0:03  
Hello and welcome to breast cancer conversations, a podcast brought to you by survivingbreastcancer.org. I'm Laura Carfang, breast cancer survivor and founder of survivingbreastcancer.org, a nonprofit organization providing community, education, and resources to empower those diagnosed with breast cancer and their caregivers from day one and beyond. Our podcasts are made possible thanks to our sponsor Store My Tumor. Your preserved tumor contains the most important information about your cancer. Store My Tumor provides live tumor preservation, and coordination of advanced diagnostics and personalized immunotherapies. Thank you, Store My Tumor, for supporting us. Hi friends, Laura here. We are recording live from the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in Portland, Oregon, Relay for Life is a fundraising event supporting all cancers. Hundreds of people have gathered here today and have committed to having at least one person per team walk the trail. For the next 24 hours, the idea is that no matter what rain or shine, cancer doesn't sleep, this physical representation is a powerful one. And we are thrilled to be hosting our podcast breast cancer conversations live from Relay where we turn the conversation to all cancers. In this episode, we speak to those who have been touched by melanoma, lymphoma, from cancer, breast cancer, esophageal cancer, kidney cancer and more. You will hear lively music keeping people motivated as they walk laps around the track. You will hear people share their experiences with cancer from both the patient and the caregivers perspective. And most importantly, you will feel inspired and empowered. Every single one of the people that we spoke with were smiling. You can hear it in their voices. These are not stories of sorrow and sympathy. These are the voices of cancer letting you know that we will not sleep until we try to hear Welcome to the conversation.

1:58  
My name is Cassie Martin. And I am a 21 year Relay for Life participant. I'm currently on the executive leadership team for the Greater Portland Relay for Life. And I've been on the leadership team for a little over 10 years now. I started because a friend of mine got leukemia, and we didn't know what to do. We were all lost and so we kind of joined Relay very early, and I was a junior participant and then I moved on and I've stuck with it. My baby sister is in leadership as well in a different county in Oregon. And a couple years ago, cancer hit us even harder by my my aunt first getting cancer and sadly passed away from it. And then my mom a month later got cancer, and she had to battle this directly after her sister her baby sister just passed away so I can't wait for you guys to hear my parents. They're gonna come talk later this evening. They're getting ready to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary tomorrow and my mom loves celebrating birthdays, anniversaries. So we're doing a huge party and a lot of it will be reaffirmation of what we do for Relay for ACS to make sure there are more birthdays out there, and there are more anniversaries. So that's our story, and I hope you get to hear more later.

3:17  
Hi, how are you? Good, good.

3:18  
So you're from Stanford.

3:20  
Yeah Stanford's restaurant and bar. 

3:22  
And you're here at Relay today. Tell me how you got involved.

3:29  
Well, we met Angela and Alicia, during one of our Chamber of Commerce meetings. We were there speaking about our restaurant, they returned. They're talking about the American Cancer Society. So we kind of got together and started talking and they told us about Relay and we were really looking for something to kind of participate in at that time. So we sounded, sounded like a great, great idea to get involved in. We're so happy we did. It's been fantastic. So wonderful experience.

3:52  
Tell me your name, where you're from why you're here.

3:55  
Okay. I'm Donna Burnett, and I'm from here in Portland, Oregon. And I'm here to support my daughter, Angela Burnett. Excuse me, Angela Duncan Burnett, Burnett Duncan. Anyway, She's our daughter, and this is my husband Lance. And we're here to support her and I'll show Alicia Duncan as well too. And basically, my husband is a survivor at from skin cancer, and I'm a caregiver.

4:27  
So you're a caregiver.--Yes. Yes.--And so many levels then too, because you have Alicia and Angela as well. Yeah. Is this your first time doing Relay?

4:36  
No, we've been here quite a few years supporting Angela because she's been involved in it for so long. 

4:44  
Do you have any tips for other caregivers out there? It’s definitely a hard job.

4:47  
It is. It's very hard, I think getting support for themselves taking care of themselves and we know some other caregivers that take care of others and So one thing that I've noticed in them is that they need support just as much as the person who's going through and, you know, is the survivor, you know, but they they need the support to have other friends and family and, and to not feel that they're isolated that they can get help from others. Find out what services are available for caregivers, because there are services out there for them too.

