THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 28, 1995 TAG: 9512230153
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Alice Johnson always has been a bit cavalier about getting cancer.
Except for a distant relative, no one in her family had ever had it. Johnson assumed she never would get it either.
She was wrong.
Five years ago, after going to a gynecologist for a routine checkup, Pap test and biannual mammography, doctors discovered two lumps side by side - neither more than a centimeter in diameter - in her right breast. No one - not Johnson, not her gynecologist, not her surgeon - ever felt either one.
Nonetheless, those two tiny malignancies showed up as a shaded blob on her mammogram.
Johnson went to a surgeon the next day.
``I was in shock,'' said Johnson, a longtime West Ghent resident and doctor's wife. ``It didn't really hit me until I went to see the surgeon and he said more than likely it was cancer. I was devastated.''
She pushed hard to get a biopsy done as soon as possible; she wanted to know for sure if those lumps were cancerous. During surgery, doctors determined, in fact, they were and immediately performed a lumpectomy to remove the cancerous growths. Her doctors also removed lymph nodes so they could determine if the cancer had spread.
It had.
``To find out it was in the blood stream was a big blow,'' said Johnson, now 53. ``Once it's there, who knows what will happen?''
Immediately after the surgery, Johnson started chemotherapy and then six weeks of radiation to kill any marauding cells. Normally energetic and upbeat, this wife and mother of three grown children was depressed, physically ill and exhausted during much of that time.
But she believes early detection and aggressive treatment gave her years more of life.
``Knock on wood, I'm fine now,'' she said with a giant smile. ``I consider myself cured, but breast cancer is strange. It's not like other cancers. It can come back any time. As my doctor says, `Any year without breast cancer is a good year.' Thankfully, they caught mine in a fairly early stage.''
Since her diagnosis, Johnson has visited her oncologist and surgeon regularly for periodic checkups. She also continues to take medication. So far, no signs of cancer have returned.
Always a firm believer in mammograms, Johnson now is convinced that regular screenings can be lifesavers.
``That, with self-exams and a doctor's checkups, are really the only thing we have going for us,'' she said. ``Breast cancer is an epidemic today. There's a chance one in eight women will get it. That's scary.''
One recent afternoon, Johnson sat in her living room and talked about a disease that kills thousands of women each year. The second leading cause of death in women, breast cancer killed 1,020 Virginia women last year, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
In fact, Johnson had just returned from attending a funeral that morning of a friend who had died from the disease.
``There were a lot of people there who have had breast cancer, too,'' Johnson said, reflectively. ``You get to feeling, `Why am I still here?' ''
Coming face-to-face with the killer has changed her life, Johnson says.
``It certainly changes your priorities,'' she said. ``It changed my priorities as well as my family's. All God gives you is today, and you should make the most of it. What you do today is so important. To me, people have become extremely important, certainly not possessions.''
Her experience with breast cancer has inspired her to find ways of helping others in the same predicament. She was instrumental in helping establish a biweekly support group for women with all kinds of cancer at Sentara Norfolk General, and she works with a volunteer group that sits with ``scared to death'' patients undergoing breast biopsies. She also currently serves as the Hampton Roads representative for the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation, an advocacy organization.
Her personal life has changed, too. After Johnson's illness, she and her husband, David, the medical director at the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, decided to sell their home and move to a rural community in western North Carolina, where David Johnson will join a pediatric medical practice. The Johnsons expect to move this summer.
``Having cancer has not been all bad,'' Johnson said. ``I've made a lot of friends ... and in certain ways it has made my life much richer. This move will be the start of a whole new phase of our lives. It's going to be exciting.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by TAMARA VONINSKI
Alice Johnson's experience with breast cancer inspired her to find
ways of helping others.
Graphic
FOR MORE INFORMATION
According to the American Cancer Society, mammograms detect 90 to
95 percent of all breast cancers.
The society recommends women have their first screening at age
40, then one every year or two until they reach 50.
Older women should have a mammography every year.
Some free and low-cost screenings are available through various
health agencies.
Norfolk women interested in an updated listing of certified sites
in Norfolk where mammograms are available should contact their
doctor or the Breast and Cervical Early Detection Program at
683-2757. The program is operated through a grant from the Virginia
Department of Health.
by CNB