six years to the day, cancer, the 52-year-old mother of twins fears the she was given the grim news again, after her doctor said her disease could resurface in another scar tissue didn’t look quite right. part of her body like her liver.

“You just feel lost, like this is it,” she said.

That fear has caused her to slow down, take This time, Butrum’s treatment options were care of herself and enjoy life. limited, as radiation was not a possibility.

Her more than six-year battle began in Butrum underwent four rounds of chemoDecember 2003 when she was at home in Beech therapy, followed by a double mastectomy and Grove, cleaning, and her right breast suddenly reconstruction. Due to complications and an felt like it was on fire. infection, reconstruction of her right breast “I went in to take a shower and felt a quarwill require several procedures and will conter-sized lump. I just knew,” she said. tinue into next year.

Although she had had mammograms in the “I’m thinking they never actually got rid of past, she was not faithful about getting an it the first time. To each his own, but I wish annual exam. She had noticed the intense heat I’d had the mastectomy the first time,” she sensation once or twice in the preceding six said. months.

For Butrum, the most depressing part of Butrum immediately made an appointment treatment resulted from the chemotherapy at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove, where as her hair began to fall out. Looking into the she had a mammogram and in-office biopsies. mirror and seeing the loose, dangling strands “The way the (nurses) looked. They looked at and empty, pale patches on her head made it, and they looked back at me; and I just knew left her depressed and embarrassed, Butrum I definitely had it,” she said. said.

Tammy Burtrum Doctors told Butrum that because she had “My biggest downfall was losing my hair,” her children (twins Shelby and Andrew, now she said. “That was it. I drew the curtains.”

Beech Grove 21) after turning 30, she had an increased risk All she wanted to do was hide at home, of developing breast cancer. alone.

For one distressing week, she waited to hear Although her hair is slowly coming back, a the results. On Jan. 4, 2004, her doctor called to tell her both $200 wig makes her feel more comfortable in public. breasts contained Stage 2 cancer tumors.

“It’s kind of like a Jamie Lee Curtis cut,” she said, now able The diagnosis came the same day Butrum planned to go to an to joke about the deep blonde bob. annual slumber party with high school girlfriends. She didn’t The fifth of six girls in her family, Butrum is the only sibling attend. to be diagnosed with the disease.

Butrum underwent five surgeries, including bilateral lumpecThat doesn’t mean she suffers alone. Any of her sisters would tomies; nine months of chemotherapy; and the maximum answer the phone at 4 a.m. if she needed them, Butrum said. amount of radiation she could receive in her lifetime on her “I have a wonderful, wonderful support group: all my sisters, upper torso region. wonderful friends and the girls at work. I don’t know what Her support system helped her through the months of agony, I’d do without everybody, knowing I had people out there who she said. cared,” she said.

“All my 25 girls at the slumber party started to bring me dinCo-workers would leave flowers on her desk at work or give ner. Every night for two weeks,” Butrum said.

Her employer, Clarian Health Partners, where she is a pay(SEE TWICE, PAGE D9)

“

I’m thinking they never actually got rid of it the first time. To each his own, but I wish I’d had the mastectomy the first time.

Tammy Butrum Age 52

Residence Beech Grove

Diagnosis Butrum twice has been diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer and is battling the physical and mental effects of the disease and treatment

What cancer taught me It’s taught me a lot about people — the good, the bad, the ugly. I’ve seen it all through all this.

The ugly is the people that treat you like you have the plague. The bad is the chemo, the radiation — yuck. The good is the Chandys and the Susies and the Lisas — you know they’re there.

How cancer changed me It’s taught me to live a healthier lifestyle, be more active and eat better. I walk every day. I don’t do fast food.

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer I’m sorry, so sorry. I mainly tell them what they ask.

I try to answer to the best of my ability, speaking from experience. But every individual is different.

Pictured: Tammy Burtrum twice has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

STORY BY SARAH SCHULZ PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

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DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

• Years (CONTINUED FROM PAGE D3)

‘What do I do?’

Another big difference was the cost.

Musgrave said she can’t remember paying a single medical bill.

Watson and her husband do. In fact, it was one of her husband, Jeff’s, first questions.

But Watson said she knew there was little they could do about it and would find a way to pay the bills, no matter how scary they were at times.

“It’s not something you plan for.

It’s not something you save for. And then it happens and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, what do I do?’” she said.

They had co-pays with doctor vis-

its, deductibles to meet and then paying 20 percent of the costs of procedures. And since her treatment stretched over two calendar years, they had to start all over again when 2010 began.

They estimate their bills were about $5,000, though more still could come in for follow-up care. They paid enough to be able to claim medical expenses on their income taxes, which is extremely rare for them.

Both women said they think doctors never expected Musgrave to live 30 years after her diagnosis.

Just hearing the diagnosis was terrifying.

Watson remembers finding out as a senior in high school.

“It was scary hearing the word cancer. We didn’t know a lot then,” she said.

But since Musgrave’s diagnosis,

• History (CONTINUED FROM PAGE D6) During that time, her daughters cared for her, lying in bed with her when she was having bad days and getting her water when she needed it.

Her mother talked with her and took her to her doctor’s visits. Paterson said she felt bad that all she could do was be a shoulder to lean on.

“It was extremely hard as a mother to see your daughter go through that,” she said. “I was there with her the whole way, but I felt powerless, like there was nothing I could really do.”

Paterson and about a dozen other family members got small pink ribbon tattoos on the insides of their ankles. Carson’s daughters, then 16 and 18, organized the effort.

“I never thought that at the age of 66, I’d be walking around with a tattoo,” Paterson said.

“But it’s a permanent way to show your support.”

She and her granddaughters, Allie and Kacey, watched over Carson while she rested after chemotherapy, took her out when she felt up to it and consoled her after she lost her hair.

Two weeks after chemotherapy started, clumps of Caron’s hair came out in the shower.

Carson viewed it as a sign that the treatment was working, tied her hair into a ponytail and headed off to work.

A few days later, she invited about 10 people to a hair-cutting party in a friend’s garage. A stylist friend of hers tried out different haircuts before shaving Carson bald.

“I wanted to do something joyous,” she said.

“Losing my hair showed that the chemothera-

BRAVE HEARTS

more research has been done and medical advances made. Both doctors and society know much more about cancer, Watson said.

Musgrave remembers talking to people about her diagnosis at the Banta General Store that she and her husband owned. They would ask her about her treatment and tell her about a relative who had been diagnosed with cancer. And they would learn together, with Musgrave keeping records of her treatments and what doctors told her so she could share them with her friends and family.

‘The crying is done’ When Musgrave was undergoing chemotherapy, there was little doctors could give her to treat the nausea and uncontrollable bowel movements that kept her in the hospital for at least a day.

“

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 D9

Her chemotherapy treatments were solemn, in a quiet room with only her mother there for company.

Watson’s treatments were more like a party.

She brought a group of her girlfriends every time. They brought balloons and food and would laugh and talk for the five or six hours she had to sit in an outpatient center hooked up to an IV. The mood was happy, with the only tears coming the first time they put the needle in, Watson said.

“But then I said I’m done, the crying is done. We can’t do anything about it,” she said.

And doctors gave her multiple drugs before her treatments, including an anti-nausea medicine and an anti-histamine to fight off those bad reactions.

So while her mother’s biggest concern was the awful sickness she

I had good insurance. But when you consider that a single chemotherapy session could cost $9,000, it could have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to save my life. We’re very fortunate that it didn’t cost more out of pocket.”

Eventually, Carson After the surgery, Carson lost every strand of hair received radiation treatments on her body, including that she said were easy comeyebrows and eyelashes. pared to the chemotherapy she She had purchased a wig had been through. The hour-long but wore it only about treatments made her tired but five times because it mostly were a distraction to her was too itchy and day because she didn’t have the uncomfortable. side effects that others experiA nun at her school ence. crocheted caps that she “With the radiation, I did ended up wearing everything I could have done to instead. keep it from coming back,” she “It was more comfortsaid. “That was all I could do able for me,” she said. after the chemotherapy and the “Everyone knows what surgery. There was nothing left you’re doing, so there’s to do.” no point to try to hide Her life since has gotten mostit.” ly back to normal. The biggest The chemotherapy long-term health implications are ended in January 2008, Terese Carson numbness and the effect that the and Carson then had to chemotherapy had on her memogo in for surgery within Greenwood ry. the next three weeks. A The fog has worn off, but she surgeon removed both still has trouble recalling names. breasts, and then a plastic surgeon performed But overall, Carson feels good and optimistic a reconstruction on the same day.

