PART OF ME NOW: LIVING WITH BREAST CANCER
FULL TIME-CODED TRANSCRIPT
00:00:03-00:00:19 (Denise) I thought that was the defining moment in my life. Hey, I had a brain tumor, I survived it...and then I got breast cancer, and I thought, "Okay. This has to be the defining moment."
00:00:20-00:00:26 (Lori) I've gone to many benefits, I've supported many people, and never did I think it would be for me.
00:00:26-00:00:30 TEXT ON PICTURE “A Film by Emily Gerhardson”
00:00:28-00:00:31 (Kim) I went in thinking it wasn't cancerous. When I woke up, my world had changed.
00:00:32-00:00:44 (Dr. Shelby Terstriep) The treatment is just a very small slice of that person's life. That cancer diagnosis is with them emotionally and physically, and after effects are with them forever.
00:00:43-00:00:47 TEXT ON PICTURE “Original Score by Lucas Anderson & Troy Gion”
00:00:45-00:00:51 (MaryLee) You don't know that it's going to come back. You don't live your life worrying about it. But you know it can.
00:00:53-00:01:00 (Kristin) Everybody else just thinks, "Oh, you're done. Everything's good now. Back to normal." And it's never gonna be the same.
00:01:02-00:01:11 TEXT ON PICTURE “Part Of Me Now: Living With Breast Cancer”
00:01:11-00:01:19 TEXT ON PICTURE “Lisa Verworn 48 Fargo, North Dakota”
00:01:11-00:01:37 (Lisa) My name is Lisa Verworn. I am 48 years old. I was born and raised in Moorhead, Minnesota, and currently reside in Fargo, North Dakota. I had Estrogen-positive, Progesterone-positive, and HER2/neu-positive, so I am considered Triple Positive. I had ACT, I had 36 rounds of radiation, and I did a year of Herceptin after I was done with the original Chemotherapy.
00:01:43-00:01:49 TEXT ON PICTURE “MaryLee Lilleberg 58 Fargo, North Dakota”
00:01:41-00:02:02 (MaryLee) MaryLee Lilleberg, 58 years old. I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and I currently reside in Fargo, North Dakota. Mine was invasive ductal carcinoma. I just thought breast cancer was breast cancer; there's many different types. I started that journey that year October 2nd with my very first mammogram. My surgery was October 28th.
00:02:13-00:02:18 TEXT ON PICTURE “Andrea Hunter Halgrimson 74 Fargo, North Dakota”
00:02:11-00:02:29 (Andrea) Andrea Hunter Halgrimson. I'm 74 years old. I was born in Fargo, and I have lived here all my life. They found it with a mammogram, and they did a biopsy and determined that I should have surgery. That's when I decided to have a mastectomy.
00:02:38-00:02:44- TEXT ON PICTURE “Denise Schrader 52 Moorhead, Minnesota”
00:02:33-00:02:57 (Denise) My name is Denise Schrader. I am 52 years old. I am originally from Racine, Wisconsin. Now I live in Moorhead, Minnesota. I had stage 3A breast cancer in my left breast. After that day, I could not look at my breast because it wasn't a breast anymore, it was cancer.
00:03:02-00:03:09 TEXT ON PICTURE “Kristin Erickson 43 Fargo, North Dakota”
00:03:01-00:03:36 (Kristin) My name is Kristin Erickson. I am 43 years old. I grew up in Lancaster, Minnesota and I currently live in Fargo, North Dakota. My aunt on my mother's side was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 35. My mother was diagnosed when she was 49 in her breast, as well. She was re-diagnosed in her other breast, a few years later. And then when I was 41, I was also diagnosed with breast cancer. It was in my lymph nodes. I had all the lymph nodes removed in my left arm. I had already decided I was gonna do a double, but then when they came back positive, it confirmed that I had made the right decision.
00:03:42-00:03:54 TEXT ON PICTURE “Kim Boger 59 Queen Creek, Arizona”
00:03:41-00:04:04 (Kim) My name is Kim Boger. I'm 59 years old. I grew up in Underwood, North Dakota, and I lived in Grand Forks, North Dakota, for 32 years and I currently reside in Queen Creek, Arizona. There was a little lump on my nipple. I got the test back and they sent me to a surgeon. He said, "What do you want me to do?" I said, "Take the whole thing."
