13 minute read
THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR IS A SURVIVOR
This month, in partnership with AdventHealth for Women, we’re recognizing some of the women in our community who are survivors of breast cancer, who have had a recurrence, or who are currently going through treatment. To us, all of these women are survivors in their own right. It is the hope of these women that by telling their stories they inspire and educate other women who are facing a breast cancer diagnosis.
By Tarre Beach
LINDSAY PARKS PHOTOGRAPHY
Nancy Alvarez
There’s only one you. While most of us embrace that we are unique individuals, Nancy Alvarez says that could go right out the window the moment something like cancer comes into the picture.
After she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Alvarez, a news anchor for WFTV, the ABC affiliate in Orlando, was tempted to do what any journalist would do; she thought about researching the internet, but knew that wasn’t exactly the best thing for her. “Someone else’s experience does not reflect yours or what you can expect. Every journey is different,” she says. “Instead of scaring yourself or becoming overwhelmed with information, talk to your own doctor who has the specifics about your health.”
With no symptoms, no lump or any indication there was something wrong, Alvarez’s annual mammogram was very likely the thing that helped save her life. She says she had a big support network that helped her face all the uncertainty she felt right after receiving the news. A friend sent her a text that helped her feel more secure with her decision to have a mastectomy. She hopes the message helps other women:
“It is just flesh. It’s not who you are. You are scared of what may be, of what could happen. Women survive. To be brave means you must be scared, and you do it anyway. Either way you win. Any more time with your children is a victory. You won the day you found out. At this point it’s just semantics. Boobs? No boobs? What matters is you. You are not dying. In fact, you are living more now than you were last week.”
The idea that she could help spread the word about the importance of getting regular mammograms helped Alvarez move forward. “I’m grateful beyond measure,” she says.
Dr. Vonda Ware
Altamonte
As an OB-GYN with AdventHealth Medical Group in Altamonte Springs, Dr. Vonda Ware has had the unenviable task of having to inform patients about tests that suggested they might have cancer. And she has also found out what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that information. She says being a doctor and a patient felt like she knew a lot but also not enough.
“I knew what was being said, and I knew what it meant, but I couldn’t navigate through the feelings and the information quick enough,” Ware says of the moment she was being wheeled into surgery. She didn’t find fault with her medical team. What she found was a renewed sense of compassion for her own patients when she eventually came back to work.
A deeply spiritual woman, Ware says she trusted that God would take care of her during her cancer treatment. After being diagnosed, her regular women’s Bible study group asked if they could pray for her. That was nothing new, but she realized how vulnerable she was and knew she had to let others, not just God, take care of her too.
All in all, Ware says, her experience has been a blessing. Going through cancer made her draw closer to her faith and to her mother. Not that long ago, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. “I got a whole new level of appreciation for my mom. I knew if she could fight breast cancer at 70 years old. I could do it in my 40s.”
KIM BATES PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTO COURTESY BREA WEISS Six months isn’t a very long time, it just depends on the subject. In six months, Earth travels halfway around the sun. In six months, a leopard can go from conception to giving birth to her cub. Every six months you might get your teeth cleaned, and we change our clocks just as often.
For Brea Weiss, six months was how long it took for her to go from having a “clean” mammogram to being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Weiss had a baseline mammogram when she was thirty years old, due to having fibrocystic breasts, a common condition that can cause dense breast tissue. At age 39, she was used to the routine of annual mammograms. So when the “gnarly” wrinkle and dimpling on her breast first appeared, she was concerned but assumed all would be fine given her mammogram six months prior where nothing was found. “I was just so surprised because it had grown so large so quickly,” Weiss says.
Everything went into fast-forward for Weiss. It may have only taken six months for her cancer to grow, but it only took two months for her to receive a diagnosis, have a mastectomy, and begin treatment. Weiss gives credit to her “rock star physician” at AdventHealth Celebration. Having a doctor who is a leader in their field is important, but one that gets to know their patient is an added benefit. “My breast specialist was so strong, medically, and compassionate. She’s become a dear and treasured friend over the years, and I can’t thank her enough for saving my life,” Weiss says.
