Cancer survivors 2016

Supplement to the Tulsa World, Thursday, September 8, 2016

CANCER Survivors tulsaworld.com/cancersurvivors

Embracing hope, CELEBRATING LIFE. Bixby woman faces breast cancer with positive attitude By Stefanie Forney, Special Sections Editor

ach person’s journey with cancer is as different as a snowflake. Hearing the words “you have cancer” can be a chilling experience, and the very personal sojourn through treatment has many twists and turns. Lisa Riley, 41, has long known she has a history of breast cancer in her family. Both her mother and grandmother have had breast cancer multiple times. This gives Riley an awareness that she is at a higher risk for breast cancer than the average person. During Lisa’s routine annual checkup in 2014, her gynecologist noticed her family history of breast cancer and asked whether she had ever undergone genetic testing for gene mutations. She hadn’t, so they swabbed her cheek for the test. A couple of weeks later, Riley received notification that she did, in fact, have the gene. That’s when her doctor encouraged her to see a geneticist and a breast surgeon. “I thought ‘I’m not sick; I just have a higher risk than some people,’” she recalls. “But, at the same time, I wanted to be smart about it so I decided to see some doctors and find out what they would say.” The first one told her she had a 94 percent chance of getting breast cancer in the next five years so she needed to do something about it. “I asked him, ‘If I was your daughter sitting here, what would you tell me to do?’” recalls Riley. He told her that he would set up an appointment for a preventive double mastectomy immediately as well as a preventive hysterectomy. The second doctor Riley visited looked at her information and asked if she had thought about getting a preventive double mastectomy. Riley asked her the same question she had asked the first doctor, and this one didn’t bat an eye, saying if it was her daughter, she would be scheduling the surgery next week. “That was really scary,” Riley says. Later that day, Riley and her husband, Ben, discussed what to do. The Rileys, who own three Pinot’s Palette painting studios in the Tulsa area, were in the process of opening their last franchise so they decided to set up her double mastectomy appointment in six months. After opening their studio, the time was drawing near for her mastectomy. However, Riley received her yearly mammogram and everything was normal so she contemplated putting off surgery a bit. Her husband said, “No, let’s just get this done since we’re all prepared.” Riley had the preventive double mastectomy. Her doctor was as surprised as she was to learn that Riley already had cancer even though it hadn’t shown up on her scans or during surgery. A lab technician noticed it while looking at a sample taken during surgery. “I have triple negative, which is the really nasty, aggressive, deadly kind. We caught it very early,” Riley says. After learning the diagnosis, Riley put the preventive hysterectomy on hold and did 21 weeks of chemo at Oklahoma Cancer Specialists and Research Institute. “By the grace of God I’m here and healthy,” Riley says. “My story is

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unique because my double mastectomy ended up saving my life! I’m so thankful that my husband didn’t let me put it off.” Riley makes a point to look for the positive in every experience, and she even shared her journey through treatment on Facebook and Instagram. “I have an awesome, supportive family, friends and work family,” Riley says. “Every week when I went to chemo was a party. In fact, five to 15 people came to chemo with me each time. I didn’t want to be by myself — I wanted to celebrate life. We would laugh and tell stories. We’d bring cookies for all the patients on the chemo floor. I took every Monday off for chemo, but I was able to continue Last chemo “Jump for Joy!” working Tuesday through Friday.” One of Riley’s biggest concerns was that she didn’t want her son to see her sick. He had just turned 4 years old when she was diagnosed. “My oncologist told me how different treatment is now compared to just a few years ago when my mother had cancer,” Riley says. “He told me, ‘If you throw up even one time then I’m not doing my job. We can give you anti-nausea medications.’ “I never threw up even though I was on the gnarliest of chemos,” she adds. “It’s nice to learn that the symptoms are much more manageable now.” In sharing her journey online, Riley was honest, but she sought to find the good each day. “One of the things I learned from my mom, who passed away seven years ago, is to find the good in everything and the grace,” Riley says. So she allowed herself to cry in the shower as she started the day to work through any negative emotions she was experiencing. “I allowed myself to let out all the anger and negative thoughts, and then I could wash it off,” Riley says. “It was cathartic and symbolic. But when I turned the water off, I stopped the negativity. This is how I let the positive win. ” Riley was committed to making the best of everything. For instance, when she knew she was going to lose her hair, she died it purple. Once it started falling out, she shaved her head. She loved being bald so she never chose to wear a wig. One of her favorite photos during her journey is of her husband shaving her head. “I wanted Ben to take me on a date on Valentine’s Day,” Riley says. “Three-fourths of the way through of my chemo regimen, I got a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I was getting dressed, and I started crying. I didn’t realize that some random hairs were coming in on my bald head, so I asked him to shave my head. I took a selfie of him shaving my head as I leaned over the sink. These are the kinds of things people don’t think about that go on behind the scene. It was a very real moment. “Attitude is everything,” Riley adds. “I had more people tell me that my attitude inspired them to rethink their journey. It made them feel much better about tackling it.” Update: Riley had a checkup August 26 and “it was wonderful.”