Day of Hope
SANTA MARIA TIMES
The 8th Annual
Wednesday, August 4, 2021 | DAY OF HOPE | 1
PRESENTED BY INSPIRE SPONSORS
A BENEFIT FOR MARIAN CANCER CARE PATIENTS AT MISSION HOPE CANCER CENTER
Wednesday, August 4, 2021 | santamariatimes.com
PHOTOS BY LEN WOOD, CONTRIBUTOR
Karissa Sanchez, who survived cancer during the pandemic and is now planning her wedding, shows her attitude on her shirt.
Karissa Sanchez shares
A JOURNEY OF ACCEPTANCE, SURVIVAL Fighting cancer during a pandemic had unique challenges IVETTE PERALTA
Contributing Writer
Karissa Sanchez, who survived cancer during the pandemic and is now planning her wedding, crosses a street in Orcutt.
For Karissa Sanchez, adapting to the new “normal” in 2020 was a challenge, but accepting her cancer diagnosis and fighting for her life was her greatest struggle during the pandemic. Sanchez said accepting her new reality, watching her family’s life change, and knowing she had lost control of her future was challenging. She was diagnosed last year in May, just five months after getting engaged and two
months after celebrating her 30th birthday. “So everything got disrupted, and it happened very fast,” she said. She moved from San Diego to Orcutt with her fiancé and two puppies in 2019; they were enthusiastic about new beginnings. “I felt I had everything in life right at my fingerprints. That time was really fun for me. It was kind of when I saw my life kind of coming together. I had my real estate license; I was going to make my way back into that field. And then, I was diagnosed with breast cancer,” Sanchez said. Karissa found the lump herself during a shower self-examination and went and made an appointment.
“I think at that time I went to Planned Parenthood; I went there because I didn’t have health insurance at the time, and so I just needed to go get it checked,” she said. They referred her to a breast imaging center for an ultrasound. “First, they thought it was a lymphoma and asked me to come back in six months.” Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her follow-up appointment was postponed. It wasn’t until almost a year after her initial checkup that she received a biopsy that confirmed her diagnosis. Unsettled by the finding, her medical team used genetic cancer Please see SANCHEZ, Page 4
Life’s important things in focus after breast cancer diagnosis ‘I have sun on my face, that’s priceless’ JENNIFER BEST
Contributing Writer
When Kimason “Kiki” Brown was feeling at her lowest, sore and sick from the surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy sessions treating her breast cancer, her closest companion knew just how to behave. She stayed away from Brown’s sore spots, cuddled for hours in their Orcutt home, warned off would-be visitors when Brown wasn’t ready for them, and welcomed them into their Orcutt home when she was fit for company. “She knew there was a problem. I would wimper; she would spoon with me. She’s 12 pounds of love,” Brown said of her Chipin canine companion RZA. The pinscher-marked, Chihuahua-sized bundle of affection was
supported in her care efforts by an extensive circle of Santa Maria family and friends after Brown’s annual mammogram turned up breast tissue riddled with cancer. “It was definitely a shocker. I do mammograms all the time. In one year, it went from nothing to breasts filled with cancer. It was just about overnight,” Brown said. She’d considered skipping a year, but well publicized wellcheck incentive programs reminded her to make her appointment, nagged her into carrying on with her annual routine. And she’s thankful. “Had I not gone, I probably wouldn’t be here a year from now. It’s definitely something people should do,” she said. A double mastectomy in October followed by chemotherapy and radiation took down the cybersecurity tech marketing professional. She lost her hair, her nails, and picked up neuropathy, but continued working from home.
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“My journey has been, thanks to Mission Hope, very smooth, but losing your hair, nails, the mucous covering my eyes when my lashes fell out, bleeding nails, that’s all been a horrible, horrible, horrible experience that no one can really prepare you for,” Brown said. Now under the care of Dr. Dustin Stevenson, Brown has taken advantage of programs offered by Mission Hope Cancer Center. Dignity Health nurses have provided in-home care. Nurse navigators have guided her down the path through treatment to after care. Scarf-tying and make-up classes have been godsends, she said. “The Look Good, Feel Good program was awesome. I did the scarf-tying class twice. It was nice to talk to other ladies and see them going through it as well. It was nice to have that camaraderie right off,” Brown said. The granddaughter of Santa Maria 2020 Citizens of the Year
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RANDY DE LA PENA, CONTRIBUTOR
Kimason “Kiki” Brown, shaken by her breast cancer diagnosis, reflects on what’s important in life. Ori and Gladys Johnson has no “I didn’t know who to talk to shortage of family, but when it with this. I was shaking. Even the came to talking cancer, the going got rough. Please see BROWN, Page 4
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