00:04:14-00:04:19 TEXT ON PICTURE “Lori Gerhardson 52 Fargo, North Dakota” “Emily Gerhardson 25 Los Angeles, California”
00:04:11-00:04:19 (Emily) My name is Emily Gerhardson. This here is my mother, Lori Gerhardson. She is a breast cancer survivor. As of now, it's been three years.
00:04:20-00:04:32 (Lori) I was ER-positive and I was also a HER2-positive. I had Chemo and Herceptin. Herceptin I was on for a year, and Chemo was four to six months.
00:04:33-00:04:39 (Emily) It's so common. It's everywhere! And we all talk about it. We all talk about cancer, but we don't talk about what happens after cancer.
00:04:41-00:04:48 TEXT ON PICTURE “Dr. Shelby Terstriep Medical Oncologist Fargo, North Dakota”
00:04:40-00:05:20 (Dr. Shelby Terstriep) I'm Shelby Terstriep, I'm a medical oncologist. I'm 37 years old. I work at Sanford Health in Fargo. I primarily specialize in breast cancer therapy, and I also am the Medical Director of the Cancer Survivorship program. The most common side effect is the emotional side effect of dealing with cancer and dealing with a life-threatening disease. From Chemotherapy we can see hair loss. We see nerve effects and heart effects, surgical side effects. From the radiation, we can see skin changes and burning and even secondary cancers from the treatment. So it can be a lot.
00:05:21-00:05:59 (Denise) I think that there's a public perception, "Oh, you're a breast cancer survivor, so, you cut your breast off and then you got a new one, and everything's fine." It's much more complex than that. Even just medication side effects, sleep disruption, hot flashes, libido changes, vaginal dryness, and just to be able to say that, so, if other women are experiencing the same things, they're like, "Oh, I thought I was the only one." No, I can say vaginal dryness.
00:06:00-00:06:18 (MaryLee) Was having pain in my hip kind of my thigh region, went in and found out through the tests that that hip had kinda fallen apart, kind of crumbled. They didn't really come out and say it was caused by that, but I did get the feeling that they said, "The good news was that your cancer treatment worked, the bad news is you're suffering from some of the effects from it.
00:06:20-00:06:53 (recording of MaryLee) October 2, 2005. The worst part of this point in time is when people ask how I'm feeling and I say "Good" or "Great" because all summer, emotionally, I felt great and my strength was returning, but I'm in constant pain at times excruciating pain. I ache constantly - feet, knees, back, legs, hips – I can barely move sometimes. I don't want to talk about it, but I don't think people understand what a challenge it is. It's the Arimidex but I don't want
cancer to come back so I'll have to put up with it. And hopefully everyone will understand
why I'm so limited physically.
00:06:56-00:07:02(Denise) I did develop some cording so I did have quite a bit of physical therapy just to get the range of motion back in this side.
00:07:04-00:07:14 (Kim) Numbness, sometimes I drop things. My feet hurt, most of the time. The toes are painful, the nails when I bump 'em, yeah, they're painful.
00:07:16-00:07:20 (Lisa) I do have the hot flashes and I do have memory issues still.
00:07:21-00:07:24 TEXT ON PICTURE “Body Image”
00:07:23-00:07:56 (MaryLee) I think I'd been so focused on, "Scared. Cancer. Get if off. How long has this been there? Where has it spread to?", that when the nurse came in the next day to unwrap those bandages, I realized in that moment, that I hadn't asked any questions about, "What's the scar gonna look like? How big is it? Is it staples? Is it stitches?" I'd never seen anybody's scars. In that moment then, the reality hit, "You're gonna see yourself for the first time with one breast. I don't think I'll ever get used to that. Don't spend a lot of time looking in the mirror at that. Still, don't regret my decision.
00:07:59-00:08:10 (Lisa) I don't recall that I was horrified by any means. The scar is the whole length of the undersurface of my breast. I'm pretty happy with it.
00:08:14-00:08:28 (Lori) Having no breast and having one breast isn't as attractive when you look in the mirror every morning. The more time goes by, the more I'm okay with it. I had a part in my body that needed to be removed to save my life and I'm okay with that.