Her insurance paid for the surgery and most that she won’t have a recurrence. She was seeing her oncologist every three months but now of her treatments. But Carson still ended up spending about $5,000 to $7,000 out of pocket on only has to go every six months for checkups.

“I feel like I’ve done everything I can do and deductibles and co-pays, largely because her that it’s in God’s hands,” she said. “I’m a surinsurance didn’t fully cover the genetic test. vivor. I’m strong. I’m a mother. I’m a caregiv“I’m very fortunate that our family wasn’t financially devastated,” she said. “Fortunately, er. I’ve always been strong.”

py was purging the cancer from my body, and that was something to celebrate.”

Refused to hide it

When you consider that a single chemotherapy session could cost $9,000, it could have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to save my life.

We’re very fortunate that it didn’t cost more out of pocket.

“Thinks Pink” and Supports Breast Cancer Awareness Month

faced after getting her treatment, Watson’s fear was losing her hair.

She wasn’t afraid of throwing up.

The reason she fought against the chemotherapy was because she didn’t want to lose her hair. That fear surprised her, she said.

“I never knew I felt that way. But I prayed so hard to be that one in a billion to not lose her hair,” she said.

With her treatments done, Watson said she worries about a recurrence of her cancer, especially since her mother had two. But she isn’t going to dwell on it.

“If it happens, it happens, and we’ll deal with it,” she said.

But with her family history, she has talked to her 20-year-old daughter about her risks and that when she turns 37, she needs to start getting mammograms.

“And I will be on her for that,” she said.

• Twice (CONTINUED FROM PAGE D8) monetary donations to help with payments not covered by insurance.

One friend took it upon herself to walk the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, a 60-mile trek. A slumber party pal, Chandy Wilcoxon of Nineveh, has trained for the event since January and has raised more than $2,000 to participate at the end of the month.

“How awesome for her to do that. It just brings chills. She had so many blisters on her feet last time. Chandy’s there for everybody. She doesn’t let anyone slide,” Butrum said.

Before cancer, when friends would call and ask her to go shopping or out for dinner, she would find strength to go even when tired. Now, she just doesn’t have the energy. Butrum has found that sometimes saying no is OK and even good for her.

“I’m a do-er, I’m a go-er. But not anymore, not like that,” she said.

The fatigue hasn’t stopped her from trying to take care of herself or her husband, David, and their children. She’s learned to live a healthier lifestyle, be more active and eat better.

Her daily routine includes walking one mile and eating nutritious meals — a healthier regimen than she followed before having cancer.

“I’m still here, still fighting, still cooking and cleaning, yelling at my kids,” she said.

Keeping our

community strong

is theheart of what we do.

ZTA Sorority at the 2010 “Dig Pink” Volleyball Match 101 Branigin Boulevard, Franklin, Indiana 46131 www.franklincollege.edu

WISH hope LOVE cure

T

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BRAVE HEARTS

D10 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

• Help (CONTINUED FROM PAGE D1)

‘Sick Mommy’ Shepard couldn’t figure out why she was so intrigued by what Byerly was talking about that day at the soccer game. She worked and had two young children. She simply didn’t have time to think about herself, let alone what this woman was talking about.

But she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Within days, she found a lump. Her doctor said it was probably a cyst, and a mammogram was scheduled.

The lump wasn’t fluid filled, and the biopsy results came back as invasive cancer. The lump was about 2 centimeters in size.

Her mind raced. She did not want to be a sick mommy to then-3-yearold John and 6-year-old Samantha.

She didn’t want to raise her children as an ill, bedridden woman.

“My biggest fear was being that burden, that sick person,” Shepard said. “I didn’t want that.”

Shepard found her lump shortly after she turned 38, two years before she would have started having routine mammograms.

“At that point it would have been in my lymph nodes, and I would have been sick Mommy,” she said.

Shepard was supposed to find her lump. She was supposed to pay attention to it and get treatment, her best friend, Jennifer Bentley of Louisville, said. They both were vaccine sales representatives and found themselves away from their families for a six-week training about six years ago.

“Well, I guess we’re going to know each other forever,” Shepard had told Bentley on that trip. The two quickly became friends. Then best friends.

When Shepard was diagnosed, the two weren’t overly intimidated by what she was facing. They worked in health care and believed in what doctors and medicine could accomplish.

“The profound effect that we have shared is the spiritual connection of how she came about her diagnosis and then running into Stacey,” Bentley said.

She calls it a divine intervention that should solidify that someone else is in control, she said.

She likens it to someone smacking Shepard in the head.

Thankfully, she was listening, Bentley said.

‘I don’t regret it a bit’ Shepard went to Dr. Cara Hahs at Community Breast Care. She told her to take her time in deciding her course of treatment because the borderline Stage 2 cancer was not moving too fast.

Hahs told her she had to deal with her cancer, but she didn’t have to decide how immediately. It likely had been growing in her right breast for 10 to 11 years.

Before the surgery, Shepard received what she called four shots of what felt like fire racing through her. The shots would show the surgeon which of her lymph nodes were primary and show the drainage path. Hahs removed the lump, put in a port for chemotherapy, checked the nodes and removed six.

The nodes were cancer free.

Hahs told Shepard it was hard to get a clear margin around the lump during surgery because the cancer was close to the muscle wall. They wanted to operate again to make sure the cancer was gone.

Shepard talked to women who did a minimal course of treatment, and the cancer came back.

She wasn’t afraid to deal with her cancer.

“But I didn’t want to deal with it

the bottle again. It was a club she again in 10 years,” she said. never wanted to be a part of. And This time, she chose a double she could laugh about the bottle. mastectomy and reconstruction.

Finally, some comedic relief.

“I don’t regret it a bit,” Shepard “She had to find the fight from said. within first,” said Brian Shepard, “I just had a feeling there was a former Marine. “Once that probably more in there than what they originally saw.” was found, then I most definitely She started chemotherapy just stepped in. But it most definitely before Thanksgiving 2008, and the had to come from her and within worst was yet to come. her before I could put my hand in Part of the treatment involves to help.” taking steroids, which are meant Around her fourth or fifth cheto help the rest of motherapy the medicine work treatment near and keep cancer Valentine’s Day, patients from she went bowling with her becoming so ill. son. The next That part worked. Shepard morning, she never threw up. She had a fever and did itch and suffer headache. She from dehydration. couldn’t swallow But while the very well. She cancer was under couldn’t get up. attack, so were But no one Shepard’s emocame to check tions. The steroids on her. made her crazy.

Shepard called Angry. Sad. Moody. her sister-in-law “You didn’t want and asked her to be with yourself, to tell Brian Jennifer Bentley let alone anybody Shepard to come else,” she said. help her. She Kentucky resident She begged to was taken to the and friend of cancer go off the steroids. emergency room Her fingers were and had a maspatient Janna swollen. She gained sive case of strep Shepard 30 pounds. Her face throat. had taken on a That was it. square shape. She Brian Shepard was bald. quarantined her. She was grounded, No, the doctors said. She’d be he told her. They had come too far. worse without them.

They were too close to being done with breast cancer.

“We only have two more left, girl, two more,” he told her, referring to Bentley’s way of helping was to her chemotherapy treatments. let Shepard talk about it.

“He grounded me out of love.

“It consumed her more than Because he knew I wouldn’t stop. she probably realizes. She’d say, That was another marker that it ‘Tomorrow, we’re not talking about wasn’t me going through this, it it,’” Bentley said. “But of course we was us,” she said. would.”

Cancer didn’t transform Listening to her doesn’t mean Shepard’s relationship with her placating her best friend. Bentley husband. The disease didn’t save wouldn’t tell her everything would her marriage. Her illness didn’t be OK. destroy the relationship either.

“If it was going to be horrible, I Instead, their bond matured. would tell her that,” Bentley said.

“He loved me when I was bald Their friendship had been like and swollen,” Shepard said. “He that all along. never wavered. He was himself.”

Shepard and Bentley were Sometimes she wondered why he accountability friends. They use didn’t coddle her. “Why? Because I each other as a mirror. They have don’t like to be coddled,” she realsimilar core beliefs and were raised ized. “He knew that.” similarly. They never enabled each other to behave badly.

“We are the mirror of what the other person wants to hear that is After chemotherapy, surgeons true, that is right,” Bentley said. removed both her breasts and “That’s a hard concept sometimes.” took out the chemotherapy port.

Shepard took a leave from her They put in a flat implant for her job. She took her children to kinder- reconstruction. Doctors fill the garten and preschool, went home, expanders, which as first look like set an alarm and went back to bed. deflated balloons, with saline over That was the only way she’d have time to prepare skin for a breast the energy to spend time with her implant. children in the evening.

