Two Breast Cancer Stories - Meet Kirk & Ellen

 

Imagine this. You’re a 30 year old guy playing in a rock and roll band. What’s the absolute last thing on your mind? How about breast cancer?

It certainly wasn’t top of the list of concerns for Co-op member Kirk Warren back in 1992, even when he started to get some pain in his right breast behind the nipple area. Here’s Kirk in his own words:

“At that time I was on stage a lot with the band and figured that either I was holding my guitar wrong or maybe something bit me. Several months went by and it had gotten to the point where the least little thing made it hurt. So off to the doctor I went. She’s poking around and says ‘Hmmm… Let me check something. I’ll be right back.’ By this time, I’ve got TWO lumps—one in my breast and another in my throat. The doctor comes back and asks, ‘When was your last mammogram?’ Hello!?! I’m a guy and I’m 30 years old! When was my last mammogram?!?”

To cut to the chase, Kirk had a pre-cancerous mass. The mass was removed and he was sent home with a slew of meds. Today, he’s alive and kicking, quite possibly because of that mammogram. Kirk’s advice to his fellow males? Any changes or concerns when it comes to your ‘boobies’ – get a mammogram!

Fellow Co-op member Ellen Stucker vividly remembers the Friday the 13th when she got “the news.” It was September 13, 1989 and she was 43 with two young daughters. Ellen opted for a modified radical mastectomy followed by six months of chemotherapy. Not exactly a walk in the park.

In a weird statistical twist, her mother had had a mastectomy 33 years to the day that Ellen had her surgery, also on a Friday the 13th. Speaking of the experience, Ellen says:

“In a strange way I felt like God was letting me know that it was okay. My mother had survived all those years, and so would I. Remember, this was back in the Dark Ages when people didn’t talk publicly about breast cancer. I was plenty scared. But I was also lucky to find a small group of women who banned together and formed a support group. I still see them today.”

What advice do these two survivors have from the cancer front have for fellow Co-op members during October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Plenty! Kirk, never one to run to a doctor, urges guys and gals to listen to your gut.

Says Kirk, “I knew on some level that things weren’t right. The whole experience really shook me up. Showed me it was time for changes in my life and a better use of my time. Don’t think it can’t happen to you. It can.”

Twenty year survivor Ellen, now a fiction writer with a novel-in-progress with a, you guessed it, breast cancer theme, concurs. “If there were one thing I could tell women—and men—about breast cancer, it is that most breast cancers do not have a genetic component. Get yourself checked. Caught early, breast cancer has a 75 – 80% survivor rate. Lastly, please remember breast cancer doesn’t only happen in October! You need to be vigilant year-round.”

So what, this Kat wondered, can a human do to reduce your chances of getting breast cancer? Quite a few things it turns out.

Start by taking Vitamin D and getting regular exercise. At a recent luncheon a local breast surgeon told the group that exercise along with Vitamin D were the two most important preventatives to breast cancer. Some researchers believe cancer risk could be cut in half just with sufficient Vitamin D!

There is also medical evidence that both pre- and post- cancer, antioxidants, such as those found in Vitamin A, Vitamin E, and Vitamin C and CoQ-10, are very important. You can find A, C & E in Sam's Advanced Antioxidant Plus D3.

Lastly, take off that bra the minute you walk through the door! Believe it or not, there’s evidence that the less time you spend wearing a bra, the better it is for your breasts. In fact, in one study 3 out of 4 women studied who wore a bra 24 hours a day developed breast cancer compared to 1 in 168 who wore a bra rarely or never. Turns out bras restrict the flow of lymph within the breast tissue, limiting the normal cleansing flow. So take it off, take it all off!

Looking for more information on National Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Go to www.nbcam.com. Here’s to your healthy, bouncing, boobies! Meow.

To read Kirk's complete story.

To read Ellen's complete story.