Lynn, Jean, and Lois
Left to right: Lynn, Jean, and Lois
By Jean, a Sister Study participant from Virginia
Until April 2002, I had no interest in breast cancer. No one in my family had ever had cancer. Not any form of cancer. I knew breast cancer was out there, and I knew of women who had had it, including my best friend. But my friend’s breast cancer happened before I met her, so I didn’t go through the intensity of it with her. I was distanced from breast cancer, and no interest in getting to know about it.
Then in April 2002 my younger sister Lynn found a lump in her breast. Lynn went into the hospital to have a diagnostic lumpectomy. Mid-surgery the doctor came out to consult with her husband and me. The tumor was much larger than it had appeared to be: because it was flat and had ill-defined edges, it wasn’t fully visible on the mammogram. There was no doubt that this was a large, malignant tumor. The doctor had sent a frozen section to the lab, and the results were back. Mastectomy was the way to go.
Lynn woke up missing one breast. I held her hand as she cried in shock and bewilderment.
Lynn was 54 years old and had stage three cancer. She was treated with nine months of very aggressive chemotherapy, and six weeks of radiation. She was very sick for the last four months of the chemo. She couldn’t get off the couch for weeks at a time. She had third-degree burns from the radiation. She had no hair. Her house, her business, and her husband’s spirits went to hell.
At the end of her treatments, Lynn was declared to be in remission or NED: No Evidence of Disease. Beautiful words. They said it could take a year for her to recover from the chemo.
One month later my older sister Lois was diagnosed with breast cancer.
This was unthinkable. Two sisters, two cancers within ten months. Lois’s biopsy left no doubt, and again, mastectomy was the next move.
Lois had her mastectomy in February of 2003, and then five months of chemotherapy. She got sicker for longer with each treatment. The final chemo left her weak and nauseated, with open sores in her mouth, and with constant unpredictable diarrhea. Lois’s husband had stomach cancer the previous year and she nursed him through it, so he knew what she was experiencing.
Sister Lois is now NED, and will take the drug Arimidex for five years. Sister Lynn’s could not take Arimidex or Tamoxifen. The drug she was taking to discourage recurrence was damaging her heart muscle. She was given a horrible choice: to continue the drug with probable serious heart damage; or, discontinue the drug and increase the chance of recurrence of the cancer. She gave up the drug. In June 2006, the cancer metastasized to Lynn’s liver. She was treated aggressively, but lost her battle on September 6, 2006. She was 58 years old.
This past November 2005, my older daughter Jennifer was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was shocked. I was ready to talk to women over 50 about the prevalence of breast cancer, but Jennifer is only 42. Jennifer’s tumor was tiny and discovered through self-examination that she began after her aunts had breast cancer. Thank the gods for that. Jen had a lumpectomy and radiation. She will be on Tamoxifin for the next five years.
I am no longer distanced from breast cancer. I am in the sisterhood. And that is the state of all of us women in the Sister Study. We simply have not yet had cancer. But it is very possible that we will. It is here with us. It is in the family.
My two daughters have three daughters each. Unlike me, they will not be ignorant of the facts about breast cancer. I joined the Sister Study and my younger daughter Lisa joined the Sister Study. I want to be a part of the discovery of the causes of breast cancer, so that my six beautiful granddaughters can avoid the experience of it.
I am committed to having everyone who ever has had a sister with breast cancer in the Sister Study. I know that when my sisters and my daughter went through their cancer treatments, I felt like there was nothing I could do – no way I could act to protect or support them in a big way.
The Sister Study fills that gap, that “I want to help” void. This is it. This is the way we can actively protect and support our sisters, daughters, granddaughters, nieces, and friends. Join the Sister Study!
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