Breast Cancer Awareness Elmore County 2021

WHAT’S INSIDE? • Samples shares survival story • Candle Cottage sheds light on breast cancer

Stronger Together BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

October 2021 | A special supplement to The Wetumpka Herald & The Tallassee Tribune

2021 Breast Cancer Awareness - The Wetumpka Herald, The Tallassee Tribune

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Samples shares story of breast cancer survival

By CARMEN RODGERS Tallapoosa Publishers

J

anet Jarvis Samples, originally from Tallassee, was only 46 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer after noticing a lump in her breast during a routine self-exam.

It was April 2015 when Samples noticed the lump on her breast.

“I thought to myself, maybe it’s nothing but I will get checked out,” Samples said. “I told my husband and my daughter about it and my daughter made me an appointment for the next day, but I told her to cancel it and I would go the next week because I had to work.”

Samples visited Dr. Martin at Montgomery OBGYN and Associates but was quickly referred to another facility.

“He sent me to the (Montgomery) Cancer Center for a mammogram on May 11, 2015,” Samples said.

“They told me I needed a sonogram, a biopsy, and an ultrasound.”

After receiving the three, the next day she received the news no one wants to hear.

“I got a call from the cancer center saying it was cancer,” Samples said. “I was so emotional. The word cancer scares me to death.”

Samples said her mind immediately turned to all of those who depend on her.

“I thought, I can’t die. I have to take care of my parents. I have a job. I have a child. I have a husband. I have so much. Everyone depends on me. I can’t die.”

Samples gathered her emotions and channeled them into determination.

“I got myself together and started praying for strength and hope to get me through this,” she said.

Samples turned to Dr. Pam Strickland at the Montgomery Breast Center.

“She assured me that I would be OK, and they would get all the cancer with treatment and surgery,” Samples said.

After getting the diagnosis and visiting the cancer specialist, Samples found a support group at Frazer United Church in Montgomery where she found a special connection.

See SURVIVOR • Page 3

Submitted / Tallapoosa Publishers

Breast cancer survivor Janet Samples poses for a photo with two of her grandchildren, Aubrie and Allie. She has two other grandchildren, Olivia and Kashton.

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2021 Breast Cancer Awareness - The Wetumpka Herald, The Tallassee Tribune

Survivor “I met a special friend,” Samples said.

“Her name is Debra and we went to a support group called Women of Hope.

We met at the support group; it was awesome.”

During all of this Samples had to say goodbye to her coworkers of 17 years at M-Tek in Prattville, but not before they showed her an outpouring of love and support.

“My last day at work was a Friday and everyone wore pink for ‘Team Pink,’ even the men,” she said. “They gave me a shirt signed by everyone at work. They gave me a card filled with money and lots of goodies.”

Samples went in for surgery to remove the cancer on June 22 of that year.

“I had to be there by 6:30 that morning for a nuclear test, and it was so painful,” she said.

After surgery, Samples received good news.

“The doctor said the cancer was 9 millimeters long and it was Stage 2,” she said. “There was no cancer in the lymph nodes.”

Samples had a partial mastectomy that left very bad scars, but she found a silver lining.

“God is awesome; God is good,” she said. “All my tests were negative and the genetics test was negative also, so I got

continued from Page 2 to keep my tatas.”

Samples began spaced treatments with Dr. Strickland in August 2015.

“I had to have seven weeks of radiation,” she said. “I had a total of 37 treatments.”

The treatment caused Samples to have blisters that were so painful that she could not move her arms.

“The pain was so horrible,” Samples said. “I was burning so bad from the treatments. I had blisters under my arm that burned so bad. I cried because the pain was so bad.”

While the pain was nearly unbearable, Samples said she understands she is blessed to be alive and will take much away from her victory over breast cancer.

“This is a journey I will never forget, and I have learned a lot from this journey,” Samples said. “With God, all things are possible. I am a survivor and I give God the glory.”

Today, Samples has one message to the world.

“Get your mammogram and do your routine self-exams because early detection is key to survival,” Samples said.

Today, Samples lives in Florida. She still visits the Tallassee and Reeltown area often and looks forward to a long life ahead.

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2021 Breast Cancer Awareness - The Wetumpka Herald, The Tallassee Tribune

Dalton Middleton / Tallapoosa Publishers

Cheryl Ransaw, April Hensley, Ginny Barganier, Barbara Samuels, and Sandra Sutton showcase Hensley’s Women of Hope breast cancer awareness candles at the Candle Cottage in Wetumpka.

