DEREK R. SMITH
When lifelong Kokomo resident Mary Gordon tells other women about the importance of getting breast cancer screenings, she speaks from personal experience.
Gordon, a radiology receptionist for American Health Network in Kokomo, said she has an acute memory of being diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2003.
She said she had a 1.9 centimeter growth for which she underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
“At first it’s terrible,” she said. “I didn’t feel like I had cancer. I didn’t feel sick.”
Quick action paid off
Today she is thankful the cancer was diagnosed early and that she underwent the necessary treatments.
Many risk factors can increase a woman’s chance of getting breast cancer, but researchers do not know exactly what causes cells to become malignant, according to the American Cancer Society.
Nonetheless, it is important for a tumor to be detected early. Women should get an annual breast cancer screening, beginning at about age 40.
A study has shown that detection of smaller breast cancer tumors leads to a better survival rate, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Gordon’s surgery was in September 2003. She also had six chemotherapy treatments over an 18-week span and five days a week of radiation treatments for about three weeks.
Surgery was painful, while chemotherapy caused her to lose her hair, Gordon said.
“I had wonderful doctors, wonderful support,” she said. “Couldn’t have been better. You have to realize you’ve got to go through all that junk to get to where you want to be.”
Gordon said her 3-year-old granddaughter, Cassidy, helped her endure the process.
“We wore our headbands together,” she said. “I have a picture at home.”
Increasing awareness
For the past 20 years October has been National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Gordon has become an advocate not only of promoting awareness, but of digital mammography, a relatively new technology that is reportedly better at detecting breast cancer in some women.
The digital technology is similar to that of a digital camera. It allows radiologists to adjust the brightness, contrast and size of an image on a computer screen as it is viewed.
Also, an inverting feature can reverse black to white and white to black. This allows a medical professional to detect calcifications, which is like revealing a grain of salt in a ball of clay.
A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine states digital mammography is more accurate in detecting cancer in women under the age of 50, women with radiographically dense breasts and premenopausal or perimenopausal women.
Another first for Kokomo
About two years ago, Kokomo’s American Health Network became the first place in Indiana to get the digital mammography technology, said radiology manager Cindy Hutchison.
“It was kind of a big move,” she said. “The study was not out then. There was a lot of controversy on whether it would be better or not.”
Much remains to be discovered in breast cancer research.
Although Gordon knows future generations are at risk, she joyfully shares her message about the importance of early detection. She said others in her office have survived breast cancer, which reinforces to her the gift of life.
“I have a lot more fun than I ever had before,” she said. “I don’t take things as seriously.
“If you have to, you can get through anything.”
