The Breast Cancer Nightmare No One Saw Coming

Deb went back to work the next day. While there, she got a call from the surgeon, telling her she had breast cancer, and was being scheduled for a mastectomy first thing the next morning! She was in shock. She grabbed her pocketbook, and started to leave her work. The receptionist called to her, “Deb, where are you going?” She responded, “I have breast cancer, I have to go home.” She was in a state of shock, and yet drove herself home. Her nightmare had just begun. Deb never really felt confident that they got it all, though they told her she was all set after 6 months of treatment and she could return to work. But that following January, in 2004, her nightmare returned and the cancer had matastisized everywhere. She went to Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Chicago, in hopes they could help her.

Our mother and her husband had spent the winter in Florida, when she started complaining that she was having issues breathing. When she came home in the spring, she needed a wheelchair and was unable to walk. We got her right into the hospital, and they found there was fluid in the outer lining of her lungs. This caused her lungs to not be able to take a deep breath. The doctor was aspirating 1100 cc’s of fluid every couple of weeks, to provide her ease of breathing. We brought her to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, who biopsied the lung lining, and that was when we learned about HER2 Positive breast cancer, and Debbie was then catorgized as the same. They placed Mom on a trial of Herceptin, a biotherapy. But it was too late.

Nothing was helping either of these strong, fierce women. But it wasnt without a fight. Our mom, Sylvia, passed on September 21st, 2004 and Debbie passed just two weeks later, on October 5th, 2004. She left her daughter, 20 year old, and her 11 year old son, and her loving husband, Nick. Our hearts were broken. Our family of 6, immediately fell to a family of 4. My parents had divorced when I was a senior in high school, but they remained friends, and our Dad was there for us through this horrible time. Our grandmother, our Dad’s mother, passed on August 15, 2004, so he lost his Mom, the mother of his children and one of his daughters in less then 6 weeks. It was a horrible, horrible time.

In 2012, eight years later, Darcy was still living in Florida. She would be diagnosed next. You see, Darcy had been told in 2004, by the oncologist at Rutland Regional Medical Center that because she and Deb are identical twins, ” it wasnt a question of IF she would get breast cancer, it was a question of WHEN would she get it.” But she had never had health insurance. As a waitress, it was never offered by any of her employers. This was just before Obamacare began. She first found out she had cancer, after finding a small, pea-sized lump on her left breast, and it hurt. When they confirmed it was the HER2 positive, HR-Negative (not hormone receptive) cancer, she then qualified for Florida State Medicaid. It took a couple of months to get the insurance set up and prior-authorizations in place, and for the medical team to make the plan to get her on the schedule. Meanwhile, the tumor grew rapidly after the needle biopsy. It went from 2cm, to over the size of a golf ball, protruding from her chest. It was purple and you could see veins running through the skins surface. It looked very angry and it had bursted through the duct it was in. Mind you, this was an agressive cancer, they had to immediately start chemo and herceptin (a biotherapy now used regularly for HER 2 Positive breast cancers), before they would operate. Darcy, a single mom, with her youngest child still in high school. She had been living in FLA with no other family nearby but her three children. I was beside myself. Her oldest daughter did all she could to help her Mom, but was very busy raising two very young girls of her own. Darcy’s son took care of the big issues at her home. I had provided alot of day to day care to both our mom and Deb, as they lived locally in Rutland where we were raised. I knew what she was going through and I hated having her deal with this alone. It broke my heart.

Darcy started her chemo treatment in August 2012, and her second treatment was how she spent her 50th birthday. It was hard to celebrate with the immediate side affects from treatment and facing your mortality every day. But she was stronger than anyone I had ever known. Her faith lead her through this with mercy and grace. I was able to be with her just before Thanksgiving, to meet with her surgeon to discus her upcoming bilateral mactectomy surgery. Back then, FLA medicaid would not cover reconstruction. This still angers me that a women could have her breasts removed in a life saving surgery, but insurance was not required to replace what was taken away. That has changed now and Florida Medicaid will cover this surgery, but for Darcy, its not something she wants to do now or revisit.

I was back down to FLA for Darcy’s surgery a week before Christmas, and then our other sister, Julie from WA, came to stay as I headed home on Christmas Eve. Julie helped to care for her for the next few weeks. Darcy handled the surgery incredibly well, and continued the Herceptin treatment for a complete year. Every doctor’s appointment was met with a fear of this disease returning. But Darcy held her faith and trust in God, who walked through this battle every step of the way with her. If not for strong faith and her belief in Christ, I do not believe she would be with us today.

Be Well,

K

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