Breast Cancer Awareness Tallapoosa County 2021

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

KEEP

Hope

ALIVE WHAT’S INSIDE? • BRHS FCCLA honors victims, survivors; including their teacher • Russell Medical offers state-of-the-art 3D mammograms • Journey of Hope offers food, transport, emotional support October 2021 | A special supplement pp to The Alexander City y Outlook & The Dadeville Record

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Breast Cancer Awareness

October 2021

Siri Hedreen / Tallapoosa Publishers

Our Journey of Hope volunteers meet at New Adka Missionary Baptist Church, their first in-person meeting since the pandemic began. Back row, left to right: Maggie Harris, Earnest Reeder, Arlean Wyckoff and Al Perry. Front row: Pastor Edward Milner, Nellie Reeder, Mary Greathouse, Shirley Taylor and Tonja Jennings.

‘It built my spirit — just a telephone call’ ‘Our Journey of Hope’ offers many kinds of support to local patients

By SIRI HEDREEN Multimedia Reporter

W

hen Al “Doc” Perry got sick a few years ago, he was already a member of Our Journey of Hope when the charity reached out to him.

“I am 90% better by them praying for me, because I believe in prayer,” he said.

When his best friend got lung cancer, he returned the favor, offering emotional support and talking him out of his cigarettes.

“He gained hope,” Perry said. “And I got to saying, you’ve got to hold on, don’t give up. What Our Journey of Hope does, it says things to people that give them daylight.”

Mary Greathouse has led the ministry at New Adka Missionary Baptist Church south of Dadeville ever since she first learned about the program.

“My husband was going to the cancer center in Newnan, Georgia, and they had this program there,” Greathouse said. “So I came back and asked our pastor would it be okay if we started that program here.”

The program, Our Journey of Hope, provides free,

two-day training to churches and non-profits on providing outreach to cancer patients and their families.

Those organizations then turn around and deploy those practices in their communities — not just to fellow church members, but anyone in the community affected by cancer.

New Adka Missionary Baptist Church has been doing the program for three years now, operating entirely through donations.

For any new beneficiary, volunteers reach out to the caregiver first, Greathouse. Sometimes they never even contact the patient, just do what needs to be done behind-the-scenes.

“We’ll send somebody out to talk to them and once they go out and talk to them they’ll come back to the group and tell the group what their needs are,” she said.

Those needs vary, from meals to transportation to the hospital often as far as Montgomery, Birmingham or Newnan.

One volunteer, Shirley Taylor, brings dinner to a woman with breast cancer every day at 11 a.m.

One wheelchair-bound patient had no way of getting out of her house, so the team built a ramp. From

the start, Arlean Wyckoff has been working with the same lung cancer patient whom she calls almost daily. Now he’s in remission.

“He came on back home and started a garden, gave me some of his vegetables that he’d grown in his garden,” Wyckoff said.

Some patients only ask for company.

For the members who have seen both sides, they understand the need. Earnest Reeder is the latest to join the group, attending his first meeting in October, the Our Journey of Hope chapter’s first in-person meeting since the pandemic began.

“The reason I joined is because I can testify firsthand about cancer,” he said, explaining he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016. “People would come by, talk to me and encourage me to keep on going.

You’re going to be alright, just trust God and keep on. And so I decided to join this group to try to pay back something to the community.”

Perry again recalled his own experience, and how his fellow volunteers were at his side.

“Every one of them that’s on the team, they’d either call me or come by the house,” he said. “And it built my spirit — just a telephone call.”

October 2021

Breast Cancer Awareness

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 computer-aided 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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Breast Cancer Awareness

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

October 2021

Siri Hedreen / Tallapoosa Publishers

Students honor victims and survivors, including their teacher

By SIRI HEDREEN Multimedia Reporter

D

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.

October 2021

Breast Cancer Awareness

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Siri Hedreen / Tallapoosa Publishers

Top: Members of the Benjamin Russell High School event planning class and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club, dressed for that day’s “country versus country club” spirit day, pose in front of their breast cancer awareness display. Back row: teacher and advisor Elizabeth Strickand, Elizabeth Barker, Christina Zou, Meghan Flouroy, Emily Johns and Kailee McCrary. Front row: Abby Fisher, Lylaishia Brown, Jessie Bradbury and Shelby Stewart. Above: Benjamin Russell High School student Jessie Bradberry points to one of her pink ribbons in memory of Mike Bradberry. Left: Benjamin Russell High School student Lylaishia Brown points to one of the pink ribbons she sold, in honor of Susan Williams.

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Breast Cancer Awareness

October 2021

WE ARE PROUD TO SUPPORT

October 2021

Breast Cancer Awareness

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‘A JOURNEY I WILL NEVER FORGET’ 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.

“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 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.

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.