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2021 Breast Cancer Awareness - The Wetumpka Herald, The Tallassee Tribune

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The Candle Cottage sheds light on breast cancer

By DALTON MIDDLETON Tallapoosa Publishers

A

pril Hensley had already finalized scents and started printing labels for her annual ‘Fight Like a Girl’ breast cancer awareness candle collection when she said God sent her a very clear and direct message.

Hensley, owner of the The Candle Cottage and Hensley Creek Candles, was approached by Women of Hope representative Ginny Barganier the day before Hensley was set to start selling her annual breast cancer awareness candles.

Barganier came into Hensley’s shop to show Hensley the gift bags that the Women of Hope Foundation give women diagnosed with breast cancer and explain all of the resources and love that the Women of Hope provide women as they fight their diagnosis.

Hensley then started to tell Barganier about Heather DeLauder, a Wallsboro resident currently fighting breast cancer, but Barganier and the Women of Hope had already connected with DeLauder.

Hensley said the coincidence was God sending her message and telling

her where her breast cancer awareness money should go this year.

“I already stacks of labels and all of that stuff, and I just said ‘Another year, another time, another something,’” Hensley said. “I looked at Ginny and said ‘I’m doing my breast cancer candle with Women of Hope. Is that okay?’”

Hensley and the Candle Cottage are partnered with the Women of Hope Breast Cancer Foundation. Together, they sell breast cancer awareness candles for $12 per candle, with $4 of each purchase being donated to the Women of Hope Foundation.

Women of Hope aspire to educate, promote awareness, and provide hope and encouragement for families coping with breast cancer. When a woman is newly diagnosed at a doctor’s office, the doctor will hand them a bag that has literature and a letter of Women of Hope.

Once the patient reaches out to the Women of Hope, they will give the patient the gift bag that Barganier showed Hensley, and the foundation will help support the patient.

Women of Hope hosts monthly support groups where participants can tell their stories, hear testimonials, and learn from doctors who present

on the latest news about breast cancer and radiation.

“You can go to our support group meetings and tell everyone what your situation is and what your diagnosis was, and there’s always somebody there that has been in the same situation you’re in,” Women of Hope representative Barbara Samuels said.

“They can answer your questions not only for the person diagnosed but for the family members as well. Breast cancer affects the entire family.”

The support group is currently unable to meet due to COVID-19 restrictions, but it is scheduled to start back at the beginning of 2022.

The proceeds from Hensley’s candles, sold at the Candle Cottage at 10490 U.S. 241, will go towards the Women of Hope foundation to support women. The candles will be focused in the Candle Cottage shop during the month of October, but will be sold year-round alongside the Heather’s Kicking Cancer’s Butt candles that Hensley already sells at the Cottage to support DeLauder and her fight with breast cancer.

“The pink shelf is not going to go away,” Hensley said. “It is going to be focused in October, but it is going to be driven all year to keep

the funding going for the Women of Hope. That’s what God told me to do.”

For an extra opportunity to buy the Women of Hope candles, you can attend the Women of Hope’s “BOO-B Bike Show” at the Harley Davidson in Montgomery, 655 N. Eastern Blvd., on Saturday, Oct. 30.

The “BOO-B Bike Show” will feature music, food, and fun. There will be a 50/50 auction, but the main event is the bike competition.

Some of the prize categories include Sport, Loudest Pipes, Most Chrome, People’s Choice, Best Breast Cancer Awareness Decorated Bike and Best Halloween Decorated Bike.

Admission to the event is free, but bike entry into the prize completion is $10. There will be a free costume contest for kids and adults.

Hensley will be in attendance at the bike show to sell her candles from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“I want it to be God getting the glory, not me,” Hensley said. “It lifts up these women. It’s not about the sales of this. I’m not making money on this. This is about Women of Hope awareness and how they love and nurture each other. God blesses me because I try to bless others.”

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2021 Breast Cancer Awareness - The Wetumpka Herald, The Tallassee Tribune

Event-planning student Elizabeth Barker points to a pink ribbon honoring her teacher, Elizabeth Strickland, a breast cancer survivor.

Siri Hedreen / Tallapoosa Publishers

Students honor victims and survivors, including their teacher

By SIRI HEDREEN Multimedia Reporter

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ozens of names are pinned to a pink wall outside the consumer science classroom at Benjamin Russell High School, some living, some passed. All had some form of cancer.

One of the names on the wall is family and consumer science teacher Elizabeth Strickland’s. She’s told her first-period event planning students her survivor story, about five years ago, when she was a year overdue for routine screening.

