Karen Walsh

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.


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.


“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

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.