Twenty days later, she walked in She and her husband, Brian, had the Race for the Cure. told the children that Mom had to She had summer with her chiltake icky medicines. She’d be tired, dren. And a year to the day after and her hair would fall out, and her diagnosis, doctors removed the she’d look like Dad. But her hair expanders and gave her silicone would grow back. breast implants.

Bentley feared for what her She wanted a quick recovery. friend and her family were going “My world doesn’t stop when I’m through. sick,” Shepard said.

“How are we going to pick up the She’d gone back to work part slack for this extraordinary female time, and in another town one day who does all of these things for all she went to a walk-in salon withof these people that no one knows out her wig on. Her hair was just about?” Bentley remembers wonstarting to grow back in and was dering. very short but had no style. Her still-swollen fingers were too big for her wedding band. Everyone stared At a doctor’s appointment one at her. day, a perky young woman came Shepard described it as one of in and wanted to give Shepard a her worst days with cancer. She big pep talk and include her in the was trying to get back to feeling young survivors organization. She good about how she looked. gave Shepard a water bottle, and Her children knew when she had 7-year-old Samantha started insistreached the point where she would ing on taking that water bottle to survive, and it was all about the school. hair.

Finally, Shepard flung the bottle.

During her illness, whenever She didn’t want anyone to ever see they’d leave the house, they’d have

“

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‘You’re going to be OK’ Byerly, a part-time teacher in Indianapolis, thought it was important for Shepard to get out of the house and stay as active as possible. When a woman has black eyes, is bald, looks sick and feels sick due to the toll of breast cancer and chemotherapy, it is key to do something to make yourself feel good.

Enter Byerly’s belief in the natural endorphins of exercise.

The women would walk, talk and lift weights. Byerly had Shepard make a scheduled commitment to exercise with her.

“I think it’s a good affirmation that you’re going to be OK,” Byerly said.

Shepard said it was important for her body and her mind to get out of the house when she was able. She and Byerly did lots of walking and talking. And their sons, who are about the same age and very energetic, got to be close friends.

When chemotherapy was over, Shepard wanted to work out to get back into shape and lose some of the weight the treatment had caused her to gain. She immediately faced intense lower back and hip pain and discovered that chemotherapy had really hit her entire body. Her core muscles, which hold her frame together, were weak. Her pelvis was out of alignment, the muscles too weak to hold it where it should have been.

Physical therapy and Jazzercise helped. She’s lost half the weight and walked the mini-marathon this year.

What’s so insidious about breast cancer is that it’s our mothers and daughters, the people who hold everything together.

Little miracles Early in her diagnosis, Shepard took her daughter to Rascals Fun Zone and saw a woman whose daughter had taken ballet with Samantha. She remembered thinking the woman was looking at her and wondered if it was apparent already that she was sick.

The next week, that woman was the nurse at her breast cancer surgeon’s office.

“I was waiting on you,” the nurse later told her.

Shepard calls that experience and her bond with Byerly her little miracles that provided the takeme-by-the-hand-and-lead-me during her entire treatment. God brought people into her life for a reason, she said.

If Byerly hadn’t talked about cancer that day, Shepard still wouldn’t have had her first mammogram, she said.

“Mine was very, very survivable because I found it when I did,” Shepard said.

She has tried to pay it forward.

Two women in the area have had early mammograms because of Shepard. They both have a family history of breast cancer but were timid about getting an early screening. They are both OK but now have a baseline for future mammograms.

Her best friend, who lives in Louisville, the one who told her the day of her diagnosis to cry for five minutes and then they’d figure out how to fix it, told another woman Shepard’s story. She had a mammogram and was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer.

She doesn’t want women who think they feel a lump to ignore it.

Don’t accept that it is a cyst that can be checked in a few years.

Demand more tests.

‘My world doesn’t stop’

‘Find the fight’

Knights of Columbus IN

to find the keys, the cell phone and Mom’s hair.

When her hair came back, the kids wrote Mom off as just fine.

And surprise: Her straight hair grew back curly.

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Coming back Shepard already had her priorities straight before she had

cancer. She was living life pretty well before, Bentley said. Her children and family were always most important.

But since her recovery from breast cancer, a slower evolution has started. Shepard has slowed down. This time, she has done the grounding. Since earlier this year, she has been a full-time mom without working outside the home.

She’s also realized all of the areas she is of value in and what she contributes on a daily basis to so many people. She learned to accept help from people, that having someone else make dinner is a great thing and that a card coming in the mail can make your day better, Bentley said.

“What’s so insidious about breast cancer is that it’s our mothers and daughters, the people who hold everything together,” Bentley said.

Shepard relishes every minute of the day. She’s quieted down.

Brian Shepard still is trying to get the appreciation for little things in life that his wife has.

“Unless you’ve gone through it, even being the spouse, it is hard to understand and truly appreciate what has gone on with her,” he said.

“The small things don’t bother us anymore. The things we did care about, the job, the money, the materials, are no longer what is important in our life.”

Shepard knows the warning signs that cancer is back. Since both her breasts are removed, if the cancer returns, it will be elsewhere in her body, such as her brain, her bones, her lungs, her liver. Her doctor asks during annual checkups if she has any chronic pain in her torso, vision changes, back spasms, headaches, weight loss or weight gain.

“If it goes somewhere, we find out once it gets there,” Shepard said.

The thoughts of it occasionally creep into her mind, not every day, about once a week she thinks about it showing up somewhere else. She knows she did everything she could to make sure that never happens.

‘It never goes away’ Byerly, too, faces the possibility that cancer could come back.

While her diagnosis was two years behind her when she met Shepard, it wasn’t really over.

“I think she needed me as much as I needed her,” Shepard said.

Byerly had gone through chemotherapy while raising young children. When Shepard was sick, Byerly was able to watch someone else go through it.

“It helped her make peace with what she went through,” Shepard said.

Byerly needed someone to talk to about the disease and treatments and what it feels like when icy medicine races through your body. They swapped experiences like mothers sharing birth stories.

“It doesn’t go away once you’re done with treatment,” Byerly said.

“It never goes away.”

Before her first surgery, she went for a walk and cried. But she found three pennies and took it as a sign.

Now when Byerly faces a doctor’s appointment, she searches for her lucky pennies.

Before her most recent mammogram, she called Shepard and said she was scared because she hadn’t found her pennies yet.

“She just talks me through it in a really sensible way,” Byerly said.

While Shepard has the fear of her cancer recurring, she knows the chance is small. If Byerly’s cancer reoccurs, she will catch it early but will go through it all again, Shepard said.

“So who knows, maybe I would look for lucky pennies, too,” Shepard said.

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DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 D11

60-mile walk requires months of work STORY BY SARAH SCHULZ

How to help

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Log on to the3day.org. Click on donate to participant and select Chandy Wilcoxon’s name. Eighty-four cents of every dollar spent by Susan G. Komen for the Cure supports mission programs and services.

etting ready for a 60-mile walk consumes much of Chandy Wilcoxon’s spare time.

For the second time, Wilcoxon is preparing for a breast cancer fundraising walk, training and raising funds for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.

Wilcoxon has been inspired by loved ones to do what she can to find a cure for breast cancer. What she can do is simply walk.

A cousin, Paulette Hocker of Michigan, passed away of the disease; a high school friend, Tammy Butrum, is dealing with her second diagnosis and breast reconstruction; and other friends and fellow church members are battling the cancer.

Wilcoxon, 52, feels blessed she has not been affected, so she wants to help those who have. She has been training since February for the event at the end of the October.

Painful, blistered feet caused her to stop a few miles short in 2007; so Wilcoxon is training to walk farther.

“I came close (in 2007) but didn’t quite finish. I had so many blisters and the heat just got to me,” she said.

She is training harder than last time, hoping to cross the finish line on each of the three days.

Her weekly regimen includes 40 to 50 miles of easy, moderate or intense walking. A personal trainer also works with Wilcoxon two or three times each week on weightlifting to improve her endurance. Strength training has helped her walk farther.

“When I used to walk seven miles on a Saturday

• Holly (CONTINUED FROM PAGE D4) respected in the community, local people and organizations asked Harlow to speak about her experience with breast cancer.

She spoke at the Veterans of Foreign Wars and on the phone to

• Good (CONTINUED FROM PAGE D4) aunt and Kailee.

“They have been so supportive. I couldn’t have done any of this without my family and friends,” Gough said.

Fans at cheer stations along the route offered encouragement. They

v

and seven miles again on Sunday, it would just wipe me out. I’d be done for the weekend. I go do it now, and it doesn’t bother me at all,” she said.

