In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Clarion spoke with Gwendolyn Jones, diversity officer at Sinclair Community College, who is a breast cancer survivor.
“If we have life experiences that may be helpful to somebody else, I think that we’re supposed to share those,” she said. “Because it really isn’t all about us; usually it’s about others. Even with my breast cancer issue back in 1996, I had no idea what that would mean for other people. I knew what it meant for me.”
Jones said she caught the cancer in its early stage through self-examination in April 1996; in May 1996, she underwent lumpectomy surgery and radiation therapy for seven weeks, five days a week.
“It helped me understand a little bit better what my mother had endured when she had her two bouts with it, and how it changes your whole perspective about yourself, about life, about other people,” she said. “And I also didn’t know that experience, all of those experiences, would ultimately be of help and benefit to so many other people in the future.”
She later went through a genetic study to find out how strongly the gene was carried in her family. She discovered that she and her mother were the only females in her family to carry the gene.
However, she still remains hopeful for a cure.
“The treatment field for breast cancer has come so very, very far since I had my bout with it,” she said. “And so, there is great hope that a cure will be found.”
Jones said she has been a supporter of other women who have also had breast cancer, including friends and family members.
She spoke of a time when she was teaching at Wright State University and ran into a fellow teacher, who was expecting a phone call from her doctor to deliver the news on whether or not she had breast cancer.
“I stayed there with her and she answered the call. And sure enough, that’s exactly what they told her,” she said. “Timing — did that just happen by chance? I don’t think so … I was so grateful that I was there in the parking lot to be support for her, and ultimately, I even went with her to the Cleveland Clinic because she was going there for treatment, and also supported other things that happened after that.”
She advises others not to procrastinate about having mammograms and getting check-ups.
“Certainly if you have found or think you have found a lump, take care of it right away because the earlier you attend to it, the less likely it will be dangerous,” she said. “Allow your support system to support you, and what I mean by that is don’t pretend that everything’s alright when you know it isn’t. Let people help who want to help. And do not be afraid to ask for help.”
She added that through her fight with breast cancer, she was able to form a support network consisting of other women who were battling cancer, as well as some who were supporting someone else.
“People come into your life that probably would not have been there, had it not [happened] to you,” she said.
Since her bout with breast cancer, Jones took away some life lessons.
“People always say ‘well, why did this happen to me?’ There’s a reason,” she said. “You may not know what it is and you might not see it at the moment, but there is definitely a reason and ultimately it gets revealed to you … If we just kind of sit back and relax and know that it’s all going to be okay and it’s all going to have positive meaning, then we get through it.”