GREENFIELD — When Kelly Dillon was diagnosed with breast cancer, her daughter was 6 months old. Dillon was 32 years old, and when she found a lump in her breast, she thought it was probably nothing.
Her doctors thought the same thing after performing a mammogram, said Dillon, now an administrative employee at Hancock Regional Hospital. They advised her to wait a month and have another mammogram. By then, the lump had gotten bigger.
“I didn’t know anything about breast cancer at that time,” Dillon said. “I was 32; it didn’t run in our family.”
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A lumpectomy was scheduled for a few days later, and Dillon learned that she had breast cancer.
“All I could think of was that I had a 6-month-old baby,” Dillon said. “I thought, ‘I can’t do this with a 6-month-old baby. But what I can’t do is I can’t die.’ Never once did it cross my mind that I was going to die.”
One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. While early detection of the disease has improved and women are increasingly aware of the importance of early detection, navigating the disease is still a difficult process that can be physically and emotionally exhausting.
It’s also illuminating for others who are on their own journeys with the disease. In 2019 in Indiana, the American Cancer Society estimates, more than 5,800 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. The number of new cases will outpace all other forms of cancer this year. From 2012 to 2015, only lung cancer killed more women in Indiana, according to the organization. With early detection, however, women’s odds of successful treatment increase dramatically.
In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Daily Reporter interviewed three women whose experiences with breast cancer illustrate the importance of early detection. They also show the courage the women showed in confronting the disease.
KELLY DILLON
25 years later, frequent reminders
After her diagnosis, Dillon went to see a psychologist on the recommendation of her oncologist. He told her he had never seen someone with such a positive mindset, and she said she could not afford to think any other way.
After her lumpectomy, Dillon needed regular mammograms, each one followed by a biopsy and concerns that her cancer had returned. She had a mastectomy about a year later.
Dillon’s daughter is now 25. She and her daughter each had genetic testing and were each negative for the BRCA gene, which is associated with a higher risk of developing the disease. Dillon said it is difficult not knowing why she developed the disease, though the surge of estrogen caused by pregnancy can be a factor.
“It’s very frustrating. There was no cancer in my family up until then. I’m still very concerned about my daughter even though she’s BRCA-negative,” Dillon said. “People just don’t realize the things that go through your head constantly once you’ve had that. Every little bump, every little bruise, every little pain — you wonder if it could be that.”
AMY REEL
Disease was ‘a gift from God’
Amy Reel’s cancer diagnosis came as a shock; she had received a clear mammogram just months earlier, her first one at age 35.
“Six months later, I was watching Oprah with my husband when we were making dinner. They were talking about early diagnosis of breast cancer, and there was a lady on it that had a similar situation as what mine ended up being. She had a baseline mammogram and then a few months later was diagnosed with cancer. So I did a check and I found a lump, actually,” Reel said.
Reel scheduled another mammogram the next day and was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. The type, she said, was aggressive and fast-progressing; she was lucky to have caught it so quickly.
If it had not been for that Oprah episode, Reel said, “I would never have done the self-check. And it probably would have been a while before I found it.”
Reel was able to treat her cancer with a lumpectomy, followed by chemotherapy and over 30 radiation treatments. The treatment had a severe physical impact on her, she said; she had chemotherapy treatments every three weeks and would feel sick for two weeks after each one.
Despite that, she continued working as an emergency room nurse throughout her treatment and resolved to do whatever she could to fight the disease — though she said there were moments when she thought about stopping her treatment.
“My first thought, because I was only 36 when I was diagnosed, was that I had to fight it. I had to be there for my kids,” Reel said. “I’m fine with dying; I know where I’m going, or at least I hope I do. But I wanted to be there until my kids were grown, I wanted to be there through their school years. Even though I had times (and) I wanted to say ‘forget it’ because I was so sick, I kept going for that reason and because my husband didn’t give me an option.”
Reel said in spite of everything, the disease felt like “a gift from God” because of the way it changed her perspective.
“It made me realize that kids come first, family comes first. It put me higher in my faith, put me more in touch with my family and friends. And it gave me a different perspective from a nursing perspective too, as far as taking care of people. Not that I didn’t have compassion before, but it gives you a different perspective in all areas of your life, I think.”
MARCY HOFFMAN
‘Buddy system’ proved invaluable
Women Helping Women board member Marcy Hoffman’s breast cancer diagnosis came at age 48. She had a mastectomy, and her lymph nodes were removed, followed by six sessions of radiation. She also tried not to let the disease slow her down, continuing with her teaching job.
“I had a lot of friends who gave me lots of support, and I just muddled through it. My husband was a great nurse,” Hoffman said. “My kids were devastated; they were just sure I was going to die. They were in college and this was during finals week when we had to call them and tell them. They came home, they dealt with it, and they knew I was getting well, so they got well.”
Hoffman said breast cancer treatment has changed in the nearly 30 years since she was diagnosed. At the time, she asked for both of her breasts to be removed, but her doctor said there was no reason to remove healthy tissue. Now, it is commonplace for women to have bilateral mastectomies when cancer is found in one breast.
Public awareness of the disease, she said, has also improved.
“At that time, you didn’t know anybody that had breast cancer,” Hoffman said. “Now, everybody has it, it seems. It’s come to the forefront, they’re finding it sooner, and people are surviving long-term. I was one of the lucky ones.”
After her diagnosis, Hoffman began attending a support group, which was, she said, “awful.” Each story she heard was worse than the last, and the experience was depressing. One of her doctors set up another group, of about 10 patients who decided to focus on the positives.
They developed a “buddy system,” pairing women who were getting treatment with those who had already been through it. Another woman who had had a mastectomy months earlier even invited Hoffman to come over before her own surgery to see the resulting scars.
“I was scared to death. I sat there in the driveway for fifteen minutes thinking, ‘I’m not going in there.’ But that really helped.”
Later, Hoffman did the same for another woman, showing her chest scars to a patient who was so apprehensive about the procedure she had rescheduled it three times.
“I impressed upon her that she wanted to live,” Hoffman said. “I said, ‘you call me if you think you’re going to run, and I’ll come get you and take you to the hospital.’ So she did it, and her husband called me, sobbing. He said, ‘You did it, thank you.’ Those are the kind of things that people who’ve been there, done that understand.”
Hoffman is now a member of the Women Helping Women committee. She said she was lucky to have very good insurance, and enjoys helping make sure other women can access treatment.
“It was ironic, because the thing my insurance wouldn’t pay for was a wig,” Hoffman said. “That’s probably the most devastating part of it, for me. I’m not vain, but the loss of my hair really hit me hard.”
Hoffman said her experience with cancer inspired her to live in the moment.
“Go for it, live it. Tomorrow may not come, so do it now,” Hoffman said.