Wilcoxon, of Nineveh, awakes before work at 4 or 5 a.m. to train anyplace she can in the county. She walks the sidewalks of Franklin College on beautiful days, in rain or intense heat.

The heat index reached 103 degrees during the 2007 event, so Wilcoxon trains in shoes that are slightly big.

“When your feet sweat, they expand,” she said.

Spare socks and shoes will be packed in her suitcase for race weekend.

When spending time with her two granddaughters on weekends, Wilcoxon trains while they ride their bicycles along sidewalks. If they want to play on a playground, she seeks out the nearest school parking lot and walks back and forth.

To stay on track, Wilcoxon sticks closely to the training schedule race coordinators e-mail her each week.

For one of the final weekends she has left to train, the schedule recommended walking 15 miles on Saturday and 18 on Sunday.

But training to walk is only half the commitment.

Participants also must raise $2,300, which goes to research, screening, education and treatment

through the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

In 2009, participants from 15 cities raised about $91 million.

Walkers have until 30 days after the event to raise the funds; or their credit card will be charged the balance.

That’s what happened to Wilcoxon’s daughter, Melissa Hannebaum. She had a tough time gathering enough donations in 2007. When she didn’t reach her goal, $900 was charged to her credit card.

At the first race, she and Hannebaum gathered tips from other walkers on how to raise funds. They learned that businesses typically are more willing to donate than individuals because they can give more and write off the amount on their taxes.

So she’s had to get creative.

Wilcoxon sent out a letter requesting donations to family members, friends and businesses. She has baked cookies to sell at festivals.

“We had a couple of garage sales at home and put signs out, saying that all money will go to a threeday breast cancer walk.” She still needs donations to meet her goal.

By Oct. 1, she had raised $1,485, or 65 percent of her goal.

“It’s hard to ask for money,” she said.

Wilcoxon spends money out of her own pocket, as well, including $90 on a registration fee, plus the cost of airfare, a hotel, rental car and food.

It will all be worth it, she said, once she arrives and is surrounded by cheering onlookers and the weak, balding women she’ll be walking for.

“It’s a huge commitment,” she said, and she plans to keep walking until there is a cure for breast cancer.

• Walking (CONTINUED FROM PAGE D5) With tears in her eyes, Wilcoxon remembered when her daughter, the last walker, finished day one of the race three years ago. Emotions ran high as everyone gathered together, feeling an enormous sense of accomplishment after walking about 22 miles.

“While she was lowering the flag for the end of day one, people were coming up and thanking her — these little tiny women with bald heads, wearing their pink T-shirts — it was wonderful. I’m so glad we did it,” she said.

The physical nature of the three-day walk makes her donation to the cause more tangible.

“People’s donations are there whether I do 60 miles or not. But I just feel in my heart that I want to complete those 60 miles, or at least do what I can.”

She did it once, and she’s ready to do it again in two weeks. She will continue walking until breast cancer is no longer a threat.

“I do it because I can, and I just have to,” she said.

strangers who were newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

“She just made it a way of life and dealt with it. She didn’t have a choice.”

Gough said Harlow’s optimism is what allowed her to live 11 years with cancer.

“I’ve had doctors tell me she should have died five years before she did, but it was her attitude that kept her going,” Gough said.

Even when she was ill, Harlow and Gough attended stockcar races. They would be decked out in as much garb as they could find, ready to cheer like crazy.

Three weeks before her death, Gough experienced an unforgettable night with her sister.

Through the Never Too Late organization (a group that helps terminally ill adults fulfill their wishes),

Harlow had the opportunity to go back-stage and meet one of her favorite singers, Keith Urban.

“She hugged him and he said, ‘God bless you.’ She loved Keith Urban,” Gough said.

A photo of the sisters meeting Urban was featured in the Oct. 4 edition of Country Weekly. Gough couldn’t believe that her sister’s memory is being carried on three

years after Harlow’s death.

Gough relives these memories daily to keep her sister’s spirit alive.

Her wish for her niece and nephew, Kailee and Jarrett, is that they carry on Harlow’s optimistic outlook whenever they encounter a trying experience. “(Kailee and Jarrett) didn’t know life without breast cancer. I hope they have her strong attitude in life.”

lined the sidewalks, offering a mist of water, candy, popsicles, ice or just a simple thank-you.

Other walkers kept her going, too, she said.

At camp one night, a woman told the story of her daughter, who was 29, and 24 weeks pregnant, when diagnosed with breast cancer. She immediately underwent chemotherapy and delivered her son five weeks

early. Two months later, in June of this year, the woman’s daughter passed away.

Hearing stories like that made her push through any discomfort, Gough said.

A saying pinned on a walker’s T-shirt kept her motivated. It read, “‘Blisters don’t need chemo.”

“Quitting (was) not an option because it never was for (Harlow).

You just shove your feet back in those shoes and go again,” Gough said.

Gough, her friends and family slept in little pink tents provided by race coordinators.

The final day consisted of a route a little more than 17 miles. The final seven miles were rough, with greater inclines, rain and wind.

Gough laughed about the final day.

“The good note on this was that after

we finished, it got really, really sunny, hot and humid. So, we all agreed we would have rather had the steady rain instead,” she said.

A closing ceremony at Soldier Field brought together the more than 1,600 walkers.

“As crazy as it sounds, I know that I will definitely do this again,” she said. “My feet say no, but my heart says yes.”

r e c n a C t s a e BrSURVIVORS & ANGELS TRIBUTE TO

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TO OUR FRIEND

Leisa Beatty You were first our friend and then our patient. The day we diagnosed you was one of the most difficult days of our career; however, God knew what he was doing that day! You’ve been an inspiration to many...including us! Two and a half years later, we consider ourselves blessed to call our friend a SURVIVOR! We love you!

1%

TO OUR GIRLFRIEND

Ellen Paris

“Life is a journey” & we are so proud to be a part of it with you!

You are such an inspiration to us all. Way to kick cancer’s butt!

J Iva Hall

Carmen Cochran

2 Year survivor with many more to come!

You won the battle twice!

Luv ya, Herlin I

Cindy Mattox You are the strongest person I know! I love you!

Lisa

Love, Peggy, Kim, Barb, Kris, Sharon, Mickey, Debbie & Gale TO MY DAUGHTER

Robin, Karen, Megan and Madison

Holly

Brave enough to stand up For what you believe, And a WARRIOR to follow it through I guess Heaven was needing a HERO like you.

Michelle Coe

You are so strong and brave. We love you!

Aunt Barb, Uncle Dave and Dawn

Mom and Mike

Amanda & Heather

Ruthie Lawson

TO OUR MOM

Marie Miller

You are an inspiration to us all!

We love you! Fight like a girl!

Love, Stacy, Terry, Austin & Justin

To the most amazing Mom ever! Congrats Barbara Brownfield on being a three To someone who showed time survivor. great courage & faith in the Love, Your Kids

TO MY DAUGHTER

Stephanie Stewart Live, love, laugh, sing and dance line no one’s watching.

“9 Years Out!” P.

Love, Mom

Lord. You’re loved very much.

Denny & Kids

Tammy Etter

i T Our very brave, courageous & thankfully now healthy friend!

Love, Cecil & Beth

Ruth Lawson Fight Like A Girl!

Love, Sharon, Bruce, Brady & Peyton

TO OUR MOM

Holly Harlow

Mom, you are our Hero and forever in our hearts! We love you with all our hearts and miss you every day!

We have a beautiful angel watching over us in all we do and will always remember everything you did and will do for us. We love you Mom, forever and always.

Kailee and Jarrett

TO MY SISTER

Susan Reed “Nunnie”

You have been an inspiration, mentor, Sister, and most of all a good friend. You have gone through so much this past year and with all the prayers, we are all very glad to have you in our lives today. We look forward to being with you today, tomorrow, and in the many years to come.

Love, Jim & Pam

Carol Hill You were so brave to go through this surgery. I don’t think I could of handled it the way you did. God bless you. I love you.

Gloria _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

BRAVE HEARTS

D12 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

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BRAVE HEARTS

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 E1

Don’t give up

hope

Franklin resident writes book about cancer experience

A

Franklin mother dreaded having to tell her 15-yearHer radiologist told her he was fairly certain that a mass old son that she had just been diagnosed with that turned up in the ultrasound was cancerous, and she was so breast cancer. stunned that she couldn’t speak above a whisper, Petersen said.

