Mother and son strive against breast cancer together.
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Highlights
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About 4 years ago, Colleen Creamer was on vacation in Prague. While taking a shower, she found something that shocked her – a lump in her breast. She was shocked because just 5 months earlier, she had had a breast exam at her annual OB/GYN visit. What’s more, she had her annual mammogram the previous spring at age 40, just as the American Cancer Society recommends. Neither exam had found anything suspicious.
American Cancer Society Guidelines for Early Detection of Breast Cancer
- Yearly mammograms are recommended starting at age 40 and continuing for as long as a woman is in good health.
- Clinical breast exam (CBE) should be part of a periodic health exam, about every 3 years for women in their 20s and 30s and every year for women age 40 and older.
- Women should know how their breasts normally look and feel and report any breast change to their health care providers right away. Breast self-exam (BSE) is an option for women starting in their 20s.
- Women at high risk (greater than 20% lifetime risk) should get an MRI and a mammogram every year. Women at moderately increased risk (15% to 20% lifetime risk) should talk with their doctors about the benefits and limitations of adding MRI screening to their yearly mammogram. Yearly MRI screening is not recommended for women whose lifetime risk of breast cancer is less than 15%.
When she returned to her home in Framingham, Massachusetts, Creamer promptly made an appointment with her doctor, who referred her for a mammogram right away. When the mammogram technician asked her to take her films and drive right to a nearby ultrasound clinic, Creamer began to worry. The worry only grew at the ultrasound office. "They kept saying, 'We don't know what it is,'" she recalls. "Even though I didn’t know it was cancer, I knew it was cancer in my heart."
Creamer's fear was confirmed.
On her way home from the ultrasound office, her primary care doctor called her cell phone and told her, "You need to make an appointment with a breast surgeon. Do you need referrals for an oncologist?" When she heard that word, she knew that she did indeed have cancer.
When Creamer met with the breast surgeon, she learned it wasn't just breast cancer that she had, but a very aggressive type of breast cancer that grows and spreads more quickly than most. She had triple negative breast cancer, a type that tends to occur more often in younger women and in African American women. Because the tumor cells of this cancer type do not have certain key receptors, neither hormone therapy nor certain targeted drugs are effective against them.
Instead, Creamer’s treatment plan involved 3 surgeries, 4 months of chemotherapy, and 7 weeks of radiation. About a year after finding the lump, Creamer was finally finished with treatment. "I was no longer a cancer patient," she notes, "but had started, very tenuously, the rest of my journey – that of a breast cancer survivor."
Now she's committed to others.
Creamer feels she was lucky to find the lump in her own breast and she is committed to educating others about breast cancer and the importance of screening. Along with the American Cancer Society, she strongly recommends all women of all ages be familiar with how their breasts normally look and feel. That way, they’ll be aware of any changes or unusual symptoms and can report them to a doctor right away.
Friends and family were committed to her.
In August of 2005, a good friend of Creamer'sCreamer's honored her by forming a team for the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Boston. She called the team "Colleen's Dream Team."
Creamer was unable to take part herself because she was still in treatment, but her son Warren, then 9 years old, immediately said, "Great! I'll do it!"
Warren set a goal of raising $200, but ended up raising more than $3,000, making him the youngest Pacesetter (a title given to top Making Strides fundraisersa person) in the history of the Boston walk. And Colleen’s Dream Team raised $8,000 to help the American Cancer Society save lives.
Just a year later, Creamer herself was able to join Colleen’s Dream Team and walk the walk with her friends and her son. Today, the Making Strides walk has become an annual tradition for mother and son. Says Creamer, "I can't even put into words how wonderful it's been, our association with the Making Strides walk. It's changed this cancer experience." And of her son Warren, now nearly 13, she says, "I don't have words to express how proud I am of him. Walk day is his second favorite day in the year after Christmas."
"Everyone who has been affected by breast cancer is just a 'regular person.' Moms, daughters, sisters, and best friends – this disease is non-discriminating." – Colleen Creamer
