Groups offer encouragement, camaraderie during Breast Cancer Awareness Month

At 68 years old and three months after her husband died of lung cancer, Priscilla Dement received a grim diagnosis of her own.

“It’s so overwhelming, you just really don’t get it,” Dement said of learning she had breast cancer in 1999.

She had delayed getting a mammogram for 10 years. “I had put off going for a screening for so long because they used to be so painful. I ended up paying for it.”

After undergoing a lumpectomy to remove the tumor in her breast, Dement said she drove herself to chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

She didn’t seek support from others during the process because she considered herself a soldier with a burden to bear on her own.

“In my heart of hearts, I thought, ‘My husband had his cancer, and this will be mine,’ ” she said. “I was kind of numb to everything.”

Then Dement got a home visit from Reach to Recovery, a local breast cancer support group affiliated with the American Cancer Society, and said she recognized the encouragement that could be drawn from shared experience.

Ten years later, she continues to attend the group’s quarterly meetings to give newly-diagnosed women hope and stay updated on medical advances regarding the disease, including more comfortable and technologically-improved mammograms.

“Now, it’s physically so much easier,” Dement said. “Once a year, I have a mammogram. When you’ve had breast cancer, you’re always on the lookout.”

This October, Dement’s story is one of thousands of survivor accounts that will be told at fundraisers and vigils across the country in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

According to the American Cancer Society, more than 250,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the U.S. during 2009; about 1,910 are expected in men.

As someone who knew nothing about the disease when she was diagnosed nearly 20 years ago, Hilton Head Island resident Jeanne Johnston understands firsthand the importance of continuing the public’s education and awareness of breast cancer. Two years after she survived a bout with the disease, her daughter was diagnosed.

“Fortunately, it was found early,” Johnston said, adding that neither of them has had a recurrence of breast cancer since. “Some ladies go through quite a lot. We were fortunate.”

Johnston, who now directs the meetings for Reach to Recovery and helps handle administrative tasks for the local American Cancer Society office, said it’s not always easy for women to recount or revisit the “very personal procedures” they underwent when dealing with the disease, but the ones who are able to share bring a lot of  perspective to the table.

“It’s heartening to know that people have gone through it and come out on the other side fine,” she said. “Because of all the progress that has been made, the diagnosis is not as terrifying today as it used to be. You have many more options. Years ago, they used to take both breasts without any question.”

While most of Reach to Recovery consists of survivors, Johnston said each of the women have chosen to come to the group at different stages of their experience, from immediately after their surgery to several years later — like Ellen Shiels.

Unlike Dement and Johnston, Shiels had made it a point to have annual mammograms when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998. After having a lumpectomy and 34 days of radiation and chemotherapy, she didn’t join Reach to Recovery until a few years later, when a neighbor raved about the camaraderie she would experience in the support group.

“The friendships that are there and information I receive about all the new treatments that are available are what keep me coming back,” Shiels said. “It’s very scary when you get that diagnosis, because you don’t know what’s going to happen. Sitting among a group of survivors gives you hope.”

LOCAL SUPPORT GROUPS

• Reach to Recovery: Meets on a quarterly basis; next group meeting will be at noon, Dec. 14, at All Saints Episcopal Church. More info: 843-842-5188.

• Cancer Support Group: Meets at 4 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month at the Keyserling Cancer Center, 1680 Ribaut Road. More info: 843-522-7807.

• Hilton Head Hopsital Hope and Healing: Support group for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients; meets from noon to 1:15 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month at 58 Shelter Cove Lane, Suite F. More info: 1-888-58CARES (1-888-583-2737).

• Breast Cancer Support Group: Meets at 10 a.m. on the first Thursday of the month at the Bluffton-Okatie Outpatient Center. More info: 843-705-5607.

• Beaufort Memorial Breast Cancer Support Group: Meets at noon on the fourth Tuesday of the month at Beaufort Medical Plaza. More info: 843-522-5570.