5:26  
Absolutely, and that's one of the things our nonprofit does, and we're part of surviving breast cancer.org. I started that nonprofit when I was diagnosed with breast cancer and William was my caregiver. Now one part of our organization does focus on that caregiver piece just like the American Cancer Society, which is why you're here team. Sure. And at two o'clock if you guys are around William is going to be doing the presentation. Kicking off right before the survivors lap. Uh huh. So, and I think he's actually going to talk about a lot of the similar things that you just said, because it's so important that they're taken care of as well so that the caregivers have the energy to able to like be rejuvenated as well. Uh huh. You know, help the person going through treatment. 

6:07  
Sure, sure.

6:09  
Tell me your name.

6:11  
I'm Lance Burnett.--Where are you from?--Portland, Oregon.

6:14  
Excellent. And why are you here today?

6:16  
I come here every year to support Angela and Alicia. I walk in the survivors, I survived a little bit of cancer, some Mohs surgery and so forth. Every time I come here, I don't know whether I want to feel like crying or smiling. There's so many. So many other people that have had 20 times worse than I have. And it's it's you got it. If we don't support them who will? It's sad but it's also good to see the survivors. The ones that are walking proud and then to the worst of it like Alicia when she goes in every year for another checkup, she's always petrified. And that's when she needs her supporters the most. I don't know what happened if it came back on her.

7:10  
Your name, where you're from, and why you're here.

7:12  
Angela Duncan and from Portland, Oregon. And I am the event leader for Relay for Life of Portland.--Oh wow. How long have you been doing that?--Um, so I've been involved with Relay for eight years now. I started out just as a team, just a participant coming in. And then I just kind of worked my way up and now I'm at Bentley. So I've been doing at Bentley now this is my second year on my own running the show.

7:38  
Yeah. Congratulations. It's a big event to put on. You must be very proud and excited today. 

7:43  
I am so proud. Just the everybody the community. The motivation out of here. Everybody's in a great mood, the weather and yeah, we couldn't ask for a better day.

7:55  
I started out with Basil. And he cared for me And we thought I was gonna lose my right eye and started out him as my caregiver and finished with me as his caregiver. And every day, we would say, I love you in the morning. I be I'll be home soon. We finish the day with I love you and have a good night. For you.

8:34  
Hi. I'm Hayley. I'm from Vancouver, Washington. So I had a red mole on my arm and me and my sister were playing tag in the house one day and like her nail just went under and it started bleeding. And I was like, okay, like we've had enough because it got caught on stuff a lot of times and so we went in to go get it removed, and they call us back and they're like, hey, like she has skin cancer. We have to go to surgery. So I got surgery. I think it's been a week later. This is my 10th year being cancer-free

9:01  
I'm Maddie Oha and I'm from all over the place. So I'm from Virginia and then California then Oregon. I've been participating in Relay for Life events since 2009, in college in Boston. And I relay mainly for my parents. My mom had breast cancer. Three times she's survivor. And then my dad had lymphoma, and he's also a survivor. And then I relay because I feel like every year I meet and more people who are diagnosed with cancer, or people I know are diagnosed with cancer, and so I just keep coming out and participating in the event.

9:37  
When your mother was first diagnosed with breast cancer. How old were you? 

9:42  
Um, I was so I was a great question. I was not it was 2009. I was 19 when my dad was diagnosed and then 20 when my mom was diagnosed.

9:53  
Okay, and then since you've been 20, your mother was diagnosed like two more times.--Yes.--How does that even happen?

9:58  
So she was diagnosed originally with stage two breast cancer. And I was in college. And so I didn't really get to experience the caregiver part as much because she wanted me to stay in college in Boston, and she was in San Francisco. And then, almost three years later, she had stage three breast cancer because I guess they found it in lymph nodes that were near the breast. And so by then I was home from college. So that was probably like 23 ish. And so I went on leave from work and took her to chemo and radiation and everything like that. But she had to have surgery to remove all the lymph nodes on the left side of her arm and whatnot. And so that was definitely an interesting experience for her and for me, because she I think she because she, it was the same type of cancer. A second time they gave her more aggressive chemo. So it's a little unpleasant and then the next time she was diagnosed, I was actually in Portland. And it was just a different type completely. So like the first two were related. And the next one was just a completely different type. But it was they basically said it was barely stage one it was probably stage zero. 

11:10  
Okay, so it's not like the first type metastasized? 

