Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept/Oct 2016

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While Linda does not recommend refusing standard
treatment, she felt it was right for her since her surgeon
was able to remove all of the cancerous tissue. But she does
urge breast cancer patients to ask questions, request second
opinions and discuss options. Do the research into drugs
and their side effects. Above all, she stresses the benefits of
exercise and nutrition.
To help educate women, Linda has started Sweet
Strength.
“I give people the tools needed to empower them to
move with purpose during very challenging circumstanc-
es,” she said.
She has a lot of experience in that field: financial loss,
serious illness and the death of the husband who support-
ed her decisions. But her biggest challenge was not breast
cancer.
“Nothing really compares to losing your husband.”
The ChrisTmas GifT
Deborah
Tibbetts Greig,
a former news
director at a
local televi-
sion station,
was inspired
to make her
mammogram
appointment by
the co-host of a
national morn-
ing show. Amy
Robach (who
also worked at
a local station
early in her
career) quite
unexpectedly
discovered that
she had breast cancer when she had a mammogram on
ABC’s “Good Morning America” in 2013.
Deborah already had her doctor’s prescription for the
mammogram but had not yet made the appointment. She
made the call immediately and, during her appointment, it
became clear that something was amiss.
“I knew they saw something,” Deborah said. “They had
me wait, then took more pictures, then the ultrasound.”
The diagnosis was invasive ductal carcinoma. It is the
most common type cancer, affecting about 80 percent of
breast cancer patients. Because it starts in the milk ducts,
there may no symptoms at all in the beginning. The next
step was the sentinel node surgery, which examines the
lymph nodes for signs that the tumor has spread.
Deborah’s cancer had not spread beyond the breast,
so she opted for a double mastectomy. It was close to the
holidays, and the only time the surgery could be scheduled
was Christmas Eve. Her two surgeons told her they would
work late that day so she would not have to wait. She was
grateful but fretted about being in the hospital instead of
being home to open gifts on Christmas morning with her
two daughters, Danielle and Nicole.
“Honey,” the nurse told her, “your daughters will wake
up on Christmas day knowing you don’t have cancer.
That’s a gift.”
Deborah’s surgery went well, and she woke up to a
surprise herself. Her college-age daughters had brought in
a tree and decorated her room for Christmas.
“I didn’t need chemo or radiation,” Deborah said. “I
was lucky. It was a good clean removal.”
Because her cancer was discovered during a routine
mammogram, Deborah feels very strongly that women
should be proactive.
“If a woman wants a yearly mammogram, she should
have it.”
Double Trouble
Kathleen
Cornely
thought she was
good to go after
a lumpectomy
eight years ago.
But during a
routine mam-
mogram in
2013, “They
found a couple
of spots.” After
more testing,
the spots were
identified as
two different
types of breast
cancer: lobular
carcinoma in
situ and invasive
ductal carcinoma. Luckily, both cancers were caught early.
They were both classified stage 1.
Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is a group of abnor-
mal cells that are not yet classified as cancer but carry a