The Battalion
Page 3 • Friday, October 15, 1999
Aggielife
urxng
Students should become aware of disease that claims one of every nine women in US.
according to statistics by the
American Cancer Society:
By the end of 1999 —
• There will be 175,000 new cases
of breast cancer in women in
America
• 43,000 of those women will die
from breast cancer
This means —
• Breast cancer will be diagnosed
every three minutes
• Breast cancer will claim a life
every twelve minutes
• As many as 2,317 current
female Texas A&M students
will eventually die from cancer
BY AMANDA PALM
The Battalion
Mi
'y mom was like super woman.
She was a fireball.” Geoff
.Spahr, a junior marketing ma
jor, was a freshman in high school when
his mom, Mary Jo, told him she had
breast cancer. His parents were divorced,
and he and his older sister were living
with his mother.
The breast cancer was caught in an ear
ly stage, and treatment began immediately.
“I took her to all of her treatments,”
Spahr said. “It sucked, but I didn’t know
the impact this would have on my life at the
time. She had chemo, radiation, homeo
pathic therapy — everything. Sometimes it
seemed like the treatments were hurting her
more than the therapy.”
Spahr said he did not realize how seri
ous things were until the effects of his
mother’s treatment began to show.
"The doctors were trying a new kind of
chemo, and told her she may not lose her
hair,” he said. “But she did, and then I re
alized my mom was really sick.”
A double mastectomy, the surgical re
moval of both breasts, was required for
Spahr’s mother to prevent further spread of
the cancer. But the breast cancer metasta
sized from her breast into her lymph nodes
and, finally, into her liver.
“She was really positive, and I thought
the same way she did,” he said. “About a
month before she died, 1 realized she prob
ably wasn’t going to make it. That’s when
she sat me down and told me she wasn’t
sure she was going to beat it.” jmm
Spahr’s mother battled with cancer for
three years. On April 9, 1996, the disease
took her life.
“The day before she died, I had a base
ball game, and I didn’t go to the hospital
because she was doing really well,” he
said. “My grandpa stayed with her that
night, and around midnight he called and
told us to come to the hospital right away.
We stayed with her all night.
“The next morning she was doing real
ly bad. My sister and my dad and I went
to get breakfast and it was almost like she
was waiting for us. We came back to the
room, and my sister went inside. I was
waiting in the hall. Then 1 went into the
room about five minutes later, and I was
holding her hand when she passed away.”
The American Cancer Society estimates
by the end of 1999 there will be 175,000
new cases of breast cancer in women, ac
companied with 43,300 deaths directly at
tributable to breast cancer. After lung can
cer, breast cancer is the most common
cancer found in American women.
Peter Gray, St. Joseph’s Regional Cancer
Center director, said approximately 15,000
of the women in the Bryan-College Station
area, including college-aged women, will
develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Of
those, 4,000 will die from the disease.
Gray said the center uses four methods
to treat cancer: surgery, chemotherapy, ra
diation and hormone therapy.
“We combine all modalities [different
approaches to treatment] because that is a
woman’s best hope,” he said. “We are bet
ter than the nation in terms of how we treat
breast cancer. ”
The degree of breast cancer is noted by
stages. Stages of cancer range from stage
zero to stage four or five, as determined by
the development of the cancer. The earlier
stage the cancer is in, the better chance a
woman has to survive it.
“If it’s found in stage zero or one, our ex
perience has been over 97 percent of
women are still alive after five years,” Gray
said. “If caught in stage three or stage four,
there is a worse prognosis.”
Risk factors have been identified to help
women determine if they are at a greater
risk for breast cancer.
Risk factors include increasing age, a
family history of breast cancer, “breast
cancer” genes, an early age of first men
struation and advanced age during their
first pregnancy.
The American Cancer Society says early
detection of a possible tumor improves a
woman’s chances that breast cancer can be
diagnosed and treated successfully.
Though college-aged women are not at
high risk for breast cancer, the American
Cancer Society suggests women between
the ages of 20 and 39 have a clinical breast
examination once every three years.
After the age of 40, women should have
a annual mammogram.
All women over the age of 20 should per
form monthly breast self-examinations to
check for abnormal breast shape or lumps
in tire breast.
It has been three years since Spahr’s
mother’s death, and he said people are still
amazed at how well he handled his moth
er’s fight with breast cancer.
“People always say they don’t know
how I did it, that if it was them, they
wouldn’t have been strong enough,” he
said, “it’s not like I had a choice. There
was nothing I could do about it. I just had
to deal with it.
“My mom was really strong and she
worked up u til the end and didn’t let it
slow her down. I always admired her
strength, gives me the drive to do better.”
PHOTO BY BRADLEY ATCHISON
f ^
BOOTY KS!
COME GET “MAROONED OUT” WITH
IT’S UNIVERSAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS
TAILGATE PARTY IN A TENT!
All our Ag Alumni want to help share
in the AG SPIRIT as we
BEAT THE HELL OUTTA KANSAS!
Who:
Where:
When:
What:
Why:
How:
UCS and YOU
Duncan Field
Saturday, October 16, 1999
9:30 a.m. - Noon
BEVO Brisket &: SOONER Sausage
Because we’re a fun place to work!
Stop by on your way to the game
Come win Maroon T-Shirts
andlfell the Ags on to Victory!