THINK PINK: Cancer survivor stresses self-exams

Almost 19 years have passed since her breast cancer diagnosis, but Laurel Hill’s Karen Hendren still believes that women should be “faithful” in self-exams. Her diligence in the exams paid off early.

In January 1992 Hendren said she “felt something.”

“I called Dr. Sandra Hanson at the Breast Clinic in Fort Walton and went in for a mammogram,” she said. “The mammogram came back inconclusive in a diagnosis. So I had an ultrasound so that they could see more. Sure enough it came back inconclusive as well.

“At that point Dr. Hanson, who is also a surgeon, did a biopsy in her office and I remember she was telling the nurse, 'Looking good so far,' and then she changed to, 'Get this to the hospital lab right away.'”

Within two weeks of the biopsy, Hendren underwent a modified radical mastectomy to her left breast and was sent home with a suction drain, sutures and a list of exercises she was to do.

“I remember not understanding the directions of one of the arm lifts, and when she asked me to do one of each of the exercises on my return visit, she grabbed that left arm and up it went over my head. And no, I had not been doing that correctly at all, and man did it hurt.

“I remember my brain shutting down when she said the words breast cancer in the biopsy results, then a whirlwind of feelings start. Next I was mad. I even remember thinking, 'I am not wasting my vacation on breast cancer.'”

Although she has since retired, at the time of her diagnosis, Hendren was a maintenance-training technician in civil service and in the Reserves at Duke Field.

With a Stage I cancer, Hendren did not have to undergo chemotherapy or radiation treatments after the surgery.

“I walked every day at lunch time, still do several times a week, and I was very selective about who knew about the cancer,” she said. “My walking buddy knew and one day we started talking about forming a team for Relay for Life from Duke Field. This is our 11th year with Relay and we always have about 60 people participating, and sometimes two teams instead of one.”

“I remember the first Survivor Walk after my diagnosis. I felt guilty for participating because my experience was such a minor one compared to what some people undergo,” she said. “Yet it was very emotional — I had to keep distancing myself from the others in the walk.”

Since then Hendren and her husband, Larry, have served on the board of directors for the local Relay for Life and they are still active with the annual event.

She also has walked the past two years in the Emerald Coast Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Destin.

The American Cancer Society’s projection is that by the end of 2011 there will have been 113,000 new diagnoses of breast cancer in Florida. Throughout the nation, 1,596,670 new cases are expected this calendar year.

In their most recent release of five-year relative survival rates for breast cancer diagnosed between 1999 and 2006, the survival rate is up to 68 percent, up from 50 percent in 1975-1977. Survival statistics rates vary with breast cancer types and severity. ACS says early detection is another contributor to the statistical changes that have increased survival number