Voice For Life: Caren Lee, a Young Adult Breast Cancer Survivor
Caren Cook Lee, a Texas native, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 36, just days before getting engaged to her now husband, William. As an advocate for breast cancer, Caren has raised more than $60,000 for Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure®. Caren’s message of keep on keepin’ on and how she handled her breast cancer diagnosis amidst all the changes in her life is truly an inspiration.
Voice For Life is a new survivor segment produced by The Group Room and Vital Options International. This interview was filmed at the 34th Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Voice for Life at the 34th Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium was made possible by support from:
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Selma Schimmel:
This is Selma Schimmel from The Group Room and Vital Options International. I’m very happy to introduce you to our latest series featuring the lives of people who have had cancer, who are living with cancer… we call this Voice For Life®. And we introduce this new series today with Caren Lee, a 7-year, young adult, breast cancer survivor. Hi, Caron.
Caren Lee:
Thanks for having me. Thank you.
Selma Schimmel:
Thank you for coming to talk to us about your own story as we begin to feature the lives of the many people living with and through cancer.
Caren Lee:
Thank you.
Selma Schimmel:
Tell me about yourself.
Caren Lee:
I am a native Texan. I was diagnosed at age 36, it was kind of a shock, of course- most of the time it is. I always knew to kind of keep an eye out for it because both of my grandmothers had died of breast cancer and one was actually 40 when that happened. So I kind of had it in the back of my head to be proactive with self-examinations. I felt a lump and made an appointment right away to go see my doctor. Turns out she didn’t think anything was wrong but she sent me to have a mammogram anyway which, as we know, turned out positive. I was stage-2, grade-3, and HER-2 new positive, as well so that made the tumor a little more aggressive.
Selma Schimmel:
And you did one other thing, I think it was very important, understanding family history and also taking control and responsibility of your own body that you did self-exam.
Caren Lee:
My health insurance, at the time, wasn’t going to do a mammogram until I turned 40, even though I’ve had some doctors that had told me to go have one, even when I turned 30 due to my grandmothers having it. If I hadn’t done that and just waited on what the insurance people had said there’s a big possibility I wouldn’t be sitting in front of you right now.
I never got sad. I never got mad. I just said, “it’s the fight of your life. It’s time to put on the gloves and fight through a lot of support with my family.” And my now husband; we got engaged the week I was diagnosed. I was diagnosed on a Monday, he proposed on that Friday, so I, after that it was like, “okay, what do we do? Are you sure?”
Selma Schimmel:
And he popped the question, it seems, rather intentionally at that point.
Caren Lee:
He had already planned it. He had already asked my father. The date was already set. He’s military, so he had flown in in the jet and did it at the airport. It was great. It did take my mind off it a lot, but 2 weeks later I’m in the hospital having a bilateral mastectomy, and then 2 weeks after that getting married, having a true, 200-person wedding, and then the week after that starting chemo. So, my honeymoon fell on my chemo week.
Selma Schimmel:
I’m trying to imagine what it must be like to be a young woman on her honeymoon immediately after having a double mastectomy.
Caren Lee:
You feel like part of you is gone, part of your womanhood is gone. It takes a lot of getting used to but having the support of someone who understands it makes it easier.
Selma Schimmel:
Did he understand what a breast cancer diagnosis meant? What was his dialogue with you coming home? Because, had he learned, only when coming home, of your diagnosis?
Caren Lee:
We didn’t live in the same town at that time, but he came in for my mammogram and surprised me. So that day we actually found out. I didn’t have to wait; they basically knew right away what it was, so they came out and told me right then.
Selma Schimmel:
Did you have reconstruction?
Caren Lee:
I have had reconstruction. I started with the deep flap procedure, which was relatively new with a doctor here in San Antonio and still had to have implants due to some issues with my chest wall being concaved due to my tissue expanders. So I’ve had quite a few different surgeries.
Selma Schimmel:
And you went through what kind of treatment?
Caren Lee:
Pretty much the standard treatment, the adriamycin cytoxan. And then right when it was time to switch over to my second round is when herceptin I think, that week or the week before, the great numbers came out on that so my doctors said “hey, we’re going to switch this up a bit. We want you to do try herceptin if you want to – these are the numbers – with you being HER-2 new, this is great. And now I’m just praising that.
There’s no telling where I would be if herceptin had not come out at that exact time.
Selma Schimmel:
Amazing. Fantastic. And then, now, not only on top of everything else, now you had to lose your hair and your husband had, great, one more wake up call.
Caren Lee:
Yes, I had very long curly, thick hair and I was always kind of known for my hair throughout childhood. We didn’t live in the same place during all this. Basically, I went from a full head of hair to completely bald by the time he saw me again.
Selma Schimmel:
Where are you now? It’s 7 years later and what have you done with your cancer as a result of the experience?
Caren Lee:
I’ve become an, what I call, advocate and what I can do which is very involved with the Race for the Cure in Fort Worth; I’ve walked that 6 times. I’ve walked Denver twice and I’ve done the 3-day walk. And I’ve raised over $60,000. I live in a little town right now where we’re based that doesn’t have any support groups. I’m kind of known as, I guess, the breast cancer lady of the little town. So, when people are diagnosed or have friends or family that are diagnosed, I usually get a phone call to see if I can help or direct them in some sort of way.
Selma Schimmel:
If you could reach out to someone who is in their 30’s, just diagnosed- what do you want to tell them with your voice about life?
Caren Lee:
Keep on keepin’ on. That is my mantra. The word ‘Hope’ is a big part of my vocabulary. I sign all of my letters with some sort of hope message. I even have a pink vintage trailer that’s called Hope that I pull around to different events that try to spread awareness. Go forward. Look for the future. Keep a positive attitude. Your mental state is just as important as your physical state. If you give up, then your mind gives up and then eventually your body will give up.
Selma Schimmel:
Thank you. Caren Lee, a 7-year, young adult, breast cancer survivor, who understands what it means to use her Voice For Life®.
Caren Lee:
Thank you.
END OF VIDEO