These before and after shots of Karen Walsh show her
on the first day of chemo (July 9) and the last day
of chemo (November 19)
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Previous Survivor Stories
Hampden Township, Cumberland County
Diagnosis and Treatment
I was at my desk talking on the phone and
playing with my necklace when I felt something. A
lump, like a marble, was protruding out of my
chest. I called the facility where I get my annual
mammogram. It was early April 2009 and I wasn't
due for a mammogram until May, but I made an
appointment right away.
Everyone at the facility could see the lump with
the naked eye, but it didn't show up on the
mammogram. They ordered an ultrasound. After
the ultrasound the radiologist said, "I don't want to
alarm you but you need to get to a doctor right
away." Okay, now I was alarmed.
I was diagnosed with triple negative breast
cancer and decided to have treatment at University
of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. Penn was
conducting a clinical trial on triple negative breast
cancer and I wanted to be as aggressive with it as
possible.
My husband Brian started a blog to chronicle my
journey - www.mywifewithcancer.blogspot.com. He
is one of 12 children and since my family is out of
state this was a great way for him to keep everyone
posted about what was going on.
“My advice is to accept
the kindness that people
want to show you. That
can be hard if you're a
Type A person and used
to taking charge.
But this is something you
can't control.”
- Karen Walsh |
Overwhelming Kindness
I don't regret my cancer diagnosis at all. I am so
much richer because of it! I cherish the friendships
that deepened as a result of the process and the new
ones that were formed. My own circle of friends
rallied around me and my co-workers were
amazingly supportive. My friends organized a party
and everyone brought me hats and scarves. The
mother of one friend taught herself to knit just so
she could knit a scarf for me!
Some neighbors who I hardly knew learned
about my diagnosis and formed a dinner group,
taking turns to bring me dinner a few nights a
week. They had heard that my husband had to
travel a lot near the end of my chemo treatments.
One night, when they were not scheduled to
bring dinner, I had no energy. Just as I wondered
what I would do about dinner for my 14 year-old
son Jack, the front doorbell rang. And there was
a neighbor with a Ziploc bag of meatballs and
sauce! The kindness expressed in ways like that
was just overwhelming.
I started a new job recently and about six
weeks ago an email went around about a
colleague who had just been diagnosed with
breast cancer. I reached out to her by email and
said I know you're at the scary part, between
diagnosis and surgery. She and I have been
emailing ever since. She says it's easier for her that
way... that she can vent better anonymously. My
advice to her is to accept the kindness that people
want to show you. That can be hard if you're a
Type A person and used to taking charge. But this
is something you can't control.
Big Strong Girl
One summer day it was just too hot to cover
my head with one of my hats or scarves. I went
out with no covering on my bald head. A woman
came up to me and said, "You're so brave. I could
never do that; go out with my bald head
showing." I said, "I'm not brave. I'm just hot."
After that I decided to go out bald for all the
women who feel like they can't. Everyone says
you're so strong, but sometimes you don't feel
strong and you can wind up feeling pressured to
live up to that.
These lyrics from the song "Big Strong Girl"
by Deb Talen express that far more eloquently
than I can: It's not now or never/It's not black & it's
not white/Anything worth anything/Takes more than
a few days/And a long, long night/Don't push so hard
against the world/You can't do it all alone/And if
you could, would you really want to?/Even though
you're a big strong girl,/Come on, come on, lay it
down/The best made plans are your open hands.
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