The following was submitted by family members of the late Natalie (Smith) Keeth, a former Stroud resident who died with breast cancer eighteen years ago. The family asked that Natalie’s “Letter to the Editor” published Oct. 3, 2002, be reprinted this week to increase breast cancer awareness, particularly among young women.
To the Editor:
We lost our dear Natalie to breast cancer on Sept. 30, 2003. She had written this very important article to help save lives. These are her words written on Sept. 17, 2002:
Sept. 17, 2002:
Letter to Editor:
I am writing this to raise the awareness of Breast Cancer among younger women. Two years ago, at the age of 31 while breast-feeding my 8 month old daughter, I
Two years ago, at the age of 31 while breast-feeding my 8 month old daughter, I was diagnosed with Stage 3B (Advanced) of an aggressive type of Breast Cancer. I underwent 6 months of chemotherapy, mastectomy, and 6 weeks of daily radiation. I was NED (no evidence of disease) for over a year.
In June of this year, I found out that I have had a recurrence of the cancer. I am now Stage 4. The cancer is now in many lymph nodes in my upper chest area, in my bones (widespread), and now in my brain (10 small tumors).
I am receiving weekly chemo, a drug called Herceptin weekly, had 15 treatments of full brain radiation, and will have a procedure called the Gamma Knife (radiosurgery) on Oct. 9 to treat the brain tumors. I am not sure what the future holds for me, but I pray everyday that God will get me through this for my 3 children.
I am hoping by writing this that I can encourage young women to do their monthly self-breast exams, eat healthy, don’t smoke, and even though I found my breast cancer while breast feeding, it does lower your chances of getting it. When I found my breast cancer, I had not done a self-breast exam for over a year. When I was 23 years old, I found a lump in my breast, went to my family physician to have it checked, he told me that I was too young for Breast Cancer, take vitamin E and stop drinking caffeine and eating chocolate. I took his advice and did not take any more lumps I felt from then on seriously.
If you find a lump, have it checked out by your doctor. Don’t take “you’re too young” for an answer, be demanding! It’s your body, you only get one. Detecting a lump early is the best thing you can do to survive Breast Cancer. With very early detection, you can have a 90-95% survival rate. Unfortunately, I waited too late.
Although Breast Cancer among young women is not common, it does happen, at age 30 your chances start rising, and as you have more children. I am a member of Young Survival Coalition on the Internet and have talked to and read about young women as young as 17 that have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer.
Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in pregnant and lactating women, occurring in about 1 in 3,000 and are usually diagnosed at later stages than women who are the same age and not pregnant and breast-feeding, do your monthly breast self-exams, it may save your life. Please Be Aware - I was not! For more information, on the internet you can go to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation at www.komen.org.
In God’s Hands,
Natalie Keeth