They can be your next-door neighbor, your child’s teacher, the woman you see at the gym or your best friend. According to the American Cancer Society, there are presently more than two million breast cancer survivors in the United States.
While no one wants to hear the “C” word, if you are diagnosed, it is good to know you are not alone. As Melanie Davidson, a breast cancer survivor, said, “When someone is diagnosed with breast cancer, she immediately gains sisters. Everyone wants to help in some way.”
Below are some stories of survivors. Each stared down breast cancer and lived to tell about it. Today, they are living their lives to the fullest each day that comes.
Inspiring Others
When Wendy McCoole of New Hampshire was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, she found it was challenging to stay in touch with everyone. “I didn’t want to inundate everyone with e-mails, yet people want to know.”
She started an online diary named “Bald Wendy.” It was a way for McCoole to keep family and friends updated; more importantly, it was an outlet for her and helped her remained positive throughout.
Then she began receiving messages from others who were battling the disease. “I was getting comments from people that I didn’t know who were saying, ‘I was just diagnosed and found your story. It really helped me to feel like I wasn’t alone,'” McCoole recalled. “I thought, wow, if my own story touched someone and helped them find hope and inspiration, imagine what an environment like this could do.”
In 2006, she created www.breastcancerstories.com, a community for breast cancer patients to share their stories and photos with family, friends and others.
“It’s a great outlet because it lets them get everything out from the comfort of their own home,” she says. “They can share their feelings and experiences in one place and not have to repeat it and relive it constantly.”
Today, the Web site has around 80 stories indexed by age and treatment. “If a recently diagnosed 28-year-old visited the site, she could find others around her age with similar experiences.”
In addition to the Web site, McCoole is also involved in a calendar project called “Breast Friends.” The calendar features photographs of women who share their experiences with breast cancer to provide hope for the recently diagnosed. Proceeds from the calendar benefit four programs that support breast cancer patients, their families and friends. To learn more, visit www.breastfriendscalendar.org.
More Women Sharing Stories and Inspiration:
Moore, MacDowell, Allen and Free are part of Voices of MammoSite. This is a new program supported by the Web site (www.VoicesofMammoSite.com) devoted to connecting newly diagnosed women with a network of extraordinary survivors who have confronted the challenges of breast cancer. At the site, visitors can read and listen to personal stories of breast cancer survivors, find a survivor of similar age and background who is willing to share her own experiences with breast cancer treatment and personally connect with her within 48 hours.
“After having breast cancer, I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore.”
Melanie Davidson
Age: 63
Location: Baton Rouge, La., and Gulf Shores, Ala.
Diagnosed: January 2003
Her story: The night before New Year’s Eve 2002, Melanie Davidson was itching. She didn’t think too much about it because, for most part, it was a side effect from a fibrocystic disease she’d had for a while. However, when she reached over to scratch her breast, she felt a lump. Lumps are also part of the fibrocystic disease, but she called her physician husband anyway.
“He started to ask questions, and after a while, I told him, ‘forget it — this [lump] is different.'” And it was; Davidson’s lump was cancerous. Instead of spending her time at their new condominium in Gulf Shores, Ala., she came back to Baton Rouge for her treatments.
Davidson wasn’t a stranger to cancer. When she was 15 years old, her mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. “They just didn’t talk about back then,” she recalls. “I didn’t know that her hair was going to fall out and then grow back. It was a horrible to watch. Looking back, I wonder why my mother didn’t tell me.”
But Davidson didn’t worry about it being malignant; instead, she wondered why this had happened to her. “Denial is a wonderful thing,” she says.
She started to notice other things as well — survivors. “The next door neighbor had breast cancer, and so did a lady down the street,” says Davidson. “I was seeing these people that were diagnosed with this disease and they were living. I remember telling my husband, ‘can you believe I might beat this?'”
Davidson kept in touch with her friends in Gulf Shores through letters, but she worried that she was dragging everyone down.
“I wrote to a friend that all I talk about is the illness and not feeling well — so I hope I am not sending depressing notes,” she says. “She wrote me back and told me the letters weren’t depressing. Instead, everyone was seeing and reading about someone living through cancer. It made them feel better in case they were diagnosed to know, yes, you can be a survivor.”
