Breast cancer survivors share their stories

SPRINGFIELD — The women who belong to Sisters United for Prevention are determined not to become statistics.

Just by surviving, they are beating the odds — the odds that say black women have lower survival rates in every type of cancer, often because the illnesses are not detected early enough.

Six women affiliated with Sisters United — a group that’s celebrating its 5th anniversary this year — have survived breast cancer and are sharing their stories.

Sisters United was founded in 2004 by Patty Young, owner of Young Hair beauty salon, 1928 E. High St.

In her business, Young has worked with many patients wanting to recover their looks as well as their health after aggressive cancer treatment.

As a longtime volunteer with the American Cancer Society and related programs, Young wondered why more black women weren’t taking advantage of help.

She soon realized that many of them didn’t know the help was there.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer for black women, according to the American Cancer Society.

Those women, along with others who have survived different types of cancers, know that cancer is not about age. And it’s not about color.

And they’re passing their knowledge on.

Cancer-free: 6 months

The short-cropped hairstyle Julia Harris, 40, sports is lovely.

One would not know that the look wasn’t a choice of her own.

Six months ago, Harris was undergoing hard chemotherapy treatments for stage 1 breast cancer.

Before her second treatment, her hair had fallen out.

When she talks about her illness, she cries.

“I’m still not really able to cope with it,” Harris said.

“But after I came to grips with it, I left it to God to take care of this, because he knew about it before I did.”

She was diagnosed in March of this year, after a lump sitting behind her breastbone turned out to be cancerous.

She had surgery March 31, followed by the chemo and radiation through August.

Throughout the ordeal, she relied on “my husband, my mother, siblings and my children,” she recalled. “They have been there for me.”

And Harris’ co-workers at the Clark County Treasurer’s Office “have been wonderful,” she said.

Before her involvement with Sisters United, Harris had not talked to any survivors.

“I think this is a wonderful group, and it would be nice if people knew about it and all African-American women were aware of it,” she said.

Cancer-free: 4 years

In 2005, Hattie Lawson was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 87 years old.

She handled the illness with her typical aplomb, a trait that she said is just part of her personality.

“I guess at my age, it just didn’t bother me,” added Lawson, who is now 91.

“I’d always had mammograms with my physical; and (a mammogram) showed a spot, a shadow,” she recalled.

But her doctor at the time didn’t see a problem with the lump, and it went unchecked for another year.

“The next time I had a mammogram, it showed up very well,” Lawson said.

After a biopsy and X-rays, Lawson learned the cancer was stage four. She had a mastectomy and was treated with radiation, which “didn’t bother me at all,” Lawson said.

“I was cancer-free three or four months later,” she continued.

Though the medication Lawson is taking causes some aches and pains as side effects, she figures that at her age, she’d probably have those pains anyway.

“I just thank the Lord that I was so blessed,” she said.

Cancer-free: 8 years

When Cindy Griffin had to get a mastectomy eight years ago, she figured she might as well get the works.

“I got a trans flap (breast) reconstruction, I got a tummy tuck,” Griffin, 55, said as other members of Sisters United shook with laughter.

“I was looking good for a while there!” Griffin exclaimed.

But one reason Griffin had so many options was because she’d purchased cancer insurance years before.

“I had a maternal aunt who had breast cancer — and all kinds of cancer, really — but she had breast cancer twice,” Griffin said. “So I paid real close attention to her illnesses.”

Griffin was 46 when her mammogram showed calcification, but she was prepared, at least financially.

“I was lucky,” Griffin said. “It was really good insurance, which allowed me to do more things.”

Griffin advised purchasing separate insurance if breast cancer runs in the family.

“It still pays off for me every year when I have a cancer screening,” she said.

“It was well worth the money because I had it in my family.”

But even having the insurance didn’t quite prepare Griffin for the shock she felt when she learned she had breast cancer, she said.

And now, staying cancer-free is her goal.

“It’s scary,” she said, speaking of the 'r’ word — relapse. “I don’t even like to say it.”

Cancer-free: 14 years

Dolores Berrien was considered high risk for breast cancer because her mother’s sister died of it.

In 1995, though she had never had a lump, those risks were realized when calcification pointed to cancer.

At 78, Berrien can remember her five-year remission mark clearly.

She didn’t want to get off the medication she was taking.

“It became my security blanket,” she said.

But she let go, realizing as she did that she “truly felt I was going to be OK,” Berrien said.

She got involved with Sisters United because she remembered when a woman named Gretta Runyan, who founded the Breast Cancer Endowment Fund of Clark County Inc., came to visit her in the hospital.

The goody bag that her visitor brought “meant so much to me,” Berrien said. “I think when I had my surgery, I wanted to talk to someone who had been there. (Runyan) was such a breath of sunshine.”

In addition to her involvement with Sisters United, Berrien is also a cancer recovery volunteer.

Cancer-free: 16 years

The cancer had invaded nine of the 11 lymph nodes that were removed from Lillian Swain after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“The doctor told me, 'You were two lymph nodes away from cancer being all throughout your body,’” Swain said.

She was in her late 50s when a recurring sharp pain that she initially wrote off as indigestion sent her to the doctor.

It was stage three by the time Swain found out.

Swain was treated with chemotherapy. It was difficult for her.

“I lost all my hair and can remember wearing a turban,” she said. “And I had a little patch of hair left.”

Swain was a client of Patty Young, hair stylist and founder of Sisters United.

When that little patch of hair was all Swain had left, she went to Young to get it cut off.

“It was this little piece that I had hung on to,” Swain said. “And (Young) was in tears with me.”

Swain’s goal now is to reach out with information; she volunteers for the American Cancer Society’s Reach for Recovery program.

For black women especially, Swain said she recognizes the need for education.

“A lot of women are not aware of the programs out there,” she said. “I don’t mind speaking out to let people know about cancer. I’ll share the information with whoever is interested.”

Cancer-free: 60 years

It was 1949 and 20-year-old Anna Blackwell had been married three months.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer while living in time when there was no chemotherapy, no support groups, no awareness.

“They just took the breasts off,” said Blackwell, now 80. “It was difficult.”

Blackwell credits “lots of prayer” for her recovery, even in the midst of her hurt and shame.

“I had just gotten married. And I would see ladies with big bosoms, you know, and I’d feel bad,” Blackwell said.

But her husband told her, “'Honey, I didn’t marry your breasts. I married you!’” Blackwell said. “So I began to feel OK.”

The cancer never returned.

Later that year, Blackwell learned she was pregnant with her first son — and had been while she was being treated for the cancer.

“The doctor said if he would have known I was pregnant, they wouldn’t have operated,” Blackwell said. “But I wouldn’t have lasted six months.

“So it’s a good thing that they didn’t know,” she added.

And her son?

“He’s OK,” Blackwell said, laughing. “He’s 59.”

A two-year member of Sisters United, Blackwell wants to inspire younger women.

“They can’t lose hope,” she said.