00:08:32-00:08:53 (Kim) I don't like the way I look. I don't like the way what the surgery did to my body. I guess the important thing is what my wife thinks about it, and she's been very great. She's been awesome! I look different but I've gotten over that, too, and I don't look that bad. This is just a war wound...in a battle against cancer.
00:08:55-00:09:13 (Andrea) I've never disliked my body or myself. I've lived with it a long time (chuckles) and I'm used to it. It doesn't really bother me that much. The only thing I miss is wearing a low-neck and showing some cleavage.
00:09:16-00:09:18 TEXT ON PICTURE “Reconstruction”
00:09:19-00:10:23 (Kristin) I was just gonna do implants because that's really all that I knew. I joined a support group and I started hearing about these other options for reconstruction. One of the girls told me that she did reconstruction using the fat from her hips, kind of her love handle area. And I was like, "That's what I want to do, because I've always had more in that area than I have in my stomach." It was a tough surgery. The first day and a half was good because I was on...what's the pain med...see, there's my Chemo Brain. Morphine. Then they took me off the Morphine and the next couple of days were really tough. It healed well, and I love it. I think it feels very natural, looks very natural, but I obviously don't have nipples. Something that a lot of women are starting to do, and it's getting nipple tattoos. They tattoo on a nipple, and it's amazing how real it looks. It's totally flat but it looks like it has dimension. It looks like a real nipple.
00:10:24-00:10:51 (Denise) I met with Mike Omundson. We just kind of talked about it, and I was like, "I want something that represents..." peace, happiness, the journey of life, also something that would be really cool that would cover up my scars. I was really amazed at the detail of his work, and how crisp and clean and beautiful.
00:10:57-00:11:19 (Denise's Wife) The first time you looked in the mirror at yourself, was the first time I saw you smile at yourself in two years. It was a beautiful moment. It just took something that's so raw and wreaking havoc on your body, and now, you just have this beautiful piece of art in place of it.
00:11:22-00:11:24 TEXT ON PICTURE “Moving Forward”
00:11:25-00:11:37 (Kim) My doctor told me that if you make five years, cancer-free, you're good to go. I'll tell you what, July 13th last summer, was a big day for us.
00:11:40-00:11:48 (MaryLee) It was probably five years and four months after everything started where he just said at one of my check-ups that, "I think we're gonna get to graduate you."
00:11:49-00:12:05(Lori) On February 27th, after 13 months of treatment, I turned 50 years old. February 28th, the following day, I had had my last treatment, and February 29th I had my port removed. I walked out of the hospital beaming.
00:12:06-00:12:34 (Kristin) Initially, it was "Yay!" It was a celebration. And then, all of a sudden you're done, and you're like, "Now what do I do?" I struggled with it being over because it wasn't over. I was still bald. I had no eyelashes, no eyebrows. My fingernails were falling off. My body was deformed. And I had, have to worry about this possibly coming back for the rest of my life. So, it's not over. It's never gonna be over.
00:12:35-00:12:45 (Kim) When I got done with Chemo, everybody cheered and clapped and whatever…you're not cancer-free. It can come back any time.
00:12:49-00:12:53 TEXT ON PICTURE “Recurrance”
00:12:54-00:13:00 (Lisa) I don't feel like I'm totally free of the cancer, because I still think about it, honestly, every day.
00:13:01-00:13:37 (Kim) I have regular check-ups. I quit going to an oncologist, I went to my regular doctor. Did the blood test. Did everything else, and, unfortunately, five and a half years after I'm cancer-free, I've now got it all over my body and I have bone cancer, which is related to breast cancer. It's still called breast cancer, but it has spread to my bones. I was immediately a 4 because it had gone to another organ. When I got diagnosed this time, I thought, "This stuff is gonna get me this time." I don't know how many people have two chances going through this stuff.
00:13:39-00:14:05 (Dr. Shelby Terstriep) Unfortunately, right now, it's very, very rare that we could cure metastatic breast cancer. That obviously is very difficult to live with that reality of the unknown, having this disease that we know we can't cure. It has treatments that have a lot of side effects. The goal is controlling the disease, so it's a challenging situation, both physically and emotionally.
