Juanita Syljuberget, contracts and grants administrator in the Office of Sponsored Programs, was diagnosed with breast cancer this year at age 48.
In January, Syljuberget went in for her annual mammogram. The doctors told her to come back in for more tests. When she went in, the doctors did an ultrasound and a biopsy, and they found the cancer.
“All they have to say is that C-word and you block everything else out,” she said.
Syljuberget’s cancer growth was two centimeters when it was found.
“They told me it was a fast-growing cancer,” she said.
Within two weeks of Syljuberget finding out about her cancer, she had surgery. Since February, she has had four surgeries and four months of chemotherapy.
“It’s been a very rough year for me,” she said.
Syljuberget had a mastectomy, which is the surgical removal of a breast. Her chemotherapy treatments were once every other week, for a total of eight treatments.
Even with all of the physical stress on her body, Syljuberget said that wasn’t the hardest part of her cancer.
“The hardest part was telling my kids,” she said. “My husband was wonderful. He was right there with me.”
Her children, ages 25 and 17, both live in Missouri. Syljuberget was in the hospital for a week after her surgery. Her husband didn’t have a lot of vacation time but was able to take off work to be with her.
“It’s amazing the amount of support and well wishes I got,” she said. “People have just been really very nice. There’s no way I could repay them.”
Syljuberget’s last chemotherapy treatment was Aug. 17, and her last surgery was about a month ago.
“It’s been really rough and mine didn’t go according to plan,” she said. She is now taking Tamoxifen, a drug that will cut her chances of a relapse by 50 percent.
Because self-exams and doctor exams didn’t find her cancer, Syljuberget said she encourages more women to get mammograms.
“It’s just a life-changing thing,” she said. “It really is.”
Karla Simmons, a professor in consumer affairs, has also had her life changed because of breast cancer.
On a Sunday in April of 2006, Simmons was performing a monthly self-exam when she found a lump. She called her doctor on Monday, and went in on Tuesday for an exam. On Thursday, she had a mammogram, an ultrasound and a biopsy. The following Monday, just a week after her initial phone call to the doctor, she was told her mammogram was clear, but the ultrasound and biopsy showed cancer.
“On April 17, they told me I had breast cancer,” she said.
At the age of 35, Simmons was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma, an invasive cancer that began in the ducts and lobes of the breast. With this type of cancer, Simmons said there is a high chance it will mirror itself in the other breast.
She had 16 treatments of chemotherapy, lasting from May until August.
Because of her chemotherapy, Simmons lost all of her hair, eyelashes and eyebrows.
“Losing my hair was one of the most traumatic things that ever happened to me,” she said.
Simmons said that before her cancer, she had long, thick red hair. She said people always told her they remembered her by her hair.
On Sept. 29, 2006, Simmons had a double mastectomy. The cancer was only in her left breast, but she wanted to be sure there was no chance of the cancer developing in her right breast.
She has now been cancer-free for more than one year.
Simmons will now take Arimidex, a cancer drug for postmenopausal women, for five years.
While Simmons was only 35 at the time of her diagnosis, her cancer put her into early menopause.
“Having breast cancer this early has made things happen really early,” she said.
Simmons said throughout her cancer, she had a sense of peace through her faith.
“With God’s grace I’m going to get through every bit of it,” she said.
Simmons now volunteers with Reach to Recovery, a program to help people cope with breast cancer.
“There were lots of women that helped me and I feel like it’s my responsibility to give back,” she said.
Simmons isn’t the only faculty member who has used her breast cancer experience to help others.
Veronica Chesnut, a development officer in the college of engineering and breast cancer survivor, uses her story to encourage others.
“Cancer and The Lord’s Prayer,” a book by Greg Anderson, helped Chesnut during her cancer. Now, she sends copies of the book to anyone she knows with cancer.
She also visits and supports women with cancer.
“It has been a blessing to me to get to know these ladies,” she said.
Chesnut found her breast cancer at the age of 58. For 41 years, she had done self-exams because she had a lot of fiber cysts in her breasts.
“I had a history of breast problems,” she said.
In March of 2007, during a self-exam, she found suspicious area. She went in for a mammogram, which was followed by an ultrasound and a biopsy. On June 4, she had a ten-and-a-half hour double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery.
“They got everything,” she said. “I was really lucky.”
Her surgery ended her treatment. She did not need radiation or chemotherapy.
“I was blessed because I caught mine early,” she said.
Chesnut said she encourages women to know their bodies and to do regular self-exams, because that is how hers was found.
Joan Nelson, student affairs specialist for Freshman Year Experience, has been a breast cancer survivor since 1993.
In February of 1993, at 49 years old, Nelson found out she had breast cancer. Her lump was found by a doctor exam, not from a mammogram.
After doing some research on her own, Nelson decided she wanted to have a lumpectomy, which is a surgery that removes only the part of the breast with cancer. Her lumpectomy surgery was followed by seven weeks of radiation treatments. Nelson said she didn’t have any symptoms during radiation.
“I didn’t feel anything and I worked the entire time,” she said.
Then, she had chemotherapy. Nelson said she believes a person’s success with chemotherapy depends on their attitude.
On her first treatment, she sat next to a man who had a positive attitude, and she said that influenced her attitude for the rest of her treatments.
“I did extremely well,” she said. “I did not get very sick.”
Nelson said she feels fortunate that her cancer was found as early as it was.
She said the hardest part was telling her daughters, who were 15 and 11 at the time. She said she didn’t know how they would react.
“They were very positive,” she said.
Nelson is now 14 years out of treatment for breast cancer.
“Cancer is not a death sentence anymore,” she said. “You shouldn’t lose hope.”