11:11  
No, yeah, because they were worried at first and then they were worried when they were when they realized what type it was two they were worried that I think it was one that doesn't really respond well to chemo. And so they were potentially gonna have to do a double mastectomy and things like that. And so but then when I guess they went in and took it out, it was a lot smaller and it hadn't spread to like they're the margins were clear and everything so she was good with that. And then they did a lot of genetic test afterwards too to see and so I think she was, like, negative or whatever, on all the tests except one where they don't really know a lot about it. So.

11:48  
I did the genetic testing as well. And some of the the genes came back like inconclusive.--Yeah, I think I think--like, okay, like, the gray area already. Yeah, there has to be a reason why people are getting breast cancer and so many other cancers as well if it's not genetic, an interesting statistic that I heard specifically for breast cancer is that only 10% of breast cancer diagnoses are genetically related. That leaves 90% to all other like yeah, environmental factors, which again is horrifying.

12:20  
Yeah. So it's, it's a little scary and I know even at my job, because I started a job. Now I've been there a year exactly. Um, but to my department's like eight people, and two of those people, I've had breast cancer, and it's not genetic or anything so and it's and then you know, I've through Relay for Life because people ask what you do in your spare time and Relay for Life and hang out with my cat. Um, and definitely, I feel like I talked to people and a lot of them have had breast cancer or thyroid cancer or something. And it's like so many different people where you can't like the listI get, I try to make luminaria bags for people and then I like can't make it for everyone because absolutely too many.

12:57  
I don’t know if you remember in Boston. There was Always like the PMC challenge. It was like a 200 mile bike ride. I like from like Western Mass all the way down to like the cape. Yeah. And one of my friends was raising funds for one of the major hospitals and she had little like ribbons, and not ribbons, like, little like tags, like going off of her bike jersey, she must have had like, 35 of them, because she just knew so many people. Yeah, she was like, This is why I'm riding.

13:25  
So when my mom got it a third time, I'd asked my doctor, and she said that since my mom was, is considered post menopausal, although I think that she hadn't actually gone through menopause but whatever, I guess without the ages, where they said I didn't need to worry about it at this moment, because I had also been like, do I need to start getting mammograms earlier? And they said no, but the thing is, is also that a lot of the people I know who have been surprised that we've not had breast cancer have don't have it in the family and they're in their 30s or early 40s. My mom is always terrified, especially because my dad hasn't come back. So he's probably almost 10 or 10 years or so, yeah. But my mom because hers has come back and you know, and then it came back as a different type. I think she's always worried that if there's something some weird pain or something off that she has cancer again.

14:15  
That's very natural. Yeah. Like, I've talked to so many women where it's like, well, if I had it once, like, why wouldn't it happen? Yeah, right. And you're like, I remember even myself, I have like a sore throat, which I feel super annoyed about. Because I'm like, hopping and like. The first thought is like, oh my god, did it go to my lungs? Did it spread? And I was like, Well, if it wasn't a breast cancer that spread, what could it be lung cancer, and like, you know, I'm talking to my oncologist and just asking, like, you know, I need a CT scan now, because something must be wrong. Yeah. He's like Laura. It's called allergies, and you'll be fine. Like, take some Claritin. Start off with your name and where you're from. 

14:53  
Oh, my name is Helen Tremblay. Originally, I'm from California, but I lived in Washington for 17 years and now I'm retired and live down here in Forest Grove. 

15:05  
Excellent. What brings you out to Relay today?

15:06  
Well, I've been involved up in Washington I was involved, I had cancer in 2008. Breast and had one breast taken off and had chemo and had radiation and had Herceptin afterwards had the whole nine yards. But when I recover, when I got better, I hooked up with the Relay or the American Cancer Society up in Washington, and then got involved with them. So now that I moved here, I mean, I did road to recovery, I did Reach to Recovery. I did this Relays, I did strides, plus I would do I go to the office and work with them, jobs they had. So I worked a lot with that. But when I came up here I lost touch because in Portland there in Portland, and I'm way down in Forest Grove which is quite a drive so and kind of scary because I don't know Portland.

16:01  
Sure, yeah coming to the city.

16:03  
I live in small town. I like small towns. But yeah, so when I had cancer, my sister who got it three years before me, she didn't make it. So I vowed to her that I was going to work with the Cancer Society after I got better and was I'm giving back.