00:14:07-00:14:09 (Emily) Are you afraid that the cancer will return?
00:14:10-00:14:21 (Lori) I do have that fear. And the likelihood of me getting breast cancer in my other breast, is probably higher than most. But you know what, I'll deal with it when that time comes, if it comes.
00:14:22-00:14:25 (Andrea) I'm aware that it might. If not there, somewhere else.
00:14:26-00:14:37 (MaryLee) Spray your garden for those nasty weeds and they're gone...then they come back. It's cancer. It can be that nasty weed and we just all hope it stays away.
00:14:38-00:14:44 (Lisa) I'm hoping that it never comes back, and I pray that it never comes back. I just have to continue on.
00:14:45-00:14:51 (Kim) Everything's going good. I got my fingers crossed, and I got tons and tons of support. Survivors stick together.
00:14:58-00:15:01 TEXT ON PICTURE “Embrace Survivorship”
00:15:02-00:15:35 (Kristin) Where I had my treatment, they have a survivorship program and so when you're done, you go there and it's half a day, or more if you need. You meet with your oncologist and a nurse, a social worker and a physical therapist, and talk about how it's going for you, how you're doing. That is so nice because... after being through all this, just to know that they're there for you if you need more help or need someone to talk to. It just…you don't feel so alone.
00:15:41-00:16:34 (Dr. Shelby Terstriep) Thinking about survivorship from the day you're diagnosed, changes the conversation. It means that, "I care about your whole body. Your emotions, your physical, your spiritual." It changes that kind of perspective and it changes my perspective on how I would take care of people. It's I'm taking care of your whole person, all the time, throughout your treatment, and beyond your treatment. Often people don't like the name "survivor" or "survivorship" because they think themselves differently as a kind of "warrior" or a "thriver", but, at least we have a name for paying attention to other things besides the treatment. The Cancer Survivorship Program is for all cancers. Of course, breast cancer is a large portion of the cancers we treat so there's a lot of programs that are specific towards breast cancer and then there's a lot that's in general. Beyond the education and the clinics, we have a whole component of integrated services.
00:16:39-00:16:43 TEXT ON PICTURE “Meg Spielman Peldo Fine Art and Portrait Artist Fargo, North Dakota”
00:16:39-00:17:37 (Meg) My name is Meg Spielman Peldo, and I am a fine art and portrait photographer. I was so fortunate to meet Dr. Shelby Terstriep. We collaborated and came up with a special breast cancer edition of the book No Lumps, Thank You that includes funny stories and uplifting stories from survivors, from throughout the region. All of the profits from that book go to The Embrace Cancer Survivorship Group for patient support. And it's also available as a fundraising tool for somebody else's group. Today, I am going to create a bra out of plant materials on a survivor that has had reconstructive surgery. She's at the point of her journey where she is fully blossoming again in every way, so that's what this piece is about…coming back and being your full beautiful self.
00:17:41-00:18:11 (Dr. Shelby Terstriep) We offer yoga at the cancer center. We have a psychologist who does a lot of mind-body medicine and using other techniques to help cope with the anxiety and fear and fear of the unknown. We have an artist-in-residence who does artmaking with patients to help with distraction and healthy distraction. All the services that we create are geared toward survivors and also their friends and family. We often include them because they're affected to such a significant degree.
00:18:13-00:18:26 (Kim) I don't know if it was just because it was breast cancer, or if it was cancer itself, but I had a lot of friends really seemed like they were scared of me. I suppose that's just part of human nature.
00:18:27-00:18:37(Lori) Prior to getting breast cancer, a friend of mine did go through treatment. I didn't realize what she had gone through until I had gone through it.
00:18:38-00:19:00 (Lisa) I didn't have a support group. There wasn't a support group at the time that I was going through it. I didn't know anybody that had went through it. I was very alone with my thoughts, my feelings. As much as I shared them with my friends and family, they didn't know what I was going through. They had no idea the pain that I was in and that I was so afraid.
00:19:01:-00:19:06 TEXT ON PICTURE “Group Therapy”
00:19:07-00:19:26 (Andrea) I had been in group therapies for a variety of things and if that suits you, I think perhaps, that a breast survivor group can be very helpful for people. I didn't feel that that was my need but I do have one-on-one counseling and it keeps me going.
