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Sept. 29, 2005
Negaunee woman knows the importance
of early detection for breast cancer
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Shocked.
That one word best describes Patty Gagnon’s reaction when she was
told that she had breast cancer.
“Then, I looked up information on it and I decided it wasn’t
going to beat me. I took charge,” said Gagnon, 51, of Negaunee.
“I had to work and keep going.”
Gagnon is a breast cancer survivor. October is Breast Cancer Awareness
Month, a time for women to recognize the importance of breast self-exams
and annual mammograms. According to the National
Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC), more women in the United States live
with breast cancer (approximately 3 million) than any other cancer (excluding
skin cancer).
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women behind
lung cancer, and is the leading cause of cancer death among women ages
35 to 54. Research reveals that the mortality rate could decrease by 30
percent if all women age 50 and older who need a mammogram had one.
According to the Upper
Michigan Cancer Center Tumor Registry based at Marquette General,
breast cancer deaths of patients treated at Marquette General were only
3.3 percent in 2001, which is significantly lower than the national rate
of 15 percent registered with the National Cancer Database.
To encourage women to receive yearly check-ups and mammograms, Marquette
General Hospital and Premier Imaging Associates are again teaming up to
offer reduced-rate mammograms with interpretation during October. The
total cost for a bilateral mammogram with interpretation is $50. A written
order from a physician is required to schedule a mammogram.
Mammograms will be offered at Marquette General, MGH Imaging Services
in the Peninsula Medical Center and Marquette
Medical Clinic-Escanaba.
Gagnon is a good example of a patient who was diagnosed early with breast
cancer.
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Patty
Gagnon, 51, of Negaunee accesses a program on her computer while at
work at Negaunee High School. Gagnon is a breast cancer survivor.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To encourage women to receive
yearly check-ups and mammograms, Marquette General Hospital and Premier
Imaging Associates are again teaming up to offer reduced-rate mammograms
with interpretation during October. The total cost for a bilateral
mammogram with interpretation is $50. A written order from a physician
is required to schedule a mammogram. Mammograms will be offered at
Marquette General, MGH Imaging Services in the Peninsula Medical Center
and Marquette Medical Clinic-Escanaba.
(MGH photo) |
In February 2003, an annual mammography revealed a suspicious
spot, which was deemed non-cancerous. New breast calcifications were found
during an ultrasound a short time later. That led to a biopsy.
“It was cancerous,” Gagnon said.
She underwent a lumpectomy (removal of a lump or tumor in the breast)
two weeks later and had a sentinel node biopsy performed. The biopsy revealed
no cancerous tissue in her lymph nodes.
Gagnon then underwent eight weeks of radiation therapy at Marquette General,
and finished her treatment on Christmas Eve 2003.
Gagnon said MGH surgeon Dr.
Pat Bulinski told her that with her type of cancer, she probably wouldn’t
have felt a lump for five years, and perhaps the cancerous area wouldn’t
have been detected in the lymph nodes for as many as eight years.
“It would have been a long time before I would have been able to
feel it,” she said.
Gagnon has been on the cancer prevention drug Tamoxifen for two years,
and will continue to take it another three. Today, cancer-free, Gagnon
visits a Marquette General oncologist/hematologist every three months
to evaluate her status.
During the radiation treatments, Gagnon felt it was essential to try to
keep a normal schedule. She continued to work as a technology coordinator
in the Negaunee Public School system, and health permitting, kept football
statistics at Negaunee Miners varsity football games.
“Up until Thanksgiving (of 2003), I didn’t miss school,”
said Gagnon, a Negaunee native. “Once I was halfway through radiation,
I cut back to half time. I tried to keep a regular schedule, a normal
routine. You have to work and keep going.”
Dr. Sheetal
S. Acharya is a medical oncologist/hematologist at U.P.
Hematology/Oncology Associates in the Peninsula Medical Center and
is on staff at Marquette General.
She says women should not underestimate the value of screening mammography
and early detection of breast cancer. Women with a family history of breast
cancer, she said, are at higher risk of contracting the disease.
“Breast cancer is one of the cancers for which treatment has had
a significant impact and there has been a decline in mortality,”
Dr. Acharya said. “This is largely the result of earlier detection
of the disease with routine mammography, breast self-exams and physician
breast exams."
For Gagnon, surviving breast cancer has given new meaning to her life.
“I don’t let the little things drive me crazy any more,”
she said. “If I have a bad day at work, it’s not worth going
home crazy. You have to live your life … it can’t be work,
work, work … I’ve learned to let things go.”
The upside of cutting back to part time during her treatment was Gagnon
took up knitting. In that period, she knitted 25 scarves and gave them
away as Christmas presents.
“I found that very comforting,” she said.
Her advice to other women?
“Getting one (a mammogram) has to be a No. 1 priority for women
40 and older,” she said. “People need to realize you don’t
have to be 80 to get breast cancer.”
For more information on breast cancer, call the Upper Michigan Cancer
Center HopeLine at
1-888-906-HOPE, a service of the Upper Michigan Cancer Center at Marquette
General (www.mgh.org/cancer).
To schedule a mammogram, call Central Scheduling at 225-3551 or 1-800-562-9753,
ext. 3551.
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