UHCL Sisterhood with Susan G. Komen

Amanda Anderson

The Signal

In many women and some men there is an underlying fear in the words, “You have cancer.” It means that everything changes and you may be  in for the fight of your life. Scarier still, in the United States, breast cancer death rates are second only to lung cancer.

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is an event created to raise not only awareness about breast cancer, but to raise money to fight the disease, and bring survivors and new patients together to create the feeling of community. The UHCL Sisterhood was formed six years ago for those very reasons.

With team members from the university who have experienced breast cancer personally or know someone who has or has had breast cancer, they raise money and participate every year and will again at 8a.m. on Oct. 2 at Sam Houston Park in Downtown Houston.

“We were inspired to participate for several reasons,” said Mary Ann Shallberg, executive associate to the president of UHCL. “Some of them personal for each participant; and also because many of the UHCL staff, students and alumni we know who have faced breast cancer and are survivors, as well as those who have faced breast cancer and lost their lives.”

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, every three minutes, a woman will be diagnosed with breast cancer, while only 1 percent of new cases are reported in men.  This means that the two most significant risk factors are being a woman, and age.

“Great strides have been made in recent years in terms of breast cancer detection and treatment, and toward a cure,”  Shallberg said.  “Our goal is to ultimately help everyone who has breast cancer become a survivor.”

Many people get involved with medical charity causes for personal reasons. They knew someone, they are a survivor, or they are a newly diagnosed patient fighting for their life. One such person is Candace Lehew, administrative secretary in the School of Business.

Lehew was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 at the age of 35. She had a BReast CAncer, or BRCA, genetic test performed to see if she had the mutations that can lead to the disease; she was negative for both and was still diagnosed with the disease.

About 5-10 percent of breast cancer cases can be linked to the mutations BRCA genes that you inherit. Women with these mutations are 80 percent more likely to develop breast cancer within their life, and men can develop the mutation too.

“When I heard the words ‘You have cancer,’ my life changed forever,” Lehew said.“Everything I thought I knew in my life changed, I had a lot of mixed emotions, but I knew without a doubt that I would survive.”

Lehew faced that numbing fear when diagnosed. Lehew says it was a, “fear of the unknown, fear of the disease, fear of the treatment, fear of not surviving, fear of living through such a horrible disease, fear of losing those closest to you because they cannot cope with the illness and fear of losing everything you have spent your entire life working toward.”

In remission for three and a half years, Lehew says it was faith that got her through it. “Even when you are cancer-free, the fight is never over,” Lehew said.

About 39,840 women in the United States are expected to die from breast cancer in 2010, a lower number than previous years, but not to the people who fight for a cure.

About 70-80 percent of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of the disease and about 1 in 10 men may develop the disease due to genetic abnormalities that happen with normal aging. Despite this fact, there are currently more than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.

“I don’t think women know nearly enough about breast cancer risks, especially women who are not in the typical age range for breast cancer,” Lehew said.  She was told that at 35 she was too young to get the disease.

“If I had listened to the first doctor, the disease would have taken my life,” Lehew said. “The most important thing is for women to understand their body.”

The UHCL Sisterhood is still accepting donations through their affiliate website at www.komen-houston.org. It is too late to participate in this year’s race, but anyone can go to the website and sign up for next year.

Other runs are the American Heart Association’s annual Start! Heart Walk for the Bay Area on Oct. 16 at the Kemah Boardwalk. For more information on this race contact Jeanette Webster at jeanette.webster@heart.org, or Lindsey Grove at lindsey.grove@heart.org. There is also the D’Feet Breast Cancer Fun Run/Walk at Moody Gardens in Galveston on Oct. 30. For more information on this race, contact the Galveston County Health District at 409-938 2291, or go online at www.dfeetbreastcancer.com.