Survivor Stories

Cheryl Barnum

    As with all survivors, we owe a tremendous amount of thanks to our family and friends for their support and prayers. I remember that my son told me in the beginning, “Mom, you can either beat it or you can let it beat you.”  Throughout my treatment, I always kept that thought in the forefront of my mind as it gave me so much encouragement.
    After my treatment was completed, I chose to become active in the Komen Portland Race for the Cure®. When I decided to start a team, there were only a few of us that first year.  Over the years, my team has really grown! It is now made up of survivors and good friends who fortunately have not been touched by the disease, but wanted to help and support the cause. The bottom line is that we all are such a great source of encouragement to one another, and it has strengthened our friendships forever.
     In naming our team, we always thought that the most important words of encouragement for one another was to say, “I’m thinking of you” so we named ourselves “Pinking of You.” My name is Cheryl Barnum and I’m so thankful and proud to say that I’m a 6 year survivor of breast cancer.

Joyce Griffey    

    In April of 2005, I found a lump while showering. For at least 3 weeks, I pretended that it was just my imagination. Since it was right on my breast bone, I tried to convince myself that it was just the bone. But it continued to grow, and eventually I contacted my doctor.  I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma on June 9th, 2005. I had a lumpectomy and sentinal Node Biopsy. I also underwent radiation and took Tamoxifen as part of my treatment.
    How did I get through it? My daughter put on her “warrior hat” and researched everything for me, my husband was by my side, and my son gave me big hugs whenever I needed them.  I had wonderful friends, four sisters who contacted me often, and a large network of people I had met as a result of participating in the Breast Cancer 3-day walks the five years before my diagnosis.  My oldest sister is a two time breast cancer survivor, so she was the one who assured me I could get through it all.
    What would I tell the newly diagnosed woman today? I would tell her that the waiting (for tests, pathology reports, doctor’s appointments, etc) is the absolute worst part. Once you know what you’re facing, you can get in the fight, and take it one step at a time.  I’d also tell her that there is new hope for a cure every day.
Maureen Welsh

    You always think that it will never happen to you.  I was very faithful in having annual mammograms, and so I was one of the lucky ones who found it at stage one.  Upon getting the diagnosis, the first thought was, "there must be a mistake."  Then come the questions: "what does this diagnosis really mean to me?" Words like insitu, infiltrating, positive estrogen receptors; -- the fear of the unknown makes it difficult to know what the right decision is for your treatment. 
     I had various angels who came to me with all of their experiences with breast cancer, once they found out that I was diagnosed with it.  One was my younger sister and another was the assistant to my Gynecologist, and many more since then.  Each and everyone has had a different experience throughout the process, based upon the stage of breast cancer, the type of treatment that is chosen, the physicians who treat you, and the support from family and friends.
     I brought all of my family to my first doctor appointment so that we could all understand what my diagnosis meant for me and for us, and what the alternatives were for treatment. They were so filled with fear, but once they saw that I had a plan of action, it all became bearable. The support that I have and continue to have throughout this process has been unbelievable.
     I hope that in my lifetime that there will be a cure for breast cancer and other cancers as well. My name is Maureen Welsh and I was diagnosed with breast cancer on November 10, 2006.  I am now a three year survivor.

Mary LaFrance

    My name is Mary LaFrance and I am a two year breast cancer survivor.  On May 15, 2005, my husband retired from the Georgia Pacific paper mill in Camas, WA after working there for 38 years. Two days later I was diagnosed with Stage IIB Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma.  Needless to say this news rocked our world!
     After going through 7 1/2 months of AC and Taxol chemotherapy, two months of radiation and 15 months of Herceptin, along with much prayer, support, family and friends, my life is great!  I truly believe that God allows things to happen in our lives, and He has a purpose in everything that He plans for us.
     Not once during my treatment did I experience fatigue, headache or nausea.  I was fortunate enough to be able to continue working full-time at my job at Washougal High School. My doctors and nurses were amazing and instrumental in my success also.
    I say to the women who are currently going through treatment: seek out those people who will lift you up in prayer and surround yourself with positive attitudes!

Kelly Phillips

    Tim and I met August 2006.  We started dating in September.  The last week of October I found my lump. I didn't panic. At 33 years old, I was too young for breast cancer. The diagnostic testing of ultrasounds and mammograms lasted about 6 weeks. That's when I had my core biopsy. Tim was with me. We had been dating for 3 months.  The radiologist told us that day that we should be prepared for the biopsy to come back malignant. On December 22nd, 2006, I was told that I had breast cancer. 
    Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 Tim took me to the Hoyt Arboretum and he proposed!  In the following days we harvested eggs, created embyros and began eight cycles of chemotherapy. After chemo, we hoped a lumpectomy would remove any cancer that was left.  Unfortunately, the lumpectomy left me with one clean margin out of six.  So I came back two weeks later for a mastectomy, with Tim and my parents.  Tim and I are going to be married Friday, July 4, 2008 near our home in Bend, Oregon. Despite breast cancer, I am an extremely lucky woman.  And I so am thankful for all my co-survivors.

Karla Smith

Last year’s Komen walk was our first. It was symbolic in that it was also the first and somewhat tenuous step out into public as a survivor for my mother. She had gone through her mastectomy and a second follow up surgery just a few short weeks prior to the Race®, the recommended treatment of the exceptionally rare and aggressive phyllodes tumor that she had suddenly discovered in her left breast early that summer. And there we were, along with my seven year old daughter: three generations. My mother was nervous and excited, and proud to have made it through a dark and frightening journey. We felt that morning like we were coming out the other end of something.
    And we, a force of three, were “Team Inezdotters”, named for my mother’s mother Inez. She had succumbed to breast cancer when my mother was herself just a teenager, in a time when options for women were so limited. On our shirts was the image of my mother as a baby in her mother’s arms. We figured it was fitting to walk in Inez’s honor, to carry her with us. In all, four generations of our family were represented that morning. And we had a ball. Talk about thriving! Looking back, I think we started breathing a bit that day, after holding our breath for three long months.
    It’s now been nearly a year. We learned of my mother’s diagnosis in mid June of last year. She is, so far, clean, with a cancer that is mysteriously aggressive, does not respond to treatment, and must continue to be monitored. So we carry on, from scan to scan. We plan to walk again this next September, this time with more strength and hope: the strength of where we’ve been, and hope for where we’re going.

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Sharing Your Stories
We celebrate the strength of women who are surviving breast cancer. We admire your grace, tenacity, humor and courage. If you want to share your experiences with breast cancer, please contact Toni Mountain, Survivor Programs Manager, tmountain@komenoregon.org