16:31  
Excellent. Did your sister have breast cancer. She had breast cancer on the other side. 

16:36  
Is it hereditary?

16:38  
Well, we had a gene thing I did a test because I've got daughters. Yes. And they were concerned that they're now in that age. So but they it's not genetic. None of it. My mother had cancer. She had three cancers before the bone cancer finally took her at 56 years old. My sister got cancer 56 but she died four years later. I got cancer three years later. At 56.

17:04  
I think about it all the time. Does it ever go away? Like, do you always think about it or being 10 years out? I mean, you're smiling. You're looking great. You're healthy. You're working out like it gets better. Like there's hope there right.

17:18  
It’s in the back of my mind, always right. But it's like I had this side taken off because I didn't want another breast cancer. Yes. Afraid that I wouldn't catch it. I was lucky to catch it. So But yeah, I don't I mean, you always live with it because I always have the reminder. So it's only today but I tried to make it a positive always trying to find some positive with it. And and so when I think about like, I do the Relays and I just tried getting hooked back up with ACS up here. Those things were a positive thing that that comes from it. So yeah, you think about it, but I'm making it a incentive to go and do, I'm not afraid. I know what's real.

18:10  
And so you have an interesting story too because you opted not for reconstruction.

18:14  
I tried but the radiation damage the tissue here. So as you can see this is all sunken in where this is all flat. They just took off the breast, but here at the radiation damage the tissue. So it's sunken I tried for a couple years I tried doing that and it just got there things were getting pushed. And it was uncomfortable after a while I got to be uncomfortable. So, here’s a cool story. It was all sunken in before really suck at it like sometimes I stretch my arm. Yeah, but then when I started doing the pool doing the exercises, they make me work all this upper body. 

18:56  
Stroke and everything. Yeah.

18:59  
It's getting better. It's less it's actually Wow. Like, I tease people I tell him I'm growing another one. It's actually come on, it's come out now. So it's not so painful.

19:09  
Like good physical therapy. Right? Yeah.

19:12  
Right. That kind of and I didn't know that what happened when I started the pool thing.

19:15  
Right? That's good for our listeners to know. Yes. I hear swimming is great for lymphedema also.

19:23  
Yeah, no, I never had that. I was really lucky because my mom did. Okay. So and my sister did, but I never did. I don't know why that's great. But I didn't, but they stopped it here and they took all the all the limbs. Yeah, it's safer. You don't want to have the guy told the doctor said you know, you don't want to one little cell. Exactly. It's left in there. We got to get it all out. But mine encapsulated. So it didn't go beyond. Oh, they stayed in the lymph node. That's it when they took out the whole lymph node. Yeah, that helped to know that. I'd be cancer free. You know, I mean, I did say cancer can happen to anybody and it can happen again. But you have to stay positive, stay positive, right? You can't let that stop you. Like I said, it's an incentive to do everything I can.

20:17  
I'm a survivor, eight years in two months, and I just want to let people know they're survivors out there. I was caused from acid reflux and I went through the courses of treatment, and with a good support system, my spouse and family members. And I don't know what else to say on that. They had to do four treatments of chemo at one week apiece. I had a chemo port in my chest. And I did 25 days of radiation in parallel with the chemo and a resection of my stomach so they took half my stomach and 80% of the esophagus to have a clear cut on the cancer away from my body. My vision is compromised has been all my life so I can write I can't drive in the winter, because the dark, I can drive in the daytime but not dark. So I pedal.

21:16  
I know that even in our community, which is typically the breast cancer community, we're discovering and we're detecting with screening earlier even though the guidelines don't call for mammograms before 40. But we're really part of a network that's trying to educate young woman as to and as matter of fact, it affects men as well, but on a minor sense, it affects men, it's one out of a woman and we're just educating them to know their body and and a number of organizations like ours prescribes breast self examinations once a month so that they're they're pretty comfortable with seeing what's going on with their bodies and if they detect something, have it checked. And when you start screening early, sometimes you do get a false positive or whatever. But typically, we'd rather make that mistake and have the get a jump on any type of actual a breast cancer. And so from that perspective, you know, your words of wisdom with regards to communicating and to know how to really help and how to how to serve your loved one or, or a family member or your friend that is suffering from some kind of a chronic debilitating disease. So I want to thank you very much for stopping by and saying hi and seeing what we do and, and offering hope to, to fellow caregivers in to fellow survivors because it's one big community as far as I'm concerned, and I'm happy to be a part of it. So last words for the audience.

