Surviving Breast Cancer, Embracing Life

The following is an Editorial Resource from YourTotalHealth. 

An "Awful" Family History

Joanne Baron, 52
Years since diagnosis: 11

By the time she discovered just how strong her family history of the disease was, Joanne Baron already had breast cancer. It was 1997, and she was diagnosed with stage II ductal carcinoma in her left breast. She had a lumpectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation—just in time for her son’s bar mitzvah. Even today, “I have a scar across my left breast and no nipple or areola—this is my daily reminder that I went through hell but I’m alive and I’m okay,” says Baron, now 52, a mother of two children now in their 20s. “I’m an 11-year breast cancer survivor.”

After her diagnosis, one of her sisters and a cousin, who are both doctors, started a family tree to investigate their family’s medical history. They found breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers—which often share common genetic risk factors—present on numerous branches of the tree. “I was the first of my generation to be diagnosed with breast cancer,” she says, “but my paternal grandmother died of it at age 35, my paternal aunt died of it at 50, my father died of prostate cancer, and my paternal uncle had breast cancer and prostate cancer.” Before long, her mother and her other older sister would be diagnosed with breast cancer, too—her sister in 1998 (with a new cancer in 2007), her mother in 1999.

Testing for breast cancer
After discovering this “awful familial history,” as Baron puts it, she decided to undergo genetic testing. To her surprise, she learned that she had mutations in not just one, but both of the breast cancer genes, BRCA 1 and BRCA 2. “Since I was done having children, it was highly recommended that I have a total hysterectomy,” Baron says, “because this would essentially eliminate my risk of ovarian cancer and dramatically reduce my risk of a new breast cancer.”

To this day, her oncologist continues to recommend that she have a prophylactic mastectomy, and while she has come close, she hasn’t gone through with it. “I feel like I could do it if there were a reason, but it’s been 11 years. I’m screened every six months with a mammogram and MRI, and I have been taking tamoxifen for ten years and it still seems to be working,” she says. “What’s of most concern to me is the future of my children, especially my daughter, since they have breast cancer on both sides of the family.” (It turns out their father, Baron’s ex-husband, also carries one of the BRCA mutations.) “My daughter and I have sat down with the genetic counselor and she knows her risk,” Baron says. “But she’s 26 and until she’s decided whether to have a family, there’s almost no reason for her to have genetic testing because she’s not going to have her ovaries removed or a prophylactic mastectomy now.”

Moving on with life
But Joanne Baron refuses to let these genetic risks get her down. On the contrary, she has become more upbeat since her ordeal. “Now that my son and daughter are grown and on their own, it’s my turn to move on with my life,” explains Baron, who has co-owned and operated a café and catering business in Weston, Massachusetts since the year after her diagnosis.

She feels stronger than ever. “I feel like since I got through this, I can get through anything. I’ve learned to take better care of myself. I started a very successful business. And I don’t let things get me down like they used to because every day is so important. I value living much more because of what I’ve been through.”

By: Stacey Colino

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