Terri Petersen was close with her only child. She She became depressed after starting to research breast cancer knew it would be hard for him to digest. online while waiting for confirmation from her biopsy. She was Petersen spent hours brooding stunned to learn how prevalent breast cancer at the kitchen table over just how to break the was. news. She decided she wanted to say something “But I felt sorry for myself for about five funny. minutes,” she said. “Then I said I was OK, I’m When her son, Erik, returned home from going to move on.” school that day, she asked him to sit down at the Her husband immediately arranged to take kitchen table and told him she had good news off from work to accompany her on appointand bad news. ments to a surgeon at the Indiana University He asked for the good news, and she told Medical Center in Indianapolis, where they him she had breast cancer and asked him if he would decide on a course of treatment. wanted to hear the bad news before he had time Petersen picked her surgeon after asking her to react. She then told him she would get a curly doctor whom she would recommend if one of black wig if she lost her hair because of chemoher family members had been diagnosed. therapy.

Petersen said she tried to keep the jokes coming and a smile on her face after she was Garry and Terri Petersen both said they diagnosed with a disease she knew little about. felt confident going to the IU Medical Center Since surgeons removed the lump, she’s tried to because of its reputation and because residents use humor to educate other women about breast and interns check and double-check all the cancer. work at a teaching hospital.

She wants other women to better informed “I feared the worst,” Garry Petersen said. than she was, so she wrote a book about her “But I got a little more comfortable knowing experience and talks about the importance of we would be in capable hands.” regular mammograms to women she meets.

Within 10 days of the diagnosis, she had One of the main points she stresses is women scheduled a sentinel node biopsy at her surshould maintain hope and the conviction that geon’s advice. The surgery would remove the they’ll recover. During her own struggle with lump and a lymph node that would be tested to cancer, Petersen tried to stay lighthearted to see if the cancer had spread. deal with her fear of the unknown, her discomPetersen relied mostly on her husband and fort with disrobing before rooms of medical son for support in the days as she prepared interns and her worries about her family. for surgery. She sent mass e-mails to update She wanted her son and her husband, friends, acquaintances and extended family Garry, to know that she didn’t think of the diagabout her condition because she didn’t want to nosis as a death sentence. She wanted them to keep having the same conversations over and share her conviction that cancer was something over. they could get through.

Her husband sat with her in waiting rooms “When you can laugh about it, I think that while she got an MRI, an EKG and a chest made it so much easier for my family and that X-ray in the days leading up to the surgery. He was my point,” she said. “I wanted to make it held a vomit pan for her when she dry-heaved easier for everybody. I think that’s women and Terri Petersen while fading in and out of consciousness after mothers in general, that we want to make it the surgeons had cut out tissue.

Franklin easier for people around us, not more difficult.”

Her son took off school to accompany her to Petersen continued to e-mail her son jokes her surgery. He rubbed her shoulders to lessen every day, tell funny stories and try to find her back pain before the surgery and fetched warm blankets humor as she was shuffled from one hospital room to the next. when the old ones got cold.

After a chest X-ray, she told him she was happy to announce that The procedure went well, and the surgeons didn’t have to she did, in fact, have a heart. remove any other lymph nodes because there were no signs that When she was told that she wouldn’t have needed an EKG if her the cancer had spread. They confirmed that the cancer was in surgery had been two months later, after her 50th birthday, she fact Stage 1. quipped that she thought life was supposed to be better after 50.

Her oncologist advised her she wouldn’t need chemotherapy since the tumor had been caught early. But she would need six weeks of radiation treatment.

She’s always tried to take a light-hearted approach to life, espeDuring that period, she felt tired and weak but wasn’t sure cially after losing her vision in 1987. She frequently is asked how whether that was from the treatments or the daily trips to the she copes with being legally blind and always responds that it hospital. She went for the brief procedure every weekday either has good points, such as that everyone looks great to her. with her husband or a college student they hired to take care of But at first, she had trouble coming up with anything funny to her. say about breast cancer. She was so shocked that she didn’t know what to think and spent much of her time researching the disease online with the help of her talking laptop.

She kept her hair and said the treatment wasn’t painful, Petersen never expected to develop breast cancer because she although she often wondered if the intense heat meant that she’d had no family history of it, although she had been getting mambe able to fry an egg on the side of her breast. mograms every year since turning 40 at her doctor’s advice.

While getting daily radiation treatments, she tried to keep But she had a bad feeling when her doctor asked her to come doctors and nurses entertained and asked every time for pink back for a second mammogram four years ago, even though it beads, like those thrown during Mardi Gras. She also talked with wasn’t the first time she’d been called back. everyone she met in the waiting room, whether children, chronic The second mammogram did not find anything significant, but smokers who weren’t giving up their habits or other women who Petersen wanted to be sure and so arranged for an ultrasound. also had had cancerous lumps removed from their breasts.

When the ultrasound found a small mass, she arranged for a (SEE HOPE, PAGE E7) biopsy.

“

When you can laugh about it, I think that made it so much easier for my family and that was ‘I feared the worst’ my point. I wanted to make it easier for everybody. I think that’s women and mothers in general, that we want to make it easier for people around us, not more difficult.

Terri Petersen Age 54

Residence Franklin

Diagnosed January 2006 with Stage 1 mass during an ultrasound that Petersen asked for after being called back for a redo mammogram

Treatment Received a sentinel lymph node biopsy, then six weeks of radiation

What cancer taught me Cancer is a diagnosis, not a death sentence.

Some people say, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” but it’s just a diagnosis, and you can recover.

How cancer changed me Well, it inspired me to write a book, and now I’m writing a second book. I probably wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t feel that I needed to tell other people about it.

What I would tell someone who was just diagnosed with cancer That it’s OK. Someone said something to me that helped me a lot. A nurse told me that everything’s going to be OK, and that meant a lot. You have to know that everything is going to be OK. To hear that helps. You get a little hope from them and can add it to your own hope.

Pictured: Terri Petersen discovered she had breast cancer four years ago during her annual mammogram. She has since written a book about her experience.

‘Going to move on’

‘Let’s save them all’

STORY BY JOSEPH S. PETE PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

BRAVE HEARTS

E2 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

Getting well,

feeling sick

Franklin resident struggles through chemotherapy

R

uth Adams laughed at the absurdity. The other option was “There’s a missing niche in the working poor, oftentimes they may crying. have some kind of income, but not that extra income to have screening In early August, she couldn’t open one of her pill bottles, services and more costly diagnostic services,” said Tanya Parrish, direcas the skin on her hands was peeling and disintegrating. tor of programs and services at Little Red Door.

The culprit was the chemotherapy she had been endurIn Adams’ case, Little Red Door, which she learned about from her ing for breast cancer, although she didn’t sister, set her up with a mammogram the day she know that immediately — and wouldn’t know it for a called and scheduled a biopsy. Within two weeks their week, until she finally called her doctor. counselors helped her set up on a Medicaid account for “I didn’t know the chemo had anything to do with women with breast cancer. it,” Adams said. “I guess it can have all kinds of side “That took a big relief off our minds. You wouldn’t effects.” imagine it, if you stopped to think about the money,” Adams, a 60-year-old Franklin resident, was diagnosed Larry Adams said. “If you want to give anybody praise, with breast cancer in May after finding a lump while it’s the Little Red Door. They sure take a burden off of taking a shower. Within weeks of the diagnosis, her people.” mother died. Seven months earlier, in October 2009, her With the financial questions answered, Adams daughter died at age 38 of an accidental overdose. Not could focus on battling the cancer and reassuring long before that, her husband’s brother died. loved ones.

She had cried more than enough, and then came a She never told her ill mother about the diagnosis. “I breast cancer diagnosis in an underemployed, uninsured figured that would just be worse on her,” Adams said. and grieving household.

There was no avoiding long talks with 12-year-old “We thought we were pretty much going to be wiped Ciera, however. Ciera, a granddaughter whom the Ruth Adams out, with me losing my job and no insurance and everycouple adopted and have raised (they have five other thing,” said Larry Adams, Ruth’s husband, who was let grown children from previous marriages), passed out Franklin go two years ago from a company he had worked for 32 at the hospital when she saw her adopted mother after years. the first lymph node surgery.

Then came a breakthrough that, while perhaps not Today, mother and daughter are having an easier stopping the tears which come with the initial shock of breast cancer, time. Ciera advises her mother on bandannas to wear, excited at the helped them subside significantly. The Little Red Door Cancer Agency prospect of what Ruth hears — that her hair should come back thicker was going to help the Adams family. and more curly than before.

One of the largest independent cancer agencies in central Indiana, the Adams may have more surgery this month and radiation into next Indianapolis-based Little Red Door helps those who must battle cancer year, but her type of cancer has a higher survival rate. but don’t have the money or insurance to pay the medical bills.