22:59  
Just that stay, stay positive, things get better. Things will get better. You'll have your ups and downs and you'll have the valleys and you'll have the hill hills and valley in stay positive, stay strong. You know, never never give up.

23:16  
And I guess the last the last note on that was typically they they tell it's prescribed for for a caregiver to make sure that they don't forget to take care of themselves, right. 

23:28  
You have to take care of yourself because that was that was my that was my downfall. I guess I, I sacrificed my myself a lot when I should have been watching that too. Yeah. And I was trying to help my wife. Oh, no, I wouldn't eat right. I'd get a you know, you get you don't eat right when you're trying to take care of them because you're trying to take 24 I mean, I didn't have to do 24 seven but right. You know, whatever most of the day. You know, helping. Yeah. So you forget about yourself to right sleep right. You You get upset because they're sick and you can't do anything about it right? It's out of your hands.

24:05  
Correct.

24:06  
You have to make sure you get your rest and do everything like that.

24:09  
You are a cancer survivor, right? Two times survivor.

24:13  
Two times, right.

24:14  
So you had bone cancer and breast cancer. And when were you diagnosed with bone cancer?

24:19  
The end of 2008? Right before Christmas? Well, actually, I was diagnosed in November and then I had surgery in December right before Christmas. So yeah.

24:34  
How did you discover you had bone cancer?

24:36  
I had been going to physical therapy for pain in my shoulder. And after several months, it wasn't getting any better, and actually, the pain changed. And so my physical therapist did a test and said you probably have a tear in your rotator cuff, you should push for an MRI. And my doctor hadn't been willing to do an MRI. So push for an MRI got that came back with a tear in my rotator cuff. But he said, what we're concerned about is you have a very aggressive mass in your right shoulder. And so you will see a specialist today. And then I went through scans because normally when you have bone cancer, it's somewhere else in your body and it has metastasized to the bone. But fortunately, mine was not anywhere else in my body, it was just in the bone. And so they had surgery to remove that part of the bone. And that was it. I didn't have to have chemo or radiation or anything. I kind of felt like I cheated cancer.

25:35  
And so they were able to that's a really great point that you brought up, though that because there was a mass in your bone. It wasn't linked back to any other type of cancer, stating that it was like a metastasis or something else. Right. That's interesting. Was there a test to identify that it was bone cancer, or?

25:50  
Well, they said the only way they could know that for sure that it was cancer is when they went in to do surgery. And that proved that it was cancer. Okay, but it was low grade. So they didn't feel like they needed to do anything else. I just went in for scans every six months for the first five years and now I haven't had a scan in last five years, but I do go back to him all the time the surgeon, yeah. 

26:15  
So, so when I did the surgery to they put in any like, pins are needles, like I don't know much about bone cancer.

26:20  
No, they just it was part of my acromion bone and they just basically carved it out. So I have a divot in my shoulder which is my Battlestar. And that was it. He thought they would do some recent construction, but then he decided not to do it. So I don't care. I'm alive. That's what counts.

26:39  
Oh, congratulations.

26:43  
And then at the end of 2017, I found a lump in my breast. I was almost nine years cancer-free and we had to start all over, which was really frustrating. My route of treatment was doing chemotherapy first to shrink the tumors because um, smell. Chemotherapy was hard on me though. I almost had to stop before my end, because I lost a ton of weight, which I didn't have to lose so and then I had a bilateral mastectomy followed by reconstruction. And I'm good.

27:25  
No evidence of disease so far. So and you know, it's always if.

27:32  
Oh, of course now I'm in the same boat. Exactly. And how did you discover your lump?

27:36  
I said it was a God thing because it was in the middle of night, I woke up with a pain in my breast. And so I felt around. It's like, Oh, my gosh, what is this? It was like a large marble size. lump. I hadn't, had missed my mammogram in May. It was November. But they said Honestly, it wouldn't have made any difference. The timeframe? Not very good. It's not exam so I hadn't discovered it. But next morning, I got made phone calls and going in for appointments and radiologists when she did the ultrasound, she said, I'm pretty sure that is cancer. So and I, I knew it was it's like, it's found me again. It's found me again, then the biopsy confirmed it, like, okay, what do I need to do?

