It was just before her family’s Christmas celebration last year—Dec. 21—that Dierdre Baker received confirmation that she had breast cancer. Two months later, Brenda Johnson, a friend in her Pleasant Street neighborhood book group got the same news: she, too, had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Unlike their book group, this was a club neither were eager to join.
Breast cancer, which will strike one in eight American women in her lifetime, isn’t genetic. The disease requires monthly self-checks to identify abnormal changes and regular mammograms for early detection, which in turn enables early treatment and what’s called a “good outcome.”
That worked for Dierdre Baker, who for 15 years has beens a teacher in the Middleton school system. In November 2022 she noticed a marble-sized growth in her right breast during a self-exam and quickly made an appointment for a mammogram.
After that, it was another mammogram, an ultrasound, and a biopsy which confirmed her worst fears: a 1.6 cm tumor (“Stage 1”), categorized as triple negative ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Dierdre, her husband Bill and two daughters faced what was to come, with determination. By early 2023, Dierdre and Bill called friends and family, as she entered treatment at Mass General Hospital in Boston and in Danvers at the MGH Cancer Center (“the kindest human beings that I have ever met,” she said of the staff there.)
“What I learned in the process of being diagnosed is when someone in your cancer team asks, Do you have any questions? the correct answer is, What questions should I be asking?,” said Dierdre.
“I figured that out in the end,” responded Brenda, laughing.
Brenda Johnson’s story was different. Unlike Dierdre, who had no family connection to breast cancer, Brenda’s family had breast cancer all around. Three members of her family had been diagnosed with the disease. In fact, just last year Brenda created a holiday tree with beautiful hand-made ornaments at Seabreeze Variety (a.k.a., “the old Richdales”), her family’s business in the heart of downtown Manchester to raise money for Dana Farber after her cousin had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Because of her family history, Brenda’s general awareness is high. She was able to catch atypical cells three times on my breasts, first with a self-exam and then with the help of doctors. She’d also had Basel cell skin cancer cells surgically removed twice, once on her upper lip and then on her neck.
Suffice it to say, Brenda was vigilant.
In April, 2022 Brenda was diagnosed with two areas of atypical breast cells and had two biopsies and a lumpectomy of the areas. All went well at her usual mammogram six months later in November. The results? Normal. No issues. All clear.
Then, just eight weeks later in January 2023, she noticed it. A lump on her right breast, about the size of a nickel.
“At first I thought it was strange, maybe an ingrown hair, I wasn’t sure,” she said. With her clear mammogram, she wasn’t sure what to do but made an appointment to be safe. Appointments and biopsies take a few weeks to execute. As the time passed, Brenda noticed the lump was changing. So, by the time she was called in February 2023 with the results, she says she knew what she’d be told: she was positive for cancer.
Brenda first thought of her friend Dierdre. She was in a tough place, struggling to find firm ground in a new scary world. Brenda’s family (husband Kevin and three adult children) were a rock-sold foundation. But she was facing chemotherapy, and mastectomy. Dierdre was there too, with a two-month lead into her therapy, which included chemo, a lumpectomy and radiation. She reached out to her friend, Dierdre—to connect and to ask the questions Brenda hadn’t thought to ask in the doctor’s office.
She soon learned that breast cancer is a formidable challenge, impacting physical health and emotional well-being. As of 2023, according to the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health, an estimated 5,800 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in Massachusetts women (and some men) this year. And despite incredible progress in treatment of the disease, it’s nevertheless projected that approximately 900 women will lose their lives to breast cancer in Massachusetts before the year ends.
Luckily, there have been great advances in breast cancer screening, including digital mammography, 3D mammography (tomosynthesis), and MRI have been highly effective at changing the nature of a diagnosis. What was once a death sentence is now a path to that phrase, “a good outcome.” These technologies have improved the accuracy of breast cancer detection, leading to earlier diagnoses. At the same time, breast cancer treatment has evolved, with a strong emphasis on personalized care. Oncologists now tailor treatments, from surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and hormone therapy, to meet the unique diagnosis of each patient.
Brenda Johnson is naturally very easy going, and low key. She prefers being steady and strong over making waves. Dierdre, on the other hand, falls on the other end of the register: a self-proclaimed “oversharer” who can’t hide what she thinks and believes early disclosure is the way to be. That difference in style made the two utterly compatible. And that was a godsend for Brenda as they faced the challenge of cancer.
Dierdre gave Brenda assurances, information on what she’d be experiencing in chemotherapy treatment, and other important, often small tips like how to set up a private Facebook group so Brenda could update her network easily, and quickly.
The two tracked together in treatment. They lost their hair together, with grace and humor. Dierdre had seven chemo treatments, one lumpectomy and 20 radiation treatments. Brenda had a mastectomy, followed by four chemotherapy treatments in three months. It was brutal.
Dierdre’s stance was she’d whip cancer, bad. When she didn’t feel like getting out and walking, she did it anyway. Brenda did too, keeping steady on her routine as she endured treatment. Dierdre did things Brenda didn’t do, like get a tattoo (“in honor of me,” she says with a smile.). Dierdre rode 84 miles in the Pan Mass Challenge, ran six miles in Making Strides for Breast Cancer. On August 11, Dierdre was able to “ring the bell” in her doctor’s office, a rite of passage for those cleared of cancer. The next month, Brenda learned she, too, was in the clear.
Both will be closely monitored in their remission for five years.
“A nurse once told me, You are your own best advocate,” said Brenda. “My one-year follow up to the clean mammogram wouldn’t have been until the first of (this) November. … So I shudder to think what could have been going through my body all that time if I hadn’t been proactive and questioned it.”
Indeed. Brenda’s good outcome came directly from her willingness to listen to her instinct, even when she’d received an “all clear” on her mammogram. She doesn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her; she’s learned that by listening to herself and by knowing her body, she was able to effectively advocate for herself and Brenda hopes others will see that in her experience.
For her part, Dierdre showed how being a strong advocate for herself may actually mean she emerges from cancer in some ways stronger than she was going into it.
And for Brenda and Dierdre, that lesson of being your own best advocate, is one that’s best shared, together.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