Then, there will be happy tears.

“

I didn’t know the chemo had anything to do with it. I guess it can have all kinds of side effects.

Ruth Adams Age 60

Residence Franklin

When diagnosed May with Stage 2 breast cancer

Treatment Chemotherapy and radiation

How cancer changed me I can handle anything. I would do this all over if I could have my daughter back.

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer Be brave.

Pictured: Franklin resident Ruth Adams was diagnosed with breast cancer in May and is undergoing chemotherapy.

STORY BY JOHN SCHWARB PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

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DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 E3

‘That’s all I heard’

Surgeons find cancer had spread

O

ne day she was a luscious brunette, the next a fiery redhead, depending on her mood.

The glossy wigs, with dramatic names like Desdemona, were a way to cover the evidence of Diana Bartnick-Schmidt’s chemotherapy treatment and also guarantee

The doctor told her that they found a spot on her mammogram and that it likely was cancerous. Bartnick-Schmidt had to hand the phone to her husband, Nolan.

“That’s all I heard, that it was cancer,” she said. “I went into shock. I couldn’t hear anything.”

After further tests, doctors found a tumor a laugh.

2 centimeters wide in her left breast and Bartnick-Schmidt remembered to smile recommended surgery to remove it as soon each day of her treatment, eliciting a giggle as possible. every time she whacked a red rubber ball During the operation, surgeons found that with a wooden paddle with the word “canthe cancer had spread to her lymph nodes cer” written on it after a draining radiation and removed them, too. It wasn’t until session. after her whirlwind surgery that BartnickThe retired Franklin College education Schmidt began thinking about how cancer professor also took advantage of her bald would impact her life. head, leaning against her husband’s office “You think the natural, ‘Why me?’ But door with a Kojak-like quip of, “Who loves then you think, ‘Why not me?’” she said. ya, baby?”

“Look at the statistics.”

But Bartnick-Schmidt, 67, didn’t let her Bartnick-Schmidt armed herself with goofy sense of humor overshadow the seriinformation gleaned from medical Web sites ousness of her disease. that explained options for treatment and Diana BartnickThe rural Franklin resident chose an lasting side effects.

Schmidt aggressive therapy of removing the lump She welcomed intense chemotherapy sesin her breast, followed by six months of sions because she knew from her research Rural Franklin chemotherapy and 30 radiation sessions. that they were the best way to kill the canWithin two weeks of her diagnosis, she was cer. She also endured daily radiation treatin surgery. ment after chemotherapy, which left her She chronicled her progress with a journal, which she still nauseous and loopy. reads six years after her diagnosis as a way to remind her of During each visit, Bartnick-Schmidt visualized the canthe fragility of life. cer, which she referred to as the terrorist, being blasted Bartnick-Schmidt was enjoying her retirement in the sumaway. She’s been cancer free since the end of her treatmer of 2004 when she went in for her routine mammogram. ment.

She received a call from her doctor a few days later, which “I couldn’t wait for chemo,” she said. “It was like a weight wasn’t unusual. But the message delivered was. had been lifted because the terrorist was gone.”

“

You think the natural, “Why me?” But then you think, “Why not me?”

Look at the statistics.

Diana Bartnick-Schmidt Age 67

Residence Rural Franklin

Diagnosed July 2004 when a routine mammogram revealed a spot on her left breast. Additional tests showed the 2-centimeter lump was cancerous and would need to be removed.

Treatment Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation

What cancer taught me That I am not invincible. That I am not a Superwoman.

I also learned to be more patient with myself.

How cancer changed me I am more aware of my personal health and my family’s health. I gently nag my family to eat better and exercise. I’ve learned to be my own advocate and track my own cholesterol and glycerides. Pay more attention to your body and don’t dismiss a lump or bump.

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer That I would be there for them and help them through the treatment. Don’t tell them about your aunt who just died of cancer. Keep them in your prayers and tell them not to be afraid.

Pictured: Rural Franklin resident Diana BartnickSchmidt was diagnosed with cancer in July 2004.

STORY BY SARAH MICHALOS PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

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E4 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

Get a mammogram?

Despite federal guidelines, doctors say test saves lives STORY BY SARAH MICHALOS

S

he didn’t feel the lump herself and didn’t know that her genetics predisposed her to get breast cancer.

Cyndi Hutslar, 40, found out about the cancer in her right breast only after a mammogram showed a tiny clump of poisonous cells.

Because of the annual test, Hutslar was diagnosed with cancer while it was at the least-aggressive stage and before the tumor could grow and spread.

“I tell everyone, ‘Get your mammogram, and get it early,’” Hutslar said.

“The only reason mine was caught was because of that mammogram.”

If Hutslar followed new guidelines released last year by a federal health panel, her cancer wouldn’t have been diagnosed and the mother of two isn’t sure she would be around today.

The guidelines recommend women wait until age 50 to get an annual mammogram because getting the test any earlier can cause false positives, over-diagnosis and unnecessary early treatment.

But local doctors have discredited the panel’s findings and still recommend all women get mammograms starting at age 40, or even earlier depending on their family history.

The only benefit to delaying mammograms is that patients won’t have to pay for the test, Johnson Memorial Hospital breast center director David Wippermann said.

As part of the new health care reform, mammograms for women 40 and over must be covered by insurance companies, but that doesn’t mean women have to start getting them at that age.

Wippermann doesn’t know any doctors who tell patients to wait for mammograms until they’re 50, when many patients are diagnosed in their 30s and 40s.

“Most practicing physicians think that’s unacceptable,” he said. “We’re saving money, but we’re not saving lives.”

“

When it works, it’s fantastic, and there are no downsides.

But it’s very laborious; you have to move vessels and connect vessels to the chest. You need at least two surgeons.

Ovidiu Cristea Surgeon on a breast reconstruction procedure

About the guidelines Here’s a look at the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation on screening for breast cancer, released in November 2009.

Screening mammography Ages 40 to 49: The task force recommends against routine screening mammography.

Ages 50 to 74: Screening every two years is recommended.

Ages 75 and older: Insufficient evidence to determine additional benefits and harms of clinical breast examination.

The task force found that screening for breast cancer between the ages of 50 and 60 produced a projected 17 percent reduction in mortality.

Starting at age 40 added 3 percentage points to that number.

Self-examination The task force recommends against clinicians teaching women how to perform breast self-examination because evidence shows those exams don’t reduce breast cancer mortality.

And women who wait could be allowing their cancer to develop and grow, which will be harder to treat and more costly in the end, he said.

The federal health panel also recommended that older women wait two years between mammograms, which Bargersville resident Judy Allen said could have cost her life.

In the span of a few months, what showed up as a grain of sand on her mammogram grew into two thumbsized tumors. Allen felt the lumps in the shower and made an appointment with her doctor, even though her last

Harms of detection and early intervention Harms include psychological trauma, unnecessary imaging tests and biopsies in women without cancer, and inconvenience due to false-positive screening. Because of false-positive test results, over-diagnosis and unnecessary earlier treatments are problems for all age groups. They are more common for women 40 to 49.

Other agency recommendations American Cancer Society, American Medical Association and National Comprehensive Cancer Network: Recommends annual mammography beginning at age 40 American College of Physicians: Recommends that mammography for women 40 to 49 be based on individualized risk assessment, with physicians informing patients of the possible benefits and harms of screening.

American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology: Women 40 to 49 should have mammograms every one or two years. Women 50 and older should have the tests annually. mammogram was only a few months earlier.

If Allen had waited two years between mammograms, her cancer could have spread into her lymph nodes, she said.

“Two years can be the difference between saving and losing someone,” Allen said.

The federal report was released in November 2009 by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, a panel of health experts who specialize in

(SEE TEST, PAGE E7)

Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin recently upgraded its mammogram equipment to make it digital.

Digital testing eliminates need to wait on X-rays STORY BY SARAH MICHALOS PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

R

adiologists at a Franklin hospital no longer have to use magnifying glasses to see irregular spots on a woman’s mammogram X-ray.

Johnson Memorial Hospital’s Breast Center has two new digital mammogram machines that allow workers to zoom in on a computer screen for a closer look and also detect and flag problem spots using special software.

Most other Indianapolis-area hospitals already have been using the digital machines for up to five years.

The machines capture a digital image that allows radiologists to more easily pinpoint a calcification or tumor, Johnson Memorial Hospital mammography technologist Stacy Winget said. Radiologists also can adjust the brightness or contrast to make certain areas easier to see.

Previously, radiologists took an X-ray printout to a darkroom and scrutinized it against a lighted screen to find abnormalities.