28:25  
And then she said, You need to pick a surgeon breast surgeons like, how do I do that? And she said, Well, if it were me, this is who I would pick. So that so I called and my medical team is fantastic. I love them. They always take the time to talk to me and answer any questions that I have at any time. 

28:46  
That's really good advice to let our listeners know as well in terms of how do you pick your surgeon? How do you start putting together your, your medical care team, right? Because, you know, it could be your oncologist, plus your surgeon, some places to have like the surgeon that literally removes the tumor. And then you have to work with a plastic surgeon. Yeah. Third Person. Yeah,

29:06  
Its all new territory is like I don't have the faintest idea where to start. So.

29:15  
You've had two different forms of cancer. And yet you walk around here like one of the most positive people that I have ever seen. You can't stop smiling. Danelle, thank you. So how do you do that? What do you attribute that to?

29:27  
Well, I'm a person of faith. And so I have a positive attitude. Anyway, I'm a glass half full person. I'm a living life person. You know, cancer is not going to define me. It's not going to have the last word. Yes, it shapes who I am. It has shaped it's totally changed me. I'll never ever be the same and I wish that I'd never had cancer but I have met the most amazing people including you guys and made friendships that will last a lifetime. I met you know, people that Relay I just joined a local pink Phoenix Dragon Boat team, which I never ever imagined doing and they're all breast cancer survivors. Love that. And so, you know, I'm doing things experiencing things that I never would have. Yeah. Without having cancer. 

30:22  
Well, that's good, though--at least.--You’re the only ones hearing it right now. But yeah, I mean, you know what it's like so, it totally changes you. There's always that fear of recurrence. But it's not gonna, it's not gonna hold me down. It held me down for a little bit. And then, you know, I kind of drew inward to myself protecting and trying to heal and recover and I feel like I'm still recovering. But I have a village that helps me and that's what matters. That's what it takes is a village. You know, they take village to raise a child it takes a village to support a cancer survivor.

31:08  
When when Laura was diagnosed, we went to Yeah.

31:15  
I read your notes.

31:18  
We went to one of our favorite restaurants the night she was diagnosed and we had been strict vegan for seven years. And of course, we're going to go out for steak that night. And we went and we sat in our usual chairs and the order we ordered up some appetizers. And in the we were smiling and we're holding each other's hands and and the the waitstaff was slow to come around with the appetizers and then Laura started to cry. And I will,--I don't mind hearing it twice.--And so ultimately. They, they walked over and very slowly and they were asking about it, they thought we're breaking up and I know we've been diagnosed with breast cancer and, and we're here to celebrate. And so ultimately, we're we're here to celebrate life. And that's what we do. Exactly. And, and from that day on, it was just an open book and and utilizing our social network, utilizing our community and just expanding that community because everybody wants to help in in some way or another.

32:31  
Right now, let me know what your name is.

32:34  
Sherry Wilson,--where are you from?--Portland.--Excellent. And you're wearing one of the purple really shirts today. So that means you must be a survivor.--Yes.

32:44  
And what were you diagnosed?

32:47  
I had breast cancer in 1990. In 1998. It was inside too. So in 1990, I had a back to me and 1998 I had a mastectomy. And I was on hormonal therapy for 10 years.--Wow, what hormone therapy?

33:05  
Tamoxifen and then another one. Yeah, that was that aromatase inhibitor was so long. Yeah, I don't remember all that.

33:12  
It's been so long, like, congratulations on survivorship. That's amazing.

33:17  
Yeah. Thank you.

33:20  
I mean, how did you discover it the first time if you can recall. 

33:23  
Um, so my mother had breast cancer at age 38. Oh, wow. And it was a lump in her breast. And this was back in, yeah, it was in the 50s up into 60. And so she had one mastectomy, and they're done. They did radical at that point, yes. And radical for the other one. And then they didn't, there was no chemotherapy, so there was radiation. So she had that both times. And then when I was 27, and she was 50. I was about ready to have our her first grandchild, and it had metastasized to her bones and her brain. And she died a month before he was born.

34:13  
I'm sorry. Yeah. 