00:19:27-00:19:32 (Denise's Wife) There's only so much I can do or understand as your partner, but I haven't walked in those shoes.
00:19:33-19:58 (Kristin) People from these different backgrounds and different age groups come together and you form this bond because you have that one thing in common and you can relate to each other and you know what they've gone through. They're gonna be my friends for life. And I get goosebumps talking about it because they know, they understand, and they offer unconditional, unwavering love and support.
00:20:00-00:20:16 (Lisa) I find that every story is different but it's still kind of the same in a way. It's a bonding experience, and I always feel very empowered. There's so many inspiring women out there that I just think, "How do they do that?", And then I think, "I did that!"
00:20:18-00:20:50 (MaryLee) I was a little hesitant at first because at that point, then, I was about eight years out. I was thinking support group was for people brand new, just going through. When I got to that group and heard everybody talk about the way their side effects were and how they felt, all of a sudden, I just felt like, I guess I'm proud, I guess I did overcome it the best way I could. And now when I go to the group, I'm more interested in trying to give support or encouragement because I'm 10 years out, but I still come away always learning something.
00:20:52-00:21:13 (Dr. Shelby Terstriep) The idea that people learn from each other is huge in Survivorship. After somebody has going through this, they would really want to be able to give back to somebody else who's on their journey, and so, we're gonna train women on how to be good mentors, and hook them up with other people who are going through treatment, to help provide the practical and emotional support.
00:21:14-00:21:22 (Kristin) Every month when we have our meeting there's new ladies that are coming, and we're kind of like, "We're glad you're here but we're...not glad you're here."
00:21:23-00:22:01 (Dr. Shelby Terstriep) We have retreats, and it's where breast cancer survivors get to learn from other breast cancer survivors. And, we learn from them. And we've heard from women, "It's the best day of my year." After that, we had three ladies who were living with metastatic breast cancer say, "We really had a great time today, but we need this kind of support, ongoing. We need to be around other people who are living with metastatic disease." And so, we started Forward, a support group for people who have stage 4 breast cancer. That work that they do in that group is... amazing.
00:22:02-00:22:06 (Jane) I do appreciate it when people know the struggle. It's different if you would say, "How are you doing?"
00:22:07-00:22:08 (Vicky) Yeah. (Terry) Very different.
00:22:09-00:22:13 (Vicky) 'Cus I really wanna know...the whole…whatever you're willing to share.
00:22:19-00:22:24 TEXT ON PICTURE “Dr. Chery Hysjulien Nurse/Psychologist Fargo, North Dakota”
00:22:14-00:23:19 (Dr. Chery Hysjulien) People you communicate with and connect with at a very different level than the general public. I'm Chery Hysjulien, I'm a nurse and a psychologist. I work at Roger Maris Cancer Center. A group of women said that their needs were not being met very well in other support group settings because the issues they were dealing with were very different than some of the other issues that other people were dealing with. For example, there's no stage 5 and how to talk about that. One of the first groups we had, we talked about involvement in funeral planning. Some people want that, some people don't. But a safe place to talk about things that are uncomfortable, or that other people might have a hard time with...And even more importantly, how do you live with cancer when you have stage 4 cancer? How do you live with pain? How do you live with interpersonally? How do you live with fear? All of those things.
00:23:20-00:23:30 (Vicky) I got a booklet about this thick with side effects. I thought, "Oh, boy... Okay." But, I sort of get that that's probably what it's going to take too.
00:23:31-00:23:34 (Colleen) I use those as a reference book, I don't read it anymore.
00:23:35-00:24:01 (Vicky) Mine's still in my bag, hanging on the hook. I haven't looked at it, but I thought, "Oh, boy." And then I kind of went online a little bit, and you know a lot of times you can hear at least 50/50, there'll be a lot of people who have the side effects and stuff, but there's just as many saying, "Oh, it wasn't so bad. I did okay on this one." And then this one, like halfway in it was not good, I thought, "Okay, if no one's saying anything good, I'm just going to stop reading." We'll just…
00:24:02-00:24:03 (Jane) Which one is that? (Vicky) The Taxotere.