Today, Davidson stays busy with her paintings, and she doesn’t sweat the small stuff. “I use to be a negative person, but after breast cancer, the minor things in life just don’t bother me anymore. It might be trite saying this, but life has gotten better.”
“I am totally blessed. I have wonderful doctors and a great church family for support.”
LaNora Moore
Age: 68
Location: Benton, La.
Her story: In 2004, LaNora Moore’s husband died of cancer; she admits that, while taking care of him, she didn’t have time to care for her own health. When she went to her doctor for her yearly Pap, her doctor asked her when her last mammogram was.
“I told her it was two years ago,” says Moore. “She looked at me and said ‘excuse me, you said two years ago? Schedule one right away.'”
Unfortunately, the mammogram revealed a small lump. “I was shocked. Cancer doesn’t run in my family.”
After a week of targeted radiation therapy, she was back to working as an Equine Physical Therapist.
At her nine months check-up, everything was fine. No traces of cancer. She is back to work and feeling great. “I am totally blessed. I had wonderful doctors and great support from my church family.”
“You can make it through anything if you ask the right person.”
Ida McDowell
Age: 62
Location: Senatobia, Miss.
Diagnosed: September 2006
Her story: It was a typical workday for Ida. The home health care RN and her boss were out checking on her patients. While going up some flat steps at a patient’s house, Ida tripped over the dog chains and fell hard on her left side. Even though she said she was all right, her boss insisted that she go to the hospital. Ida didn’t want to, “I take care of people, I don’t go to the hospital,” but she went anyway.
While she was being examined in the emergency room, she remarked to the doctor in an offhanded way to look at the little lump in her breast.
“It was bothering me,” she says. “It wasn’t hurting, it was just annoying.”
At first, the doctor thought it was just a benign cyst, but the mammogram showed something highly suspicious. He ordered a biopsy and, according to Ida, “this was the beginning of a long road.”
The doctor told her she had cancer; Ida says she just spaced out. “It was a defense mechanism; I couldn’t believe it.”
Already a cancer survivor, Ida couldn’t believe it was happening again. She’d survived Hodgkin’s disease, diagnosed in 1979.
“I remember my husband telling me then ‘I don’t care what they say, if you want to be well, you will be well,'” McDowell recalls. “And it was true when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.”
After her treatment program, she is back taking care of her patients and has been cancer free for 11 months. “You can make it through anything, if you ask the right person.”
“It’s a sneaky little bugger”
Jackie Allen
Age: 47
Location: Athens, Ala. (near Huntsville)
Diagnosed: December 2006
Her story: After her routine yearly mammogram, Jackie’s doctor called her back in. The radiologist found a suspicious-looking gray area on her slides. Not wasting any time, her doctor ordered a biopsy, which was done immediately. The biopsy came not a moment too soon; Jackie had breast cancer. She was diagnosed with Stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma.
“I was shocked,” she says. “I had been dealing with other health issues, especially a B-12 deficiency called pernicious anemia. When I went through numerous tests, everyone kept telling me, ‘at least we know it’s not cancer.’ So, I thought I was in the clear.”
“However, it’s [cancer] a sneaky little bugger.”
After her treatment plan, Allen has been cancer-free for seven months.
“You will survive”
Gail Free
Age: 55
Location: Greenwood, S.C.
Diagnosed: August 2006
Her story: Last August, something showed up on Gail’s mammogram. Diagnosed 12 years ago, she was already a breast cancer survivor. Now, she received the news again. Luckily, the doctors caught it early.
“There is no cancer in my family,” she says. “Neither my mother or my sisters have ever been diagnosed. For some reason, I am the chosen one.”
Now after treatment, she is cancer-free. “I tell people that after that initial shock of hearing you have cancer, you realize that you will survive.”
She credits her positive attitude for getting through the rough times. “You need to have a positive attitude as much as you need the medicine,” says Free.
Just as important, she stresses to her friends to get a yearly mammogram. “I tell them to get their yearly mammogram, so things can be caught early. You don’t want to wait.”