34:20  
So how I found it out for me. I've just always thought I might have it. When I had my children, I had the same problems she had. So I kinda thought the body was the same. So it didn't surprise me but it was because my doctor knew my history. So my primary care, they didn't call them primary care back then. He referred me after he saw calcium deposits in my mammogram. And I went to a surgeon and had the lumpectomy. And at that point, they didn't know that Tamoxifen it was, shall we or shant wait and I didn't do it. And then the same situation in 1998 when they found deposits and it had in the same breast. Okay.

35:04  
So you've looked through the mammography that and with the deposits is like how it was found.

35:07  
Yeah so they didn't have all the things they have today. Then they said mammography. So I've been faithful and getting it. There were some insurance issues at times that they didn't want to do it every year. But, you know, now it's no problem.

35:22  
Yeah, exactly. And you feel great. You're looking great, which is awesome.

35:27  
I feel great. I have other problems besides.

35:32  
Isn’t that funny, like, besides cancer.

35:36  
Now it feels like a little thing.

35:39  
How, if you can recall to I find it fascinating. Always because we talked to a lot of women who get diagnosed with breast cancer, and we have conversations about how do you tell your children, right, because, I mean, it's hard for you to digest and then when you have to tell your loved ones, if you can recall. 

35:56  
Yeah, the first time my children were younger, and my, Okay, first time my husband was still living. And the second time he was not. So he died in 1990 to have a heart attack. And so the kids were like 14 and 17. So when I had it again, I don't even remember. I mean, they were they were out of high school by bound, and starting to find themselves somehow. So we had that conversation. And then I my biggest supporter, though, during that was my sister who went to all the appointments with me. Because you can't hear it or know it or anything if you're the person being treated. 

36:43  
Yeah, no, exactly. We always advocate and say, bring someone with you.

36:45  
And yeah, so since that time, then I am. I was involved in Kaiser's peer support as a peer support person and they still had it and then oh, no, that has County was a different thing. But yeah. And I worked with Coleman for a long time. And when I first did Coleman ever, I was one of the first volunteers. Yeah, yeah. Good memories before there was computers. And exactly. I didn't know who had signed up, but you just gave him a shirt. Yeah, it was very informative.

37:16  
Now you’re here at relay and

37:19  
Yeah, well, I work for the American Cancer Society. It's been six years, over six years since I worked for them. I was the patient navigator at OHSU. Okay. And started up there now, since they've taken it back to the staff doing it at OHSU. It was really good to go into that. And then I got more information about all the cancers there are. Yeah, and there are a lot worse than what I had. For sure. For sure. So yeah, so like the we just had a person in our church and we're a church team, who had pancreatic cancer and he wasn't diagnosed until he just lived a couple weeks. A few weeks.

38:03  
Yeah, no, I found out yesterday via email. My grandmother has pancreatic cancer. I was like, well, at least I'm going to be at the right place getting support and right. You know, it's.

38:16  
That's a hard one. Yeah. When I work that away too soon, that was one of the first that I didn't understand. And they have a great doctor up there. So people were living beyond what they thought they would. Anyway, I got a lot more information about the types of cancer up there, when I was working there and it was good to start a new program again, because I've done it before. So that's my story. 

38:42  
I love it. Thank you so much for sharing. Do you have any, like, best pieces of advice or like tips for newly diagnosed age.

38:51  
For newly diagnosed or people that have questionable mammograms, questionable mammograms when they say watch it. Be sure you talk with your primary care physician in detail to make sure you're watching it is the best thing. I know there's fiber fiber and I've had two or three people in my life that have experienced that including my sister who was scared and then it came out to be okay. But the discussion with the primary care is hugely important can't let the radio and and mammograms every year saved my life.

39:34  
If this podcast was helpful, be sure to subscribe, share with your friends and leave a review in the comments so we know that you liked it. In closing, we would like to thank our hosts the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life team and our leadership post, Angela and Felicia Duncan. It was our great pleasure to partner in this great relay and to serve as a plenary speaker on caregiving and survivorship. You can see our keynote speeches on YouTube, in this newsletter, and on our website, be sure to follow us on social media, Instagram at survivingbreastcancer.org. And check out our Facebook community at survivingbreastcancer.org. And thank you everyone for listening to our show. I would like to acknowledge the all of the information on our podcasts from personal experiences, and they're not a substitute for professional medical advice, you should always contact your medical care team. If you're looking for specific topics or would like to be a guest on our show, please feel free to reach out to me. My email is laura@survivingbreastcancer.org. Until next time, keep on thriving.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai