Breast Cancer Survival

>> good morning and welcome to advocate live. it's october and this month advocate health care has pulling out all the stops to raise awareness for breast cancer. today, we're here with one of advocates leading health experts and some very special breast cancer survivors. and later on, we'll show you how we're raising awareness in a big and bold way in the chicago land area. i'm your host chris priester and if you're checking us

out on advocate's webpage, send us a question by clicking submit a question. and you can also join the conversation on twitter, following along with hashtag storiesofthegirls. today, our very special guests will be sharing their personal breast cancer journeys. we'd like to welcome my girls for today, aimee, jackie, jeannine and dr. memmel, a breast cancer surgeon with advocate medical group

and also a breast cancer survivor. welcome, ladies. so, let's begin today by hearing a little bit about each of your stories. and jackie, we're going to start with you today. welcome. >> thank you. hi, i'm jackie. i was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer

when i was age fifty one, earlier this year, used it through mammogram, i got an abnormal mammogram. multiple biopsies later, i had a double mastectomy with reconstruction. and basically was then subsequently diagnosed, post the mastectomy, with bone metastases, which is basically cancer of the bones, the breast cancer of the bones. so, where i'm at is waiting

for my final reconstruction surgery and i'm now on a pill a day to bone mets lives with me and i live with it. and that's where i will be for a long time probably. >> and where were you diagnosed at, jackie? >> advocate good sam in downers grove. >> great. and jeannine, can you tell us a little bit about your story? >> sure.

>> and i know you're kind of a repeat visitor to this, so people have seen you before. >> yeah. >> so, you can share-- and maybe just a little bit about your story, an update of kind of where you've been in the past year. >> sure, sure. i was thirty six when diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma.

it was not detected from a mammogram, it was detected on a suspicious ultrasound and then ultimately on an mri. i have no family history and right now i'm on tamoxifen. i've been on tamoxifen for a year and a half. and i should be on it for anywhere from five to ten years. so, that's where i'm at right now. i choose to do the lumpectomy and six and a half weeks of radiation.

>> okay, great, thank you. dr. memmel, so you kind of have a two phase story, right? you're a breast surgeon here at advocate and you're also a breast cancer survivor. >> right. >> so, can you tell about your personal breast cancer journey? >> sure. i was just finishing my general surgery residency, almost ten years ago and i was pregnant with my first child

and i found something. i had already matched into my breast surgery fellowship program. i was just waiting to start working and i found something. and after many tests later, they figured out, they told me no, no, you're just pregnant you're fine, everything's okay. so, i found out just a couple of weeks before i was starting my fellowship

that it was breast cancer. so, i had my surgery while i was pregnant, i started my fellowship a week or two later. and went on to have a healthy baby girl, later on a healthy baby boy a year or two later. >> great, great. >> and just started my practice here at advocate. >> wonderful, wonderful. we're glad to hear that.

>> thanks. >> aimee, can you share your story with everyone? >> sure. i was on vacation with my family and i just found a lump. so, i came back and saw my doctor and she recommended a mammogram. i had been going for mammograms since i was thirty five. i was then forty at this time. i do have a family history.

my aunt and my grandmother both had breast cancer. so, i knew the mammogram the prior year had been clear. so, i went in for the mammogram and at that time they said, you know what, we need to look at this little bit closer. so, i ended up going in for a biopsy and a couple of days later they called and said that it was breast cancer. >> wow. >> and i am a mom of triplets

and my kids were eleven years old at the time. and after talking to my husband, we decided that we needed to talk to them first before anyone else. we wanted to get them in and have them understand kind of what was going on. and i think that was the hardest part of my entire journey almost, was looking at my kids little faces and knowing they depend on me and count on me and to tell that that i was sick

and that we weren't sure what was going to happen. but we did tell them that dr. rosen and the staff at advocate was going to do their part in the medical side of things. and they were going to do whatever they could do to help make me healthy. and we just kept open communication the whole time and i ended up having a double mastectomy. and shortly after that we had family and friends over,

everyone helped take care of the kids and really, you know, kept support for us so i could take it easy and recover. and i just knew looking at my kid's everyday that i was going to beat it because they needed their mom around. and we're just really lucky in having the support that we needed. > great, thank you. you know, all your stories are just so inspiring.

and i think something we should mention here, were three of you around forty and under forty when you were diagnosed? yes. >> yes. >> yes. so-- >> i was thirty six. >> thirty six. >> and you were how old?

>> thirty six also. and you were just hitting the forty. so, yeah, i mean, what do you have to say about that? >> honestly, everybody should know their risks and so many people think it's not going to happen to me, i've got no family history, i'm young and healthy. i even hear so many people say i don't need a mammogram. i don't need to do a self breast exam. breast cancer can affect young women too

and i think people need to keep that in mind. >> i one hundred percent feel the same way and that's been my message from day one, is that it does not discriminate. this disease does not discriminate. and i didn't think it was going to happen to me either. like, i did not think it was going to happen to me. and if it wasn't for a great doctor who took every step possible to make sure

that i was being monitored yearly, even though i didn't have a family history, but i've had fibroid tumors, which as you know, gives me a greater risk or they can hide easier. the cancer can hide easier. so, they monitored me and that was why it was caught. but it wasn't supposed to happen to me, just like it's not supposed to happen to anyone, but. >> yeah, so, that's a good message

for all the young women out there. >> correct, yeah. and i think the proper screening is so, so, so important. >> i was being monitored from a young age from thirty five we started. >> with the family history, right? >> family history. but my grandmother and my aunt had it in their seventies. they didn't have it at forty years old.

>> i just had denser tissue, so we just always felt it was safer for me to go in for those mammograms just to be safe. >> right. well, before we start getting into a little more of your stories and this is probably a good time to just give everyone a quick reminder that you can schedule your same day mammogram with next day results at 1-800-3-advocate. so, please, if you haven't done that,

if you're due for your mammogram, i know all the girls on the panel here will encourage you to do that. so, please do that. so, thank you for sharing your story. i know that all of your video messages are on storiesofthegirls.com and all of you kind of have a unique take on your personal journey, but jackie, let me talk to you quickly about yours.

if you can share a little bit about your breast cancer journey, what we did was a little bit different. we gave you a camera and your camera was given to you right at the time of diagnosis. and you took that right into pre-op, right before your surgery and you had your nurses and your doctor's right there with you on that camera. but the general theme

of everything you did was i'm going to be positive. so, can you tell me a little bit about why you agreed to do that, it's such a personal journey, but why you brought that camera in there and about your positivity? >> well, i brought the camera in because when you're diagnosed, if you don't know, if you've not been exposed to people with breast cancer or know anything about it, you are lost.

so, anything that i could do to share with people, it really is a journey. and you know it's good to share it. you might not take everything away that i learned from it or anyone of us have learned, but hopefully if you can get through and help a small number of people, that's why i decided to do it. >> and i've just learned in life for myself, that if i've got a positive attitude and a can do attitude,

i can get a lot more done and i can be-- i just feel that by keeping and maintaining a positive attitude, i can one; calm if you want because i've got young kids as well. and two; i think that it's going to help me in the long run as well. >> so, that's why i decided that i was going to maintain a positive-- it doesn't mean that i don't get upset sometimes, but--

>> we're all human, right? >> right. but most of the time i try to stay very positive. >> yeah, that's great. and thank you for doing that. it's a very inspiring video. now, jeannine, you're a celebrity of sorts, so we're going to turn to you. you've been the face of this campaign for two years now. i'm sure you get people coming up to you asking

for autographs, right? but really, your message and your motto, has always been, if i can just save one girl. >> correct. >> and that to me is so powerful and so important. can you tell me kind of the impact of what you've done over the past year, you know, being the second year in a campaign of people, just the reaction of people?

>> it's been unbelievable. it's been unbelievable. and when someone reaches out to me via social media or whatever and saying that they got a test because of me or they are going through the journey right now and i've inspired them to stay strong. >> it means the world to me because that's all i want to do. that's all i want to do. i said it from day one and i'm going to continue to say it,

like, if i can just get to one girl, that's all i wanted. >> and we know you've gotten to a lot more than one. >> so, you can feel good about that, yeah. >> you're great, you're great. >> thank you, very much, i appreciate that. >> now, dr. memmel, a couple of questions for you. you know, being a breast cancer survivor yourself, are there things that women can do to reduce their risk of getting breast cancer?

i know we've heard family history and some of those things that maybe you can't affect, but what are the things you can affect? >> sure. there are a lot of things that we can't change, that frustrates women, but there are things that we can do to help reduce our risk or even know a little bit about our risk. first of all is looking at our family history. do we have a strong family history?

should genetic testing be recommended? the other things to look at are lifestyle choices. we know more and more now about things like a healthy diet and low alcohol intake and smoking and regular exercise. we know that all of those things can help reduce our risk in the long term. >> great. and one more kind of off the cuff question. i'm hearing so much about positivity and how staying positive helps.

