While Halloween, Oktoberfest and the return of autumn are some of the things Americans usually associate with the month of October, it is also a month dedicated to raising awareness of one of the most notorious diseases in America—breast cancer.
It all started one week in October 1985 when the founders of the Board of Sponsors, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and CancerCare, Inc. held an event to promote public awareness of the breast cancer. They testified before a U.S. congressional committee, emphasizing the critical need for women to get access to mammograms. National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, or NBCAM, was born by uniting public service organizations, government agencies, and medical institutions all working for the same cause.
The facts surrounding the disease are alarming. According to the American Cancer Society, 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer annually. Out of that number, about 40,000 do not survive the cancer. The disease is not only a danger for women, but men as well. According to a University of Virginia health study, 1,720 men have breast cancer and 460 of them will die as a result. Cancer is the second-highest cause of death to American women. Although it isn’t entirely avoidable, it is easily treated in early stages, especially with the correct care and medical attention.
Buffalo is home to one of America’s top cancer-care facilities, Roswell Park Cancer Institute. This institute is world-renowned because of the comprehensive care it offers, as well as its medical staff that has been the recipient of multitudes of awards and grants. Mary Lynn Whissel, co- vice president of the Breast Cancer Network of Western New York (BCNWNY), had her cancer treated there and at recent meeting of BCNWNY commented that, “Roswell is actually very uplifting place. Everyone there is really upbeat and friendly and makes you feel as good as you possibly can.”
Breast cancer cells mostly develop in the lining of the mammary milk ducts. Unfortunately, what makes breast cancer such a danger is that once the cancer is in the breast there is a severe risk of it spreading to lymph nodes and therefore invading the lymph system. The cancer can then travel and begin infecting organs throughout the body making it harder to find and treat. Cancer’s physical toll on the body is only half the battle. Those suffering with the disease truly need wholehearted support from others.
“It really helps to have a friend go through it [with you] or a support group is just a great way to know that other people have been through it and survive and are living. And, you know, enjoying life. So it really, really was an important part of the process,” said Whissel solemnly. She was referred to The Breast Cancer Network of Western New York by a neighbor four days after her chemotherapy. It was there that she met her current co-vice president, Debbie LaMond.
The Breast Cancer Network of Western New York support group meets at the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Amherst the first Tuesday of every month. In order to host events, they are mainly supported by grants given by the New York State Department of Health, government grants, donations, and their own fundraisers.
In addition to various local events such as guest speakers, the group has just finalized a “Breast Cancer Buddy Group.” “When a new person comes to a meeting and they were like us and are scared and don’t have anyone to talk to, we pair them up with a breast cancer buddy,” LaMond explained. Cancer patients are matched with another person depending on a variety of factors including their experiences with certain medical procedures and age. “And that way, if a person who is 30 comes in, we pair them up with someone similar in age and things they’ve had done,” said LaMond. Whissel finished her thought by adding, “It also helps, I think, to know people that are in the same stage of life as you are.”
LaMond and Whissel met when they discovered a lump last summer, and both went for treatment in June. While Whissel had a mastectomy, a complete removal of the breast, as did 86-year-old Helen Ericsson, another member of BCNWNY, LaMond underwent lumpectomy. Lumpectomy is the removal of the area of the breast where the cancerous cells appear, and can retain the size and shape of the breast.
Because LaMond had a lumpectomy, she also went through radiation therapy. This treatment exposes the breast to high amounts of X-rays after the procedure to kill any remaining cancer cells. Evidence from numerous sources, including various government sponsored cancer websites, said that a mastectomy without radiation has the same effect as a lumpectomy with radiation therapy. Neither is better or worse, and it all depends on the individual.
Ericsson described radiation therapy in the 1970s as not well controlled. “It would spread out around the area and it burned the skin badly. In fact, your heart and the rest of the area was brown crisp skin that pretty well stayed that way. I was very lucky that I didn’t have that.” At the time of her surgery, Ericsson was struggling with money. Just one week after she had her breasts removed, she was back at work. After Ericsson went through her ordeal, she admitted that, “The hardest part for me was holding my head up and saying that I had a mastectomy. And a lot of people didn’t know what that was and I shocked a lot of people. At that time you didn’t say the word breast, especially if there was a male around.” LaMond then added, “But times change.”
“And now everybody knows about it [cancer], everybody knows we have breasts,” Ericsson continued. She thought for a second. “Now that I look back on it, I was truly in a dark age.”
Whissel admitted to having psychological difficulties following her mastectomy. “That is why I chose [breast] reconstruction, because it helped.” The process may seem strange, but it grants cancer survivors a chance at renewed self-confidence. “They inject saline solution every few weeks to stretch out the muscles and then they put a nipple on a few months later. They can put nipples on nowadays!” exclaimed Whissel. “It’s just the way the skin is stitched around and then they tattoo it to give it a darkness in the center so it’s really pretty amazing,” she continued. “I feel more whole now I guess, which is a good thing.” Ericsson, however, did not choose reconstruction. Instead she wears a prosthesis made of foam worn with a special brassiere.
While breast cancer research is effective in treating current patients, this group of survivors discovered their cancer after their yearly mammograms failed to detect any abnormalities. LaMond described finding her first sign of cancer. “I was just watching TV one night and had an itch under my arm,” she said as she lifted her arm to demonstrate. “I felt a little lump.”
“I don’t think enough people do breast self-exams,” Whissel stated. “I think they rely on that once-a-year mammogram. Maybe they have it every other year, but I think people are still not giving themselves enough self-exams, and I think that’s probably the way that most of the people find it.”
Lamond’s story confirms this theory. “I just had went for a mammogram that August and this was March when I found the lump. Also, I did have genetic testing done a year previous and that came out negative, so I was like, ‘There’s gotta be some mistake!’”
The group urges students to check themselves monthly. Jasmine Sharpe, a junior psychology major, agrees and checks herself every few months. Even though she has no family history, she said, “It’s just important because even though it’s not in my family doesn’t mean I can’t get it.”
“Although I still think, as a woman, you think it’s, ‘Oh it can’t happen to me, it’ll happen to somebody else,’” said Whissel. Males may have adopted this philosophy as well. Because females’ breasts grow when hormones increase during puberty, they have many more breast cells and are more likely than men to get breast cancer. Men still can and do get breast cancer. The same process in which a mass of cells reproduces wildly occurs in males, but is hindered by a change in hormones.
Josh Mancini, a freshman mechanical engineering major, has a history of breast cancer in his family, but he doesn’t check himself for lumps because he said, “I’m a male…and I’m a little too young [to get cancer].” This attitude is criticized on cancer.org, where it states, “Early detection has been a problem for men, who tend to ignore breast lumps and see their doctor only when they have gotten very large.”
Despite the difficulties the disease presents, those who share the experience are given a way to unite and support each other. “It really is a bonding thing,” Whissel said. “You just feel a connection and I think that, again, it’s just so helpful to know that other people are surviving and getting through it.”
“You are not going to be dying, you’re not going to be odd-looking,” Ericsson continued. “We’re perfectly normal people, living a good life.”
“Brought together by the common denominator of breast cancer,” Lamond added with a smile.
Dana Rosenwasser is a junior English major and a Features writer for Generation.