00:24:04-00:24:05 (Vicky) The Taxotere. (Jane) Taxotere. I think I had that.
00:24:06-00:24:10 (Karla) I did too, and I don't think it bothered me too much.
00:24:11-00:24:17 (Vicky) Good. That's good to hear. I needed to hear it, just one person even. It kind of strengthens you to…
00:24:18-00:24:21 (Jane) And I had to have been working when I had it so I was able to still work.
00:24:22-00:24:24 (Vicky) Good. That's good to hear.
00:24:25-00:24:26 (Dr. Chery Hysjulien) Three positives about the Chemo. (Vicky) Absolutely. Yeah.
00:24:27-00:24:28 (Dr. Chery Hysjulien) You're hanging onto, right?
00:24:29-00:24:33 (Chris) How many sessions? Did they tell you how many sessions you're going to have?
00:24:34-00:24:37 (Vicky) Indefinitely. As long as it keeps working.
00:24:40-00:24:46 (Chris) So, what can we do to help you, as far as...at home or anything?
00:24:47-00:24:48 (Vicky) Oh, you're so kind!
00:24:49-00:24:51 (Chris) Well, I mean… (Vicky) Thank you. (Chris) I can still cook.
00:24:52-00:25:05 (Dr. Chery Hysjulien) I try not to judge where a person is and just try to be with them wherever that is. So like...denial. I think they're really in denial, they are where they are.
00:25:07-00:25:24 (Chris) I am wondering about the fatigue part of Chemo. How long that lasts, and it probably varies with everybody, but I just feel that fatigue still and it's been...March, April, May...it's been three months.
00:25:25-00:25:26 (Terry) Since you had chemo?
00:25:27-00:25:29 (Chris) Yeah, is that too early to...probably.
00:25:30-00:25:39 (Dr. Chery Hysjulien) One of the things I hear you say, "Do I have the right to feel tired still?" I'm thinking you feel tired still.
00:25:40-00:25:45 (Chris) Well, I do. And it's not so much the right, I just would like to have more energy.
00:25:46-00:25:48 (Dr. Chery Hysjulien) You are active reading. It's different. (Chris) Yeah. It is.
00:25:49-00:25:58 (Dr. Chery Hysjulien) So you're trying to adjust a little bit to where you are, and I don't know how long you'll be here. And nobody does. But when it changes, then you'll be there. (Chris) Yeah, that's true.
00:26:00-00:26:34 (Dr. Chery Hysjulien) When you sit with the knowledge that you'll be gone, sometimes within a matter of weeks, like, "They said it'd be maybe two weeks, maybe four. Isn't that weird? Because, I don't feel that bad." That's something that people can't say just to anybody and feel…I feel, very privileged to be a part of being able to sit with that. One of the really important aspects of the group is that there is a finesse with living with dying. You can either die the rest of your life, or you can live the rest of your life.
00:26:35-00:26:39 (Colleen) It's not a battle, it's not a fight, it's not a journey. It's an illness!
00:26:40-00:26:42 (Jane) And people will say, "You're so courageous." (Vicky) And brave.
00:26:43-00:26:50 (Colleen) Man, I'm not courageous. I just don't want to die! You know, and that's what it...boils down to.
00:26:51-00:26:52 (Karla) It's like we don't have a choice.
00:26:53-00:26:54 (Vicky) Our back is against the wall. That's what I always feel like.
00:26:57-00:27:11 (Dr. Chery Hysjulien) It's a place where it's present. Every person in here is living with knowing that there's a likelihood of them dying from their cancer. They also live with the hope that cancer's cured, as I do.
00:27:12-00:27:30 (Jane) There is so much support for breast cancer, and granted we've got the numbers, but, I mean, again, we're all in the same boat. Except when you talk about genetic things or possible Chemotherapy treatments but you know, it's the aftermath, you know. We all... We all have this…
00:27:31-00:27:32 (Chris) Have a lot in common.
00:27:33-00:27:50 (Colleen) You guys have really lobbied and spoken for yourselves. I mean, I feel that, you know, a lot of my issues mirror what you guys go through. It's just the location of my tumor is… And I mean, even breast cancer, you got certain ones, and you have certain…
00:27:51-00:27:52 (Karla) Right. We're all different.
