Page 30 - Outstanding Women Friendly Physicians (2)

Transitions with Carol LeBeau

Healthsource…Breast Cancer

Two years ago I In the weeks prior to surgery, I recall my emotions….alternating
had the pleasure between calm resolve and denial. This can’t be happening, I
of interviewing my reasoned. I have no family history of breast cancer. I’ve never
friend and former smoked. I exercise and eat well. I’m healthy! I’m a health re-
10News colleague, porter, for heaven’s sake!
Bill Griffith, for an
article in Palomar Desperate and terrified, I cried out to God, “You must have me
Health’s “Health- confused with someone else… someone who can actually do this!”
Source” magazine. Weak, scared and completely ill-equipped to face my ordeal, I
A six-year male prayed for strength. He came through in a mighty way.
breast cancer survi-
vor at the time, Bill God’s strength… along with the love and support of my sweet
spoke candidly about husband, loving family, faithful friends and excellent healthcare
his rare experience providers …literally carried me through the toughest time in my
with the devastating life.
disease that kills 40
thousand women a As the New Year unfolds, things are getting back to normal. I’m on
year in the U.S. anti-estrogen therapy, finishing up the reconstruction process...and
grateful for renewed strength to work, play, laugh and swim in La
Lighthearted and Jolla Cove!
positive about his
treatment and recov- Life goes on, but some things are forever changed. Although I’m
ery, when I asked Bill currently considered cancer-free, I’m now keenly aware there are
whether he’d known no guarantees. And so I gratefully live one day at a time replacing
that men could de- my former pride and arrogance with humility and compassion.
velop breast cancer,
30 he gravely admitted, “I knew it was possible. I just never thought it I still swim and eat lots of salmon and blueberries. But I now know
would happen to me.” I shuddered…imagining for a brief moment that may not be enough to keep breast cancer at bay. There are
being in his place. many risk factors to consider and the need, more than ever, for
early detection and treatment. Because when it comes to breast
Meanwhile, in a companion article on the same page with Bill’s cancer, it doesn’t matter who you are.
interview, yours truly pontificated, opined and passed along expert
advice on how to avoid becoming a breast cancer statistic. “Up
to a third of breast cancer cases could be avoided,” I wrote, “if
women tried eating less and exercising more.”

I remember feeling a bit smug as I passed along the results of a
major study done by the World Health Organization: 25 to 30
percent of breast cancer cases could be avoided, according to the
study, if women were thinner and exercised more. With confi-
dence bordering on arrogance, I recall thinking surely I must be
immune. I’ve exercised and eaten well for years. Breast cancer
could never happen to me.

A phone call from my doctor early last year shattered that notion…
and my world. In a matter of seconds, I went from arrogance to
gut-wrenching fear as I joined my friend, Bill Griffith as one of the
more than two hundred thousand men and women diagnosed with
breast cancer each year.

Like Bill, I didn’t fit the profile of a breast cancer victim…or so I
thought. As I’ve come to learn since my diagnosis, breast cancer
doesn’t care about your “profile.” Breast cancer can happen to
anyone.
I received the grim diagnosis January 2, 2012. With mirror im-
age, slow-growing tumors in both breasts, my options were few.
Several weeks later I underwent double mastectomies with lymph
node dissections on both sides.