How To (Beat Breast Cancer) 101

(Michelle Salvatore- at right- and her daughter, Lauren)

Michelle Salvatore is a former student and mother of a current student, Lauren, at my school, Rowan University.  At the age of 55, Michelle is a survivor of breast cancer. Diagnosed in November 2007, Michelle discovered that she had cancer when she went to the doctor’s office for a mammogram; she had visited the doctor after she had felt a lump in her breast while doing a breast self-exam. She underwent chemotherapy then bilateral mastectomies in January 2008, followed by reconstructive surgery. Michelle was diagnosed again with breast cancer in July 2009, and she told me that it is possible for her to get cancer again. Michelle spoke to me about mammograms, the diagnostic and reconstructive processes, and why it is important to get into the habit of giving yourself a breast exam, even if you’re younger than the recommended age for mammograms (which is 40 years.)

To listen to Michelle’s story, please click the link below:

I also spoke to her daughter, Lauren, a Freshman majoring in Business, who was at school for some of the time that her mother was fighting cancer.

She spoke to me about her mother’s battle with cancer and what it was like to be away from home for some of the time that her mother was receiving treatment:

My mom is a survivor of breast cancer. She had it twice…  She is a healthy person, she never gets sick. So it could happen to anyone. It made me think that, you know, it could be me… I was at home when it happened. The second time, while she was going through some of the treatments, I was at school… It was hard, just having to be here and not there to support her through everything. I mean she understood, she knew that I had to get an education so I could better myself. It was still hard… I have just kind of learned to take life day by day and not take it for granted… I’m very worried about it, just seeing that it is a possibility. I just go to the doctor’s regularly. Is there really any way to prevent it? … I’d just probably say to keep making sure you stay healthy and go to the doctor’s regularly just to see if there is any way that you could prevent it or catch it early so it could be treated… It affects everyone, no one is free from it.

Another Rowan student, Samantha Ross, a sophomore majoring in English Education, was also away at school while her mother was fighting breast cancer. She too spoke to me about how her mother’s battle with cancer.

Samantha explained, “My mom actually just finished treatment for breast cancer. She was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer in August and she went through chemo and now she just finished radiation. She, at the moment, is done with [treatment]; she just has to go in for check-ups and stuff.”

Ross added that her mother was diagnosed in August, so she was able to be with her mom when the lump in her left breast was removed. After she left for school two weeks later, she and her mother kept in touch over the phone:

“My mom told me what she wanted me to know, like the most necessary details. She told me what the doctors were telling her and things like that because she didn’t want to scare me, which is kind of impossible to do in a situation like this but it was very hard to be away from my mom at a time when I wish I could have just been there and supported her.”

Ross said that her parents went to Italy after her mother received her first treatment, where her mom experienced an unexpected side effect:

“One thing that my mother experienced was a really terrible taste in her mouth and she said that it just recently went away. She said it was like a salty, metallic taste and she couldn’t enjoy food. One of her favorite foods is chocolate and she couldn’t enjoy it. She went to Italy- you want to enjoy the food when you go to Italy, but she couldn’t enjoy the food in Italy. She said that she was the only person in Italy who couldn’t enjoy it. It’s Italy- you want to enjoy the food!”

The treatments took a physical toll on her mother, who became too exhausted to do anything physical. Ross said that when she would go home, she and her mom would spend time together by watching movies and TV, so a lot of responsibilities shifted from her mother to Samantha’s brother and father.

Ross emphasized the importance of knowing your body and giving yourself a breast self-examination, in spite of the fact that a government panel ruled that women should not even be taught to give themselves a breast exam, which she read about in this Cosmopolitan article. Ross said,

“[People have said things] like, ‘There’s no need to test yourself.’ There’s always a need to test yourself because that is the only way that you’re going to [know]- you know your body better than anyone else and if you don’t make sure that you know your body, then that’s your first line of defense down. Someone came out with a statement saying that there’s no need for mammograms and other tests which is completely wrong, and even if you’re too young to get those tests, you need to check yourself. You need to know because if you don’t know, you can’t get help.”

Ross explained that the fight against breast cancer is riddled with obstacles, “From my mother’s experience she was supposed to get her last treatment of chemo right when the state changed medical plans and so for about- I guess like a little under a week- they denied her treatment. ”

Admittedly, Rowan University is doing its part to raise breast cancer awareness – this month alone, several information stations on breast cancer were at Rowan’s annual Health and Wellness Fair on Wednesday, March 24 at the Rec Center; the university also hosted its first annual 4-mile breast cancer awareness walk “These Boobs are Made for Walkin'” on Saturday, March 27, which was represented at the fair.

So, ladies- do what’s right and learn how to do your own breast self exam.

– R.

THE BREAST CANCER FIGHTER’S TOOL BOX

Left to right: how-to for a breast self examination, patterns to follow during an exam, and signs to look for.