00:27:53-00:28:01 (Jane) Yep. But still we get support and we...I, I feel, there's more support, and more consciousness. I…
00:28:02-00:28:20 (Dr. Chery Hysjulien) Sometimes it's a double-edged sword. I have lots of patients who say, "I don't know where I could move in October, but I want to go there. I hate the publicity, hate the-- every day it's in my face. 'Good Morning America, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.'" You know, it's just like, constant and...
00:28:21-00:28:34 (Colleen) Especially at stage 4. It's just like "Awareness, oh gee, you take awareness and, you know, paint the town with it and it, you know, doesn't help one little bit.” Let's put money towards some, you know, research, towards cures.
00:28:37-00:28:39 (Karla) The goal is to live long enough to try and go on to the next treatment.
00:28:40-00:28:43 (Vicky) Absolutely. There's new stuff always right around the corner.
00:28:44-00:28:56 (Lori) They're still doing research. Research is really important to find out why this happens. What is the cause for it? And, I hope someday they do find a reason why one out of eight women are getting breast cancer.
00:28:55-00:28:58 TEXT ON PICTURE “1:8”
00:28:58-00:29:24 (Dr. Shelby Terstriep) The greatest advances in cancer therapy is genomic-based therapy and really looking at what is driving this cancer. Before it took seven years or more to sequence genomes and now we're getting whole genome sequencing in two days. So, the ability for us to learn what the drivers of cancer are and then, ultimately develop target treatment to those drivers is revolutionizing what we do.
00:29:26-00:29:52 (MaryLee) When I got the call that you have cancer, the first thing is, "How long has it been there? Am I going to die?" And the second thing was, really, truly for me, I thought, "I have two daughters. I have a little grandaughter. Is this going to pass on to them through the genetics?" You have all kinds of questions. And so, recently now, I've looked into BRCA testing. So, I will be having that done next month. And then, my daughters from there, the results, could do that as well.
00:29:53-00:30:15 (Dr. Shelby Terstriep) BRCA 1 and 2 are genes that can be mutated in your own genome, that's passed down from generation to generation. Cancer is formed by damage to the DNA, and this is damaged DNA that's passed down, and so, it makes them at much higher risk of developing cancer, as they don't have the repair mechanisms to correct damaged DNA.
00:30:16-00:30:22 (MaryLee) It's a legacy I don't want to leave, but if that be it, at least they can be proactive and maybe make some choices ahead of time.
00:30:21-00:30:32 (Kim) I have done the BRCA study and mine came back, "No," I'm not a carrier of it. I can breathe easy; it's not genetic.
00:30:33-00:31:17 (Kristin) There's three women now in my family that have had breast cancer, so I did the genetic testing, and it came back that I tested positive for the BRCA2 gene. My mom also did the genetic testing just to verify that it came from her side of the family and hers came back positive. I think she was more upset than I was and I think she felt, I don't know if I want to say guilty, but I think she felt bad. If she would've been tested then maybe I could've, maybe, caught mine sooner. It's genetics, you get what you get from your parents. My brother recently underwent the testing and his test came back positive. My sister did the testing as well and hers came back positive. It sucks.
00:31:19-00:31:35 (Lori) I wanted you to know whether or not it is something that's hereditary. So, I did do genetic testing. The results came back and they were all negative! So, I was thrilled to have had that done.
00:31:36-00:31:55 (Dr. Shelby Terstriep) Genetics and genetic counseling is becoming part of your discussion with your cancer diagnosis at day one. And so, that's part of what, you know, when you think of your team approach and kind of everything that we want to make sure that we discover or uncover whether genetics is playing a part in this.
00:31:58-00:32:00 (Emily) Why did you decide to take part in this documentary?
00:32:01-00:32:17 (Andrea) I have always believed that my mission in life is to care for people. And if somebody watching this can be helped by what I have to say, then, it will be worth it.
00:32:18-00:32:35 (MaryLee) There wasn't anything like that ahead of time with the surgery, the scars, what that would look like. And even more into how you would feel, what's the aftermath, what about when it's over. So there's a of things afterwards, and it sounds like that's what your goal is and that's why I chose to try and help in some way.