“My husband said, ‘You either go get your mammogram, or I’m going to take you and drag you there,’” Strickland said. When she finally did, sure enough,

she had early-stage breast cancer and was booked for a mastectomy one month later. “It basically saved my life.”

Five years later, Strickland is back in her hometown of Alexander City, teaching at her alma mater in the same classroom she had homeroom in. She’s also cancer-free.

“Mammograms are the key; early detection is the key,” Strickland said. “ I’m a big proponent of that.”

Last month, Strickland assigned her event planning students and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) members to sell pink ribbons for $1 apiece, each in memory or in honor of a person in the community who had cancer (though the ribbons are pink and the event coincides with breast cancer awareness month, the names

include people with cancer of all forms).

“We went out in public and talked to people and told them that we appreciate them for what they’re going through and asking them if they would like to buy one,” event planning student Elizabeth Barker said.

The fundraiser has two purposes; one, to raise student awareness with an eyecatching banner.

“So that allows all the students who walk down the hall — they can’t miss it — to see the sign and understand, kind of start putting two-and-two together,” Strickland said.

The other is to take the monies raised to purchase materials for fleece tieblankets, which the students will donate to chemotherapy patients at Russell Medical’s cancer center.

It’s one of seven projects Strickland’s event-planning class — made up of five girls — will complete this year.

“We have seven different types of events that I like for the kids to plan, and execute,” Strickland said. “And we try to take those events and make them also into some kind of community event.”

For the students, selling the ribbons has also been a chance to connect with friends, family and classmates on a more personal level.

“My friend bought one. She said her aunt had breast cancer and she got over it,” said Lylaishia Brown, point out a pink ribbon with the name Susan Williams.

The pink breast cancer awareness banner will be on display throughout the month.

2021 Breast Cancer Awareness - The Wetumpka Herald, The Tallassee Tribune

Russell Medical offers state of the art equipment with 3D mammograms

By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer

Women do not have to travel out of town for diagnosing and treating the second most common form of cancer in women.

Most medical facilities have staff and equipment to help women determine if they have breast cancer, but Russell Medical has the only equipment for 3D tomosynthesis imaging in the area.

“The GE Pristina 3D tomosynthesis mammography unit reduces callbacks over 2D,”Russell Medical Women’s Center Shelly James said. “The 3D quality and detail prevents having patients come back for more imaging. It lowers patient anxiety.”

James said Russell Medical did its homework before deciding to install and train staff on 3D imaging.

“We did five years of research looking for the best mammography system,” James said. “Five years ago, it was primarily 2D mammography but 3D was just getting started.

“We went to Boca Raton, FL which was one of the first, they were beginning with it. It is one of the biggest and finest breast centers in the world.”

Alison Burton is a radiologic technologist who works in the Women’s Center.

Burton has been with Russell Medical almost three decades and has seen the improvement in patient care over the years, especially in regards to breast care.

“We have always had state of the art equipment here,” Burton said. “Patients have not had to go elsewhere for highquality mammograms.”

Burton said she has seen vast improvements in the imaging. She said 2D mammograms only provide one digital image while 3D provides 70 to more than 100 slices in each image.

“It’s a great thing. It is one of the best things to happen for women and breast care,” Burton said. “It is the gift of a lifetime.”

Radiologists can even do a second read of the same images with computeraided detection (CAD) software.

“What is so good about this is being a rural hospital we can provide the same great care as larger hospitals,” Burton said. “It prevents trips to Birmingham or other places. We have complete care here.”

James said Russell Medical also has staff to help women from diagnosis to treatment and more.

“We have radiologists who are specialized in breast care,” James said. “We have those who are specialized in doing biopsies, ultrasound-guided biopsies. We have multiple breast surgeons from UAB who come here to help our patients.”

Burton said it takes a physician to get a referral for mammograms.

“One in eight females will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime,” Burton said. “It is the second most common type of cancer for females.

Yearly mammograms start at age of 40 unless recommended differently by a physician.”

Burton said 1% of all yearly breast cancer cases are diagnosed in men, but men only get mammograms when exhibiting symptoms of breast cancer determined by a doctor.

Burton said patients are liking the new mammography unit that Russell Medical has had for almost two years.

“It is a better diagnostic tool and patients are proud to see it in Alexander City,” Burton said. “It’s the most advanced state of the art technology. I’ve seen it go from screen film to 2D to 3D. The quality and detail is so much better each time.”

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