Cancer in the Platte Valley

Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, the Saratoga Sun will share the story of Michelle McWain. She is a wife, a mother, a Carbon County School District No. 2 employee and a breast cancer survivor.

***

Michelle McWain led an ordered life.

Her house had to be clean. Her job in human resources and accounts payable at the Carbon County School District No. 2 office had to be precise.

To Michelle, everything had its place. If something was not right, she would drop everything and take care of it.

But, two years ago, her outlook on life had changed forever.

On March 12, 2012, Michelle was at work when she received the call.

The person on the other line was Jennifer Oiler, a nurse practitioner at the Platte Valley Medical Clinic. Oiler suggested Michelle bring herself and her husband down to the clinic.

Michelle could not wait that long -- she’s not a person who let’s anything go to chance.

“I said ‘Jennifer I want to know: is it cancer?’”

Oiler had repeatedly advised Michelle to come in to the clinic, but to no avail. Michelle said she had to know at that moment. If there was something growing inside of her, she had to know immediately.

Oiler finally confirmed Michelle’s worst suspicions: Michelle had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

All it took was one phone call, and her life had changed forever.

“It was just a whirlwind from that moment on,” Michelle said. “Just the decisions you had to make, whether you saw the oncologist first— just the whole gamut of what step do you take next?”

Fortunately for Michelle, she took her first step several months before she got the call.

Since fall of 2011, Michelle’s body did not feel right. She felt a pain in her breast when she was coaching volleyball. It was probably nothing, she thought.

Her last mammogram was two years prior to then, Michelle said she simply had been putting it off. She and her mother finally decided to go in for a mammogram. Michelle’s grandmother is a breast cancer survivor, and susceptibility increases with a family history of the disease.

Michelle first underwent an analog, or film, mammogram procedure. While analog mammograms have been used for upwards of 30 years, according to the National Cancer Institute, the picture it takes is limited as it cannot be altered by radiologist. She then underwent a digital mammogram, of which the results differed from the analog

Once it was suggested to Michelle to do an ultrasound for a second opinion she knew something serious was happening.

“I knew right away,” she said. “I just kind of had this inkling that something is not right.”

Michelle’s doctor was not concerned, but did confirm “there was something in there.” She then underwent a fine-needle biopsy, a procedure which takes a cell sample from under the skin for examination.

“About one week later, I got the call. It was cancer,” Michelle said.

***

According to the American Cancer Institute, an estimated 1.6 million people in America, both men and women of all ages, will be diagnosed with some type of cancer this year. Sadly enough, more than 500,000 people will die from cancer by the time 2014 is over.

Malignant tumors can grow inside anyone; from the 24 year-old marathon runner, to the 80 year-old chain smoker. Cancer can spread anywhere inside a person’s body at any time. There is no certain way of predicting who will have cancer, when they will have it and what type they will have.

Cancer awareness movements have been around since the 1930s, and was popularized by the Woman’s Cancer Institute.

Since then, millions of dollars are raised by hundreds of organizations each year to help fund research and awareness.

And still, there is still no cure.

But what is it about cancer that makes it so deadly?

Dean Bartholomew, M.D., local physician at the Platte Valley Medical Clinic said cancer is a process by which normal cells, already inside a person, start growing and lose the ability to shut themselves off.

“[All cells] are programed to grow a certain amount, then they shut off stop growing,” he said.

For example, if one examines the cells in any person’s hand, the normal cells in a finger are programed to stop growing once it reaches a certain length. But for a cancerous cell, it keeps growing.

If the cells are not stopped from growing, the abnormal growth and tissue takes over. The area in the body where the growth is located prohibits growth of normal cells that are trying to do their job.

“Now you have a non-functional tissue that eventually leads to death or other major problems,” Bartholomew said.

One of the common misconceptions about cancer, Bartholomew said, is that cancerous cells arrive externally from one’s body. The potential for cancer cell growth is always there. All it takes is just a few, microscopic cells to continue to keep growing, and a person’s life is instantly changed.

***

Michelle had a scheduled appointment on April 10, 2012, but one month without a doctor visit was not an option for her. Take care of it right away, she thought. Michelle started to make phone calls and scheduled appointments. She was able to see someone about her cancer within a week. She saw an oncologist within six weeks.

If there was a cancerous cell growing inside of her, she wanted it out.

But the road to recession was bumpy. Mentally, it wore her down. Physically, she was constantly hurting. Emotionally, it drained her.

She fought. This was not a battle she was going to lose.