00:32:37-00:32:44 (Lisa) I had heard that if any funds were raised with this that it would go to the Embrace Program which is something that I believe in.
00:32:45-00:32:52 (Lori) You saw how important it is to support people, and I'm hoping that I can help someone in the future as well as you.
00:32:53-00:32:55 (Kim) Maybe it'll save one or two lives. It's worth it to me.
00:32:56-00:33:03 (Denise) There is an aftermath, and it is a forever thing.
00:33:04-00:33:07 (Emily) What sort of advice do you have for someone who's going through breast cancer?
00:33:09-00:33:22 (Lori) Get a good support group. Stay positive, it's very important to stay positive. If you get negative and turn pessimistic, your treatments and your daily life is going to be much more challenged.
00:33:23-00:33:30 (Kristin) Find someone that can support you and be there for you, because it's nothing that anyone should have to go through alone.
00:33:31-00:33:34 (MaryLee) Be kind to yourself. Don't be hard on yourself. Ask lots of questions.
00:33:35-00:33:41 (Lisa) Stay in the moment. Take it one treatment at a time, one day at a time, one hour at a time, if you have to.
00:33:44-00:33:49 (Andrea) Be calm. Talk about it. Trust your doctor.
00:33:50-00:33:55 (Denise) Whatever your feelings are, you need to let your partner know what they are.
00:33:56-00:34:07 (Kim) Know your body. Check it! Believe me, I had a lot of male friends that told me that they were checking themselves after that. And luckily, none of them have gotten it. So, that's great.
00:34:10-00:34:14 TEXT ON PICTURE “Since her diagnosis, Lisa does one new thing every year. So far, she’s been parasailing, ran a 5k, hiked Mount Diamond Head, and rode to Sturgis.”
00:34:15-00:34:21 TEXT ON PICTURE “Denise displayed her “reconstruction” at a local charity event. She enjoyed showing off her new chest.”
00:34:22-00:34:27 TEXT ON PICTURE “MaryLee’s BRCA testing came back negative. She’s relieved that’s not her legacy.”
00:34:28-00:34:33 TEXT ON PICTURE “In April 2017, Kristin was rediagnosed with Breast Cancer. She is currently undergoing treatment at Roger Maris Cancer Center in Fargo, ND.”
00:34:34-00:34:41 TEXT ON PICTURE “Kim will live with Metastatic Breast Cancer every day for the rest of his list. He recently lost his health coverage but is currently feeling well and enjoying his recent retirement.”
00:34:42-00:34:52 TEXT ON PICTURE “Lori still frequently attends cancer benefits and has recently joined a support group.” “Because of her mother’s history, Emily will begin having mammograms at age 38 – 10 years before Lori was diagnosed.
00:34:53-00:34:57 TEXT ON PICTURE “Meg is currently in the process of making a second edition of A Bra Anthologie.”
00:34:58-00:35:05 TEXT ON PICTURE “Dr. Terstriep continues doing Breast Cancer research and educating the public on all different types of cancers and their affects.”
00:35:06-00:35:12 TEXT ON PICTURE “Dr. Hysjulien continues to raise awareness for supporting all cancer survivors at any stage.”
00:35:13-00:35:17 (Andrea) I'm very fortunate, I mean...I'm a lucky woman. I've had a good life.
00:35:18-00:35:21 (Recording of Andrea) Hello? (Recording of Emily) Hi, Andi! (Recording of Andrea) Hi! (Recording of Emily) How are you?
00:33:22-00:33:38 (Recording of Andrea) I'm, uh, I'm not gonna be much longer, I don't think...and, uh, I'm very, very frail and weak...and, uh, it's hard to get around...so I, I need to...mostly sleep. I want you to know I love you.
00:33:39-00:33:44 (Recording of Emily) I love you too. Okay. Well, call me if you need anything, okay?
00:33:45-00:33:40 (Recording of Andrea) Okay, my darling, I will. Ciao. (Recording of Emily) Okay, alright. (Recording of Andrea) Bye bye. (Recording of Emily) Bye. (Recording of Andrea) Bye.
00:33:41 AND ON – Tribute Photos and Crawl/Credit (both in separate files if needed)