Now cancer-free for about seven years—that’s approximately 84 months—Weiss says her cancer changed her fundamentally as a person. She says she doesn’t sweat the small stuff and may finally be learning patience.
Tamara Muhlbach
Ocoee/Winter Garden
If you think the pandemic has been a gigantic pain in the butt, it’s been even harder for people like Tamara Muhlbach whose original plans after completing chemotherapy was to have a double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. However, that is not what happened. Reconstruction had to be delayed and learning this news was not her “finest hour” she says. Months later, after several more delays and multiple surgeries, she’s happy to report the “ball is through the goal posts” and her surgeries are complete.
Muhlbach found she needed lots of help to get to appointments and just to function. As one of six sisters, mother to four, and grandmother to six, Muhlbach had a built-in support system. And, she adds, her family members were able to be there for each other too. “It was like each person had an assignment in helping me so that no one person had to bear it all. I’m so fortunate to have such a close-knit family,” Muhlbach says.
Recently, during a family gathering at Cape Canaveral, Muhlbach and her sisters decided that her bald head wasn’t going to stand in the way of their professional family photo shoot. “All my sisters just put on swim caps so I didn’t feel so awkward. It was amazing,” she says.
Muhlbach says for years after regular mammograms she’d inevitably need to have an ultrasound as well due to having dense breasts. It was inconvenient but she always complied. She’s glad she had an insurance change which prompted her to get her regular screenings scheduled right away. In the end, it meant her cancer HR2 +, an aggressive type of breast cancer, was caught early. “Getting regular screenings saved my life. Eighteen months later, I am cancer free and living life wholeheartedly,” Muhlbach says.
Linda is the kind of woman who likes to laugh. A lot. She is also the kind of woman who likes to meet life with a healthy dose of sarcasm. When asked about the ceremonial ringing of the bell after completing breast cancer treatment, she said she just “loooooved” the bell and then let out a big guffaw. That’s because Linda is living with metastatic breast cancer (MBC), meaning that her cancer has spread to other areas of her body, and her treatments continue. She is currently facing an uphill battle and instead of focusing her energy too much on ringing that bell, she looks for other ways to celebrate everyday moments.
Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 after a routine mammogram. At first she and her husband Brian cried every day for two weeks. She suggests that if that’s what you need to do, do it. “Get it all out. It’s OK to cry,” she says. “But eventually I had gotten on my own last nerve with all that crying and was ready to stop crying and face it.”
It was three years ago when her doctors found a spot on her lung and eventually some lesions in her brain. She quickly began chemotherapy and radiation and is currently still having treatment and although it can make her unwell at times, she’s come through all of it a little stronger and with a renewed capacity to forgive. It was scary at first, but Linda says she finds hope and support by being in contact with other women diagnosed with MBC on Facebook. “I don’t know how people do this on their own. I’m just so lucky to have my husband, family and friends along with my team at the infusion center,” Linda says. Having an oncologist she really “clicks with” is also a big help.
Thankfully, the treatment for her brain lesions appears to have been successful and she’s reveling in that victory. She’s even started thinking about buying her own bell to ring as much as she wants, she says with a hearty laugh.
