Helen, Theresa, Bonnie, and Mary
From left to right, Helen (oldest sister and participant), Theresa (Survivor), Bonnie (youngest sister and participant), Mary
By Bonnie, a Sister Study participant from Florida
Three times I have taken a call from my sister that left me with a feeling of complete and utter helplessness. With intensity I prayed and offered words of support when she was first diagnosed with infiltrating ductal carcinoma in 1997. She was a month away from turning 40. Theresa and I, being the trailing end of a large family, are the closest of sisters.
Researching breast cancer, I stumbled across the Sister Study website and immediately signed up because it was something I could do from thousands of miles away that would hopefully help answer the questions of this disease.
I could feel her fear in that first call but when the call came again just short of five years later the crushing sound of cancer echoed even stronger. This time a bilateral mastectomy followed with chemotherapy would take care of this devastating disease….so we had hoped. At this time I shared the information from Sister Study with my two other sisters and encouraged their participation. Being there with her through the treatments left us feeling like we weren’t doing much. We had felt the need to do more, give more to her and to other women in this situation. In the meantime we spread the word of this research and encouraged women with sisters experiencing this to join.
….And then call three came in the spring of 2007. The terrifying sound of “it’s back” left me with an empty feeling that’s hard to describe. The battling treatment, with more intensity, would be endured for the third time by the strength and courage of Theresa.
This past May, our family celebrated that strength and courage with Theresa at Race for the Cure in Helena, Montana along with over 50 nieces and nephews and their families. We are a family hoping and praying for a cure.