as a physician, through the healing process, how much does that make a difference if you stay positive? everybody has their ups and downs when they're going through this and i see women who are just who are devastated at the diagnosis, but i think staying positive, remembering that this is a bump in the road. >> you know, most of the time people are diagnosed in an early stage where five years down the road, ten years down the road, you'll look back and say, you know,

that was miserable while i was going through it, but i got a great life now. >> so, it's important to stay positive. >> good, good, yeah. and i think everyone agrees with that message. now, aimee, last but not least. first i have to point out this lovely pink hair extension, which i think is adorable for breast cancer awareness month. and aimee and i actually live in the same community.

so, i know aimee a little bit. we're both from cary and so, she has a busy life, triplets, like she said and just kids in football and baseball and volleyball and you must have a crazy work life too. so, how did this diagnosis impact your family? >> well, it you know, like i kind of said before, it was a little bit tough. i mean, in the beginning telling the kids and getting them on board and all of that, it you know, took us a step back.

and the kids had a tough time kind of understanding what was going on, but again, we kind of stuck with the positivity thing. you know, every day we'd say something positive as a family. we worked through things. we tried to keep in that tone. and i would always tell the kids, i said, you know what, even though i'm sick and things can be tough, you know, every day i look at and say, you know what,

i don't have to do anything. like, i don't have to drive my kids to school. i don't have to make lunches. i don't have to go to activities, but i get to. >> so, i kind of always try to change that around and i've kind of taught that to them too. >> that you know what, you get to go to school, you get to be educated. >> you get to go play sports.

i get to take care of you. i get to you know go and help other people get healthy with my job. so, we've just kind of always stuck that way and it worked wonderful for when i was going through everything and we've kind of continued it. and it's-- it was a horrible-- like you said, horrible place to be at the time when you're going through it, but now i get to look back

and appreciate everything a little bit more. >> and i know your husbands been very involved too with your care and treatment. and jackie, we saw your husband on your video and jeannine, same with you. and so what role have the men in your lives played? i know we don't often talk about that, but does anyone have an answer to that? >> well, i can start.

he was my number one cheerleader. i mean, we would go to doctor's appointments together. and i didn't have to have double mastectomy, i chose to have a double mastectomy. based on some of the testing's and my mass size and things like that, it was what was more comfortable to me and knowing that i had small children and how young i was and he stood by me. i mean, every choice i made, he had my back.

and that's huge when you're making decisions like that. >> yep. my husband has been my rock. he is always there by my side when i had appointments. and i couldn't drive for a long time because i had an infection. he would take me everywhere. he never-- i didn't have to worry about the kids too much, you know because he was there. >> and you know any decision i make, he's--

same thing, he's been completely supportive. so, it's wonderful. >> i know you have the same experience. >> yeah, definitely. my husband's been there for me since day one. and our biggest thing was because we didn't have children, we don't have children, obviously that has stopped now because of the medicine i'm on, was when he looked at me and said that i didn't marry you to have kids.

so, like for that, yeah, yeah. >> so, to all the men watching right now, please remind the women in your lives to get their mammograms as well, right, that's very important. so and we have a few questions actually that were submitted online. dr. memmel, the first one if for you. what are some of the most important things a woman can do

to reduce her risk of breast cancer? >> so, one of the most important things, especially in the post-menopausal years, is to exercise regularly. this has been studied just in the past few years or more studies are coming out in the past few years that show regular exercise, even without weight loss, reduces the risk of developing breast cancer. so does quitting smoking, if you smoke,

as well as limiting alcohol intake. so, all of those things can help reduce the risk, especially in the post-menopausal years. there's some new studies out looking at diet and a low red meat diet and a diet high in fruits and vegetables. so, those are all things, just basic healthy lifestyle choices. >> good, good information for anything, right?

>> yeah, absolutely, yeah. and jackie, the next question is for you. and so, this is someone who probably saw your video and they want to know how instrumental were the doctors and nurses and your caregivers? they probably saw the interactions in the pre-op suite. >> and so, they want to know about the care you received. >> right. the doctors and nurses have been fantastic. i-- especially beforehand,

i had dr. engel [assumed spelling] as my breast surgeon and her nurse is just phenomenal, helpful, informative, they put you in the right direction. when i was in the hospital, which i've been in multiple times this year, the nurses going into the surgery, they all remember me, they all know me and that's so wonderful that we've got that kind of personal care and i think that makes a big difference.

you know, so, i'm thrilled with my care given and the quality care i've got overall. >> that's so good to hear. thank you. thank you for sharing. and jeannine, the last one is for you. now, this is an interesting one. >> oh. [brief laughter] >> oh, yes.

so, i watched your follow up videos where it says and i love your tattoo. so, is there-- >> do you want to see it? >> is there a story-- sure? [brief laughter] is there a story behind your tattoo, maybe tell everyone about that? >> yes. i always wanted a tattoo before all this happened. and first i was going to put faith, faith means a lot to me.

and with this whole thing, i kept saying with faith there's hope, with faith there's hope. and originally i was going to put it on my wrist, faith. and then all this stuff happened and then my husband suggested you might want to tie it into the whole breast cancer. so, he actually drew it-- i feel like i have to show. like because like, now,

it's like how do you not talk about it? >> go for it. >> so, i'm actually going off the thing here. >> that's all right. >> don't worry; it's nowhere where you can see. >> it's just girls having a conversation. >> so, it says with faith there's hope and then it says survivor. so, i wanted to put it in a place where if i want you

to see it, i'll let you. and you know it's somewhere that i can hide it, but it's on the same side as my breast cancer was diagnosed. and it just means something to me. >> it's very meaningful. >> it's not something i will ever regret because it means something, so. >> i think it's great. i think it's just great.

>> so, thank you for sharing that personal side of this. so, now, i mentioned earlier that this month advocate is doing something big to raise awareness for breast cancer. and now, we want to show you just what we meant by that. we're joined by a crowd of folks at the fashion outlets of chicago in rosemont, where sarah, terry and our guests will show you what the buzz has been all about this month.

so, we're going to wave to you guys. hi, there at rosemont, hi there. we're throwing it over to you guys. take it away sarah. >> okay, all right. hi, everyone. thanks chris and everyone in the studio. we're here at the fashion outlets of chicago in rosemont. and yes, here is advocates support bra.

so, we're raising awareness in a big way and we have terry macarol here, who is the program manager of imaging for advocate healthcare, but also a breast cancer survivor herself, to tell us a little bit more about it. terry. >> isn't this spectacular, folks? we are so excited about this. [cheering] we really, really are.

and this is a symbol to encourage women, all women, to be proactive about their breast health. you know, sarah, one in eight women, will be diagnosed with breast cancer. with the odds like that, we had to do something really, really big. we needed a big bold answer and there it is and it's fantastic. you know, it's also there in support of all women

who are going through the journey. advocate's here for you and you know, i just want to add one more piece, if you post a photo on twitter or instagram, to hash tag supportyourgirls, advocate will donate a dollar to the american cancer society in support of research. and that's awesome. >> and i'm very grateful for advocate doing that. >> so, also, so the support bra will be here

at the fashion outlets until thursday and then we're actually moving to another spot and we have meg fisher here to talk from the american cancer society about where we're going next. >> thanks, sarah. yeah, this saturday the twenty fifth at soldier field at our making strides against breast cancer walk, the bra will be there

to support all the walkers there as well. and we're so thankful for advocate starting the conversation in such a big away about breast health. we hope that conversation continues well beyond the month of october. >> yes, thanks, meg. so, we do have a question from our audience. i did want to point out, so we do have these beautiful flowers that we're passing

out to folks, just to continue raising awareness when you walk away from our support bra and also these really great signs that you can post your photos with. and we also have these selfie mats, not sure if you can see them down here, but we'll direct you where to take your awesome photo. so, here we have stacy here to ask a question for aimee, back in the studio.

>> hi, aimee, my names stacy and i'm a mom of twins. knowing that you're a mom of triplets and busy with work, how did you explain breast cancer to your children and how do you stay strong for the each day? >> so, now we'll head back to you guys and we'll be taking our selfies here. [brief laughter] >> thanks, guys. >> bye, guys.