Digital mammography is more accurate in finding cancer in women younger than 50 years old and women who have dense breast tissue, according to a study conducted by The National Cancer Institute.

The new machines also will allow more patients to be seen the same day because radiologists don’t have to wait for the X-rays to print, Winget said.

Surgery comes with options STORY BY SARAH MICHALOS

T

he choices are plentiful, and making the right one is difficult.

That’s why breast surgeons need to explain in detail the choices for reconstructive surgery, including the risks and length of recovery, American Health Network surgeon Ovidiu Cristea said.

Women need to understand how getting implants will look and feel, or how their body will slowly heal after surgeons take a part of their abdomen to create new breasts, he said.

Cristea travels to hospitals around Indianapolis to perform cosmetic and reconstruction surgery, specializing in building new breasts for women with cancer or who have gotten preventive mastectomies.

He explains the three ways that breasts can be rebuilt — using implants, using a person’s own tissue or a combination of the two.

Getting implants About 90 percent of local women Cristea has operated on chose to have implants, which is the least invasive surgery, he said.

Most women getting implants can’t have reconstructive surgery done the same day they get one or both breasts removed.

Instead, the body needs time to accommodate the implants, Cristea said. The woman comes back a few months later for surgery to insert expanders that will stretch her skin gradually and leave a pocket.

Each time the woman comes to the doctor, liquid is added to the expander to help make room for

choose to use their own tissue to create new breasts, which can be a complicated process, he said.

The most common method is the wordy transverse rectus abdominus myocutaneous tissue flap, which means that doctors take the muscle, skin and fat from a woman’s belly button down to her pubic bone and use it to make new breasts, Cristea said. Women get both a tummy tuck and new breasts during the same surgery.

In any case of using your own tissue, a major challenge is connecting the new breasts to the blood supply.

Surgeons work carefully to save the muscle behind the breasts when they’re doing a mastectomy, so the new breasts can feed off its blood supply, Cristea said.

the implant. Doctors use special technology called magnetic port detection to find the opening of the expander so they can fill it, Cristea said.

A magnet is waved in front of the breasts to find the port, which also has a magnet. Doctors stick the needle through the skin and into the port, Cristea said.

After a few months, the expander is swapped out for a permanent silicone or saline implant in another surgery.

Many women also choose to have their nipples tattooed by a medial tattoo artist. In nearly all surgeries, the nipples are removed because they also could be cancerous, Cristea said.

Using own tissue

(SEE SURGERY, PAGE E7)

A smaller percentage of women

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DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 E5

A family affair Children help woman through fight

H

ave you been drinking your water? week, every three or four weeks. Typically, she’d feel fine after Did you exercise today? her chemo treatments, until about the fourth day afterward.

Do you need me to get you anything from the Then, she’d get weak and tired. store?

Daughter Becky Macy helped Mattox during her treatments.

These were the questions Cindy Mattox heard Macy had the time to spare because her husband was in the from her children during her struggle Army and serving in Iraq, Mattox said. with breast cancer. Her battle with the disease was a Her daughter’s company kept her mind struggle, but her family supported her. They sat with off the cancer. Her daughter kept her mind her through chemotherapy, motivated her to keep off her husband by staying busy with her eating, drinking water and exercising, and organized mother. They’d talk during chemo sesa hat party for encouragement. sions, and Macy would take trips to White Mattox knew she had cancer as soon as she felt Castle to get her mother food, because for the lump in her breast about three years ago; she some reason, White Castle was the only didn’t need to wait for test results to be certain, she food she didn’t lose an appetite for, she said. said. “We were able to help each other and The doctor couldn’t feel the lump initially, but it be there for each other,” she said. showed up on her mammogram results, she said.

Mattox wrote in a journal about her “My immediate emotion was, I wanted to get this struggle with the disease, both the good out of me,” she said. and the bad, which helped her cope emoAnd she was worried about the effects chemotionally, she said. Just getting the thoughts therapy and radiation would have on her body. When out of her mind and onto paper was a her mother had cancer she was always on the couch relief, she said. sick.

After chemo, she had 33 rounds of radia“I was really dreading that the same thing would tion, and the treatment was exhausting. happen to me,” she said.

At the start of her battle, she’d exercise Her children took the news even more seriously every morning. She’d use a treadmill or than she did, she said. exercise to 10 to 15 minute workout videos “My daughter was just a basket case,” she said. she found on her cable channels.

“She kept hugging me and saying, ‘I love you, I love But eventually, she was too tired and you so much.’ I told her, ‘Honey, I’m going to be OK. sick to move much, she said.

Cindy Mattox It’s going to be fine.’”

Still, she wanted to exercise. Her family Her son, a high school student at the time, was encouraged her: just walk to the pole at Center Grove area quiet when she told him, she said. He gave her a the corner and walk back. The pole was hug and told her everything would be fine. A friend practically close enough to be in her front of the family later told her that her son would go to yard, but because of her sickness, it may church and cry and pray. as well have been a mile away.

“It affected him,” she said. “He went to college at Ball State, “Honestly, I didn’t know how I was going to do it,” she said. and he didn’t do too well at first because he was so worried and They helped her, and every day, she’d walk a little farther. all the other stresses of being a freshman.”

“In a week’s time, I was walking around the whole neighborAt the start of her treatment, Mattox had four rounds of chehood,” she said. “My family, they always tried to stay positive, motherapy, and each round was about three hours a day, once a tried to think positive, and they encouraged me.”

“

My daughter was just a basket case. She kept hugging me and saying, “I love you, I love you so much.” I told her, “Honey, I’m going to be OK. It’s going to be fine.”

Cindy Mattox Age 53

Residence Center Grove area

When diagnosed March 2007

Treatment Four rounds of chemotherapy, followed by 33 rounds of radiation.

What has cancer taught you That life is very short, and you have to live your life the best you can.

How has cancer changed you “It’s made me more health conscious.”

She’s cut down on fast food and continues to exercise. She’ll walk around her neighborhood or on the treadmill, and she’ll do 10 to 15 minute workouts to exercise videos on her cable channels.

What would you tell someone recently diagnosed with cancer It’s not the end of the world. It’s not a death sentence.

Pictured: Center Grove area resident Cindy Mattox was diagnosed in 2007 with breast cancer and was treated with chemotherapy and radiation.

STORY BY JASON MICHAEL WHITE PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

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BRAVE HEARTS

E6 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

On the offensive

Woman chooses preventive course

Cyndi Hutslar

H

41

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Age

er diagnosis was Hospital’s radiology department, good, better than where she has worked as a receptionmost women who ist for 16 years. are told they have They told her it was her decision breast cancer. and that she had to do what she Cyndi Hutslar’s thought was best. cancer was caught so early that Hutslar looked to her husband, Jim, it hadn’t even developed into the and children Courtney and Christian. lowest classification used to diagShe knew the decision she had to nose the disease. make.

Doctors told Hutslar, 41, that “I have two young kids, and I wanted she probably would be OK if she to see them grow up,” said Hutslar, 41. had the 4-millimeter lump in her “Being aggressive was what I thought right breast removed and followed I needed to do.” up with radiation treatment.

Life after the mastectomy was an Probably wasn’t enough for the adjustment. At first, Hutslar avoided Greenwood resident.

Cyndi Hutslar the mirror and looked away when Less than a month after her nurses cleaned her wounds and Greenwood diagnosis in spring of 2009, drained the fluids in the hospital.

Hutslar was wheeled into an She didn’t look at herself until a operating room where a surgeon couple of weeks after the surgery, removed both of her breasts. when she had to remove her own bandages for the She didn’t make her decision based solely on the first time. lump in her breast; Hutslar also tested positive for a Her breasts were gone, but Hutslar was surprised gene mutation that puts her at a higher risk for devel- to see only a few already-fading pink scars left oping breast cancer. behind.

She feared that she eventually would develop can“You go in thinking, ‘I’m going to be cut up from cer if she didn’t have a mastectomy. Hutslar also one side to another,’” Hutslar said. “But I still felt like consulted doctors and nurses at Johnson Memorial a whole being.”

I have two young kids, and I wanted to see them grow up.Being aggressive was what I thought I needed to do.

Residence Greenwood

Diagnosed May 2009. A routine mammogram revealed a calcification in Hutslar’s right breast. Further tests showed the lump was cancerous and also that Hutslar carries a gene mutation that puts her at a higher risk for breast cancer.

Treatment Underwent a double mastectomy in June 2009 instead of having the lump removed and getting radiation treatment.

Hutslar also had reconstructive surgery after recovering from the mastectomy.