PHOTO COURTESY OF LINDA CHISHOLM
BRADY GIN PHOTOGRAPHY Justine Finocchiaro-Doles was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 18 but it wasn’t until receiving a breast cancer diagnosis almost three decades later that she found her voice. “Back when I was diagnosed with my first cancer, people didn’t talk Justine Finocchiaro-Doles Altamonte/Longwood about having cancer. But after I completed treatment the first time for breast cancer, I found I had so much more self-esteem than I thought I had, and I finally had the courage to speak up.” In fact, that courage and fighting breast cancer two more times, has led Finocchiaro-Doles to start a podcast all about cancer survivors called Just Talk with Justine. In the process of looking for support, Finocchiaro-Doles found not only a network of friends who could relate to what she was going through, but a new fitness routine too—dragon boat racing. A self-described “non-poster child” for exercising, FinocchiaroDoles says she is so thankful to Warriors on Water, the breast cancer survivor dragon boat racing team she has been a member of since 2014. “I still don’t like exercising, but now I do it because I love this group of women so much,” Finocchiaro-Doles says. Last year, Finocchiaro-Doles’s husband Bryan got some hard news: He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “He’s always copying me,” she says with a laugh. Although Finocchiaro-Doles didn’t get to ring the bell after going four rounds with cancer herself, she got to ring the bell with her husband when he completed his chemotherapy, a moment Finocchiaro-Doles deeply cherishes. Together, Finocchiaro-Doles and her husband own a general contractor business that works exclusively for tradeshows. The pandemic has been a rough ride for their business, but Finocchiaro-Doles says she has also felt a lot of hope in the midst of everything. “Life is too short to worry. You just gotta pull yourself up and live life to the fullest.”
BRADY GIN PHOTOGRAPHY Melissa Miller was given a diagnosis of stage 3 breast cancer while preparing for her wedding. In the process she says she learned how to not worry about the little things anymore. Miller says. “The sink could be full of dishes, or the house a mess. I’ve come to understand that none of that really matters. My priorities changed immediately.”
Miller says that living with breast cancer has brought her a newfound joy for doing DIY projects around the house. “I find it satisfying to get little projects done. Even watering the plants has become a fun chore,” she says. Because Miller’s cancer did not have a complete response to chemotherapy, she’s been accepted in an immunotherapy study.
Immunotherapy treatments for breast cancer are showing promise. The treatment works by boosting the immune system, helping the body fight off cancer. She says, “I won’t sugarcoat it, after [immunotherapy] treatment I feel like an elephant stepped on my pelvis for days. But if it does what it’s supposed to do, sign me up.” Miller says her life did a 360 after her diagnosis. Her advice to other women dealing with breast cancer is to be their own health advocate, ask questions and, most importantly, ask for help, accept it, and don’t go it alone.
Unfortunately, the pandemic forced Miller to do a few things by herself including being hospitalized twice. Her friends and family were not allowed to visit her at all. But once again, she found a lesson amid these situations. “When I couldn’t see my husband or my friends who have been there for me through all of this,” Miller says, “It made me appreciate them that much more.”
Yamile Luna
Orlando
Yamile Luna lost her long, beautiful hair, eyebrows and eyelashes due to her cancer treatment. A deeply spiritual woman, she says it took losing those things to truly understand the beauty of her soul, and it was her husband Maxi who she’s known since she was 13, who helped her see it.
“He asked if he could take a picture of me when I was bald and at first I felt so ashamed to be seen like that. Then when I saw how he was looking at me, with such love, I finally got it,” she says “I’m not my hair, my eyebrows, my eyelashes. I am a child of God.”
As the vice president of AdventHealth’s (then Florida Hospital) Orlando campus cancer institute, Luna made decisions that would eventually impact her treatment long before she was even diagnosed. “I helped recruit the physician who would end up being my doctor. I was part of the team that made the decision to have a breast cancer coordinator, something that was new at the time,” she says “I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe all of these things are just examples of God’s divine plan for me,” Luna says.
When Luna was first going through treatment there were times when she would come home from work exhausted. Then she finally came to the conclusion that while working was her passion, she wanted to give her family her good hours rather than what was left at the end of the day. So, she took a leave of absence.
Luna says “being transparent” has given her the ability to openly share her experience with others through public speaking engagements and interviews. The thing she hopes to impart to others dealing with cancer is this: “Every day is a gift. Live life now. Don’t wait.” Luna isn’t waiting. She’s planning her bi-annual international trip with family. Destination: Africa.
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