>> great question, stacy. aimee? >> yes, great question. well, what we did is my kids knew from the day, they knew when i found a lump. i had talked to my daughter about it a little bit. we're just very open. she was eleven years old, we, you know, had some discussions prior to that just

about different things. so, they knew when i went in for my mammogram that when i came home that day that there were still questions that needed to be answered. so, the day i went in for my biopsy, they were well aware that i was going in for procedure and that we were going to find out more information and see if this was something that we needed to take a look at even further.

so, when i came home, they had asked what had happened. and i said we had to wait for some results yet. and once we got those results, it took a couple of days to get back and actually it was on a thursday, so i had to wait through the weekend. and then monday i answered the phone and it was my doctor and you know when you pick up the phone it's the doctor on the other end and not a nurse that normally it means something.

so, she had told me and we brought the kids up and we just sat them down and we-- i was as honest as i could about things and told them that we didn't know exactly what the next steps were going to be, but that this is something we're facing and that i was going to need help from them and through process. and they cried, i mean, each of them acted a little bit different,

which didn't surprise me because they all have very different personalities. one cried, my son cried. my one daughter or my daughter, kind of just linked on to me. she just started hugging me. my other son actually went into the laundry room and started doing the laundry. so, i guess he took that i need help more serious

than where i had i gone with that. but they just, you know, we just every day, just talk to them about it and just kept open about it and joked and joked around about it. you know, we laughed. actually it was fat tuesday when i went in for my surgery and we all wore beads that day. so, we tried to keep them positive and light thing about it, but it was-- they took it pretty well.

>> yeah. well, thank you. good question from the rosemont team. and thank you for all of your work out there today. we're waving to you guys. hold up your signs. cheer us on. yay! [cheering] there you go. and thank you to those of you who have taken your picture with the bra, as they mentioned and posted that to instagram

and twitter with the hashtag supportyourgirls. with each new post, we're closer reaching our goal of the three thousand dollars in donations to the american cancer society. so, we're just about out of time. that went by real fast, didn't it? so, we want to thank you ladies again for being here with us today, but before our chat ends, we certainly want to give each of you a second

to share the one piece of advice that you'd like to share with all the women out there. dr. memmel, we'll start with you. >> so, my message has been take good care of yourself, know your risk factors, try to reduce your risk. we can't prevent breast cancer entirely, but at least we can live a healthy lifestyle, know your family history and try to do everything you can to reduce your risk.

>> jeannine? >> early detection. early detection makes such a huge difference and it's my opinion that if it's found early enough, that we can control it instead of it controlling us. and that this journey is personal and hard for every single person that goes through it. and there's no rule book of how you're supposed to act or how you're supposed to feel.

you're entitled to every single feeling that you're feeling, if you're going through this journey. >> thank you, good. >> if you do get diagnosed, ask, talk to people, don't be afraid. people will open up and they'll tell you so much that you never even thought about and they will help you along your journey. >> good and aimee?

>> mine would be if you find anything, a lump, you know, anything that sounds concerning, go see your doctor right away. don't think that it's just going to go away. don't think that it's nothing. a lot of times it is nothing, but you need to have it checked out and you need to make sure again, with early detection. so, the earlier you go in your chances.

>> good advice. thank you everyone. well, that wraps up this edition of advocate live. thanks for joining the conversation. and if you have questions about breast health, check out our message board at storiesofthegirls.com you can also go to the ask the expert section and our breast cancer surgeons and radiologists will answer your questions and get back

to you very quickly. you can also connect with us anytime on facebook and twitter, instagram or at ahchealthynews.com and as we close now, let's hear more from one of our survivors, aimee, in this special video. we'll see you next time. >> i was young, healthy, there's no way that i could have breast cancer. i eat right, i workout, i said, this is not fair.

i should not have to go through this. i went in to advocate good shepherd and they still saw that mass in there. and he looked at me and said, i know your grandmother and your aunt had had this, so i know you've been thinking about what if it every happened to me. and i said i'd have the double mastectomy. i remember the moment that i took those bandages off and i sat in the mirror and just cried.

and my husband comes in and he's like, i don't care what they look like. do you care what they look like? he was there every step of the way. >> whatever she goes through, i go through. >> he just said if you're going through this, i'm going through it with you and i'm going to be by your side. and my kids, i remember telling them that they were going

to have to help out around the house and the next thing i know that evening i catch my son doing laundry, you know and i thinking to myself, okay, i didn't mean immediately. i was just surrounded by so much love that i think in some ways, something like this could tear people apart, but for us it definitely made us stronger. >> that is the biggest reason why she's as healthy

as she is, she's always positive. >> you can walk around and feel sorry for yourself or figure out the good that can come out of it. this has just opened up a whole other opportunity for me to help women who are being faced with this, families that are being faced with it. if i hear of, you know, someone new in town being diagnosed or dr. rosen calling me to, you know, talk to a woman, i'll jump at it, just sit there and listen

because anything i can do to just help someone else, happy to do it, any day. being able to take what i went through and make something good out of it, is beyond unbelievable.