What cancer taught me To enjoy life a little more and to take it one day at a time. When I was first diagnosed, I looked to the future and worried. Now I live in the present. My faith has grown, and I have learned to trust in God because he has a plan for my life.

How cancer changed me I have a greater understanding for people who are sick, whether they have cancer or another disease. I have greater empathy for those people after what I went through.

What I would tell someone just diagnosed with cancer Be really positive. There’s a lot that can be done. Take a deep breath, collect your thoughts, gather information and make the best decision you can.

Pictured: Cyndi Hutslar was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. She had a double mastectomy.

STORY BY SARAH MICHALOS PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON

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DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

• Test (CONTINUED FROM PAGE E4) preventive and primary care.

They recommend against annual mammograms for women under 50 because of the low chance of diagnosis for women in that age group.

The panel also suggests that the psychological harm that comes from tests, such as anxiety and distress

• Surgery (CONTINUED FROM PAGE E4) A second option allows surgeons to keep the abdominal muscles in place but involves carefully moving both an artery and a vein from the abdominal area to the new breast.

The results are better with the second option, called the deep inferior epigastric perforator tissue

• Hope (CONTINUED FROM PAGE E1) Petersen told them to expect to become worn down while reassuring them the treatments were painless. She tried to offer guidance to everyone she could before the day came when she rang a cow bell that signaled her last treatment.

She was done, and her oncologist assured her that she had a 95 percent chance that the cancer would never return if she continued to take an anti-hormone drug for the next five years. That drug gave her hot flashes, but doctors since have switched her over to a hormone therapy that she said has no significant side effects.

The cancer hasn’t had any long-term health implications, but Petersen said she’s trying to make sure she’s taking enough antioxidants and exercising more.

Now, Petersen just has to take the hormone pills and go in for annual mammograms. She’s confident she’s beaten the cancer.

She feels fortunate that tests caught the lump early and believes

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010 E7

from false positives, outweighs the chances of catching cancer early.

Waiting for your mammogram results or hearing that they’re abnormal is stressful, but it’s nothing compared to having cancer grow inside you without knowing or treating it, Hutslar said.

She chose the most aggressive approach when she was diagnosed with cancer in May 2009. Hutslar had both breasts removed and reconstructed instead of removing

the lump in her right breast.

Women who wait to get mammograms could end up with fewer treatment options than women diagnosed early, like Hutslar, American Health Network surgeon Ovidiu Cristea said.

A mastectomy following chemotherapy or radiation often is the best choice for women with advanced cancer, but those who catch it early could choose to have the lump removed and leave the

breast intact.

Many of the women who end up on Cristea’s operating table are younger than 50 and wouldn’t even know they had breast cancer without the results from their annual mammogram, he said.

If they had waited to get a mammogram, they would have given their tumors a chance to grow even larger.

“I don’t see the rationale (in the guidelines),” Cristea said.

flap, but the surgery is more complex and there’s more that could go wrong, Cristea said.

Patients who get this surgery have a lower risk of getting a hernia because their abdominal muscles stay intact, and their recovery also is quicker than with the first choice.

But the surgery can take eight to 10 hours, and there’s a chance the entire tissue flap could be rejected by the body and have to be removed, Cristea said.

“When it works, it’s fantastic, and there are no downsides,” he said.

“But it’s very laborious; you have to move vessels and connect vessels to the chest. You need at least two surgeons.”

Surgeons can take fat and tissue from a woman’s buttocks and create new breasts, which is typically done if the surgery to move the abdominal tissue fails, Cristea said.

He’s also heard of another surgery where the muscle from a woman’s back is brought around to the front, but usually there isn’t enough to create full breasts. Women typically will get implants put in behind the new muscle, Cristea said.

that early detection can be the difference between life and death.

She’s become a vocal advocate for regular mammograms.

She urged friends and family members on her e-mail list to get mammograms while updating them on her condition.

She started wearing a T-shirt that read “Big or small, let’s save them all,” to strike up conversations about getting regular mammograms with women she meets while shopping for groceries or clothes.

‘Spread the word’ While vacationing in Tennessee, a woman she met at a gas station commented on her shirt, then told Petersen that her story convinced her to schedule a mammogram, which she had been neglecting.

Petersen said she never felt more like she’d made a difference in someone’s life.

“I believe that God gave me breast cancer for a reason,” she said. “I believe it’s my mission to spread the word about how important early detection is.”

Her experience inspired her to write a book, “How to Survive Breast Cancer With a Smile!”

Rare types of surgery Women also have two other options for using their tissue, although these type of surgeries are rare and typically done only if the first option fails.

“She took a difficult experience and transformed it into something that could help people going through the same thing,” Erik Petersen said.

“That’s really positive.”

Terri Petersen hopes the book will persuade at least one woman to get tested.

She felt compelled to write about her battle because she knew little about breast cancer before she was diagnosed and felt it would be helpful if women had a guide of what to expect.

Her aspiration is that the book will inform, inspire and give hope to women who went through what she did.

Petersen has been donating all of the proceeds from the self-published book to breast cancer research and the St. Thomas Clinic in Whiteland.

She hopes to raise enough money so the clinic will be able to offer four breast screening clinics a year instead of one.

“If I can help one woman get an early diagnosis, then my breast cancer journey was worth it,” she said. “You have got to get mammograms. And if you have any questions at all, you’ve got to get an ultrasound.”

“

Breast cancer support groups BREAST CANCER SUPPORT GROUP, 6 to 7 p.m. second Thursday of each month, the Atrium at St. Francis Hospital Indianapolis, 8111 S. Emerson Ave., enter through Women and Children’s Services, free, registration recommended, Mindi Matthews, 782-7794, 782-4422, stfrancishospitals. org/cancer BREAST CANCER SUPPORT GROUP, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. second Thursday of the month, St. Francis Carson Square Offices, 3145 E. Thompson Road, Indianapolis, 782-6704 BREAST CANCER SUPPORT GROUP, 7 to 8 p.m. first Monday each month, St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville, OB Classroom, 1201 Hadley Road, registration required, 782-4422, stfrancishospitals. org/cancer

If I can help one woman get an early diagnosis, then my breast cancer journey was worth it. You have got to get mammograms.

And if you have any questions at all, you’ve got to get an ultrasound.

BREAST CANCER SUPPORT GROUP, 6 to 10 p.m. Oct. 21, Nov. 4, Dec. 2, Jan. 13, Jan. 27, Feb. 10, March 10, March 24, April 7, May 19, Community Breast Care at the Center for Women’s Health, 533 E. County Line Road, Greenwood, pitch-in, special event or topic and informal group sessions MAMMOGRAPHY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, free mammograms, assistance with clinical breast exams, screening and diagnostic mammograms, ultrasounds, biopsies to those who qualify based on residency, household size, household income, insurance coverage, Little Red Door Cancer Agency, 1801 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, 9255595

Terri Petersen Franklin

RAYMONDJAMES" & ASSOCIATES Member

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New York S t o c k E x c h a n g e / S IPC

Think Pink!

1499 Windhorst Way, Suite 200 Greenwood, IN 46143

885-0114 American Legion ti

334 US 31 S | Greenwood 317-881-1752

post 252

Dave Brown, of Dave’s Farm Service and his niece, Michelle Thomson walked in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer in Indianapolis on September 25th & 26th.

The walk raises important funds for care and research. Both walk in honor of Debbie Brown, Dave’s wife and Michelle’s aunt who is a breast cancer survivor.

The walk was a 2 day event and covered 37 miles.

This was the second year the pair walked. They both agreed that although they were in pain after the 2 days, it paled in comparison to the pain Debbie endured from her surgery and treatments.

DID YOU KNOW? . .

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• Our dining room is open to the public 5-9pm • We hold Texas Hold ‘Em every Tuesday night 7pm • We have entertainment every Wed. and Sat. night 7:30 • Our banquet hall is available for rental, well below average price • We rent our outdoor pavilion for parties, reunions, etc.

IF NOT:

Why not stop in to check us out and enjoy the friendliest Veterans post in Indiana?

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Dave & Debbie Brown 50 N. Eisenhower Dr., Edinburgh 812-526-5504 • 1-866-778-5504 www.davesfarmservice.com

DAVE’S

FARM SERVICE

BRAVE HEARTS

E8 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2010

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DAILY JOURNAL, JOHNSON COUNTY, IND.

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Proud to support “Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.”

- Arthur Koestler

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1300 US 31 South • Greenwood 2 miles south of the Greenwood Park Mall

................................................................................. www.rayskillmanhyundaisouth.com

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317.885.9800

1250 US 31 South • Greenwood 2 miles south of the Greenwood Park Mall

www.rayskillmanford.com