Breast cancer hits close to home with Ports
Becki Scarsone, wife of Ports manager Steve Scarsone, is a recent breast cancer survivor, and has early self-detection and the overwhelming support and love of family and friends to thank for her recovery.
Breast cancer is a type of cancer where cells in the breast divide and grow without normal control. Tumors in the breast tend to grow slowly. By the time a lump is large enough to feel, it may have been growing for as long as 10 years. There are two different types of breast cancer, invasive breast cancer and non-invasive breast cancer. Invasive breast cancer occurs when abnormal cells from inside the ducts break out into nearby breast tissue. This allows the cancer cells to spread to the lymph nodes and, in advanced stages, to organs, like the liver, lungs and bones in a process called metastasis.
About 207,090 new cases of invasive breast cancer will occur among women in the United States during 2010. In addition to invasive breast cancer, an estimated 54,010 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer will also occur this year.
Becki Scarsone caught her cancer early. "Early detection is key," she said. She found a suspicious lump while in the shower. Scarsone said, "I am not one to put things off, and that is not what I did. However, I did wait until I was prepared for whatever might be, and that was over a month later."
At the time of discovering the lump in her breast, Scarsone was dealing with the loss of her father. "I needed to say goodbye to my dad, and get through the holidays without any focus on myself. I just wanted to be present."
After finding the lump in her breast, Scarsone felt that all signs pointed towards cancer. "I knew it was everything they say to look for - hard, doesn't move around, not painful. I knew it was something. I knew it could be cancer, but I didn't think I had cancer."
The most common symptoms of breast cancer are a change in the look or feel of the breast. These changes can range anywhere from a lump, to new pain in one spot that doesn't go away. Breast tissue naturally has a bumpy texture, but if you have any concerns it is always a good idea to see a doctor to rule out any chance of cancer.
Cancer does not run in Becki's family, so after she found out that it was in fact breast cancer, she broke down. "I could not believe what I was hearing. I remember thinking two things: I'm not going to see my children graduate from high school, and I'm not going to grow old with my husband. It was like stepping into someone else's life because you never imagine anything like this in your life."
Scarsone says the type of treatment that one endures depends on a number of things; the type of cancer you have, your age, the size of the tumor, what makes your particular tumor grow, your overall health. For Scarsone, her first treatment, a double mastectomy with reconstruction, is what hopefully took all of her cancer away.
"Statistically, there was a 62% likelihood that the surgery took all of my cancer," she said. "My lymph nodes were checked during my surgery by an on-site pathologist, and the cancer had not spread. This was the news that we needed to hear. I had caught it early enough that it hadn't moved to my lymph nodes. This made all of the difference in my prognosis and risk of recurrence."
Treatment is different for everyone. Scarsone's oncologist, and her husband, decided that chemotherapy and a drug called tamoxiphen would be the best plan for her. She says those two treatments combined brought her recurrence risk down to about 15%. Her chemotherapy was taken intravenously every three weeks for four treatments. She has to take the tamoxiphen every day for the next five years.
Scarsone was lucky and did not have many side effects during her chemotherapy treatments, aside from losing her hair. She would schedule her appointments on Thursdays and would be back to work by Monday. She said, "For me, not changing my daily routine was key, but everyone is different."
Breast cancer affects you physically, but for some the emotional changes can be overwhelming. Scarsone, however, made it a point to not let her emotions affect her recovery. "I've always been one to stop and smell the roses, so for me, it wasn't so much of a wake up call in that regard. I think what you find when you go through something like this is that it's easier for you than it is for the ones you love. My only choice was to stay strong. I wasn't going to allow myself to become vulnerable and let the cancer win."
Scarsone's situation is a little different than others. She has a husband who is on the road six months out of the year. "With Steve playing ball early in our kids' lives, and now with him away coaching, I am, and have always been, the one thing that is stable in our kids' lives. So this news shook them. After the initial shock, and talking it through, I think our kids are stronger now than ever."
Being a part of a baseball family is tough, but when you add something like cancer in to the mix, the road is never easy. Scarsone says, "As for Steve, the biggest struggle has been being away from me at a time when I need him most. Baseball life is hard enough as it is. But as I've learned, life doesn't come in a pretty package all of the time."
"My wife has shown incredible strength and determination to fight breast cancer head on," Steve Scarsone said. "She never played the 'why me' card and has inspired all around her with her optimism and faith."
Scarsone says she is not completely out of the woods, as there is always a chance that the cancer could come back. Her doctors do believe, however, that they got all of the cancer when they did her surgery back in February of this year. She completed her chemotherapy on June 3. Scarsone says, "It has been two months that I have been able to say that I am cancer free."
The best way to prevent cancer is to stop it yourself, experts say. Catching it early is what makes all the difference in fighting breast cancer.
Scarsone says, "Once the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, there is little that can be done. Schedule your regular gynecological exams. I had not been to mine in four years. Don't wait until you have symptoms. It could be too late to fix."
For all women going through treatment, Scarsone says to be your own advocate and to go with your gut. "That goes with everything, from choosing your doctor, what surgery you choose to have, what course of chemotherapy you decide on. These are all personal choices. But most importantly, I would say, is keep a positive attitude. You have to know that you are going to be OK. You have to reach out to those who love you and let them pray for you and support you. This isn't just your battle. It's one to fight with those you love and who love you."