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***image1***Growing up in North Enid, Okla., Teresa Robbins watched her parents give selflessly to others and make their world a better place. Her mother was a nurse who made house calls at all hours of the night, and her father was mayor of their small town who later devoted his life to caring for Teresa’s mother when she became ill. Little did Teresa know that several years later, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, that she too would be in a position to make a difference and be an encouragement for others.
Making a difference is something that Teresa refers to as “picking up the torch” and that is exactly what she has been doing for the last few months.
Through self-breast examination, Teresa discovered a place that was painful so she made an appointment with a flight surgeon. Through this examination, he found another suspicious site.
These discoveries sent Teresa to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and to the care of Dr. (Lt. Col.) Michael McNamara, Diagnostic Radiologist at the LRMC Radiology Department, and a deployed Army Reservist, who is assigned to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the center for military medical education and research in Bethesda, Md. His civilian job is also as associate professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Chief of Breast Imaging and Intervention.
This is where Teresa’s journey as a torch carrier began. While the two earlier sites turned out to be okay, Teresa still wasn’t in the clear.
“Mrs. Robbins was one of the patients who kindly allowed us to perform a Breast MR exam for her as a training exercise,” said Dr. McNamara. “A friend and colleague of mine, Michael Middleton, PhD, MD of the University of California, San Diego, came to LRMC as a visiting professor. He is a world-class expert in Breast MR and came to share his expertise.”
In addition to sharing his experience, Dr. Middleton spent two days giving lectures for the LRMC staff as well as demonstrating his protocols for Breast MR and methods of interpretation.
Through a procedure that combined MR, mammography, an ultrasound exam and a Stereotactic Breast Biopsy, the doctors found two other sites that proved to be cancerous. Dr. McNamara said Teresa’s willingness to allow the procedure made way for an update and fine tuning of the methodology of Breast MR at LRMC for future patients.
“The latter (Stereotatic Breast Biopsy) is a minimally invasive method that allows a precise targeting of tissue that needs to be sampled, allowing a patient tissue diagnosis without having to go to the operating room (ultrasound can also be used for guidance for minimally invasive biopsy),” said Dr. McNamara.
Through it all, Teresa said she recommends that women be persistent if they have any medical concerns.
“They (LRMC staff) are truly professionals and they really do care about the services they offer. They are real people who care about people. We are blessed to have such a facility,” she said.
Teresa said she takes comfort in knowing that Dr. McNamara fought to come to LRMC and that the medical staff is as good as they are. This comfort helped when she realized that there is no quick fix to cancer.
“It’s a process,” said Teresa. “This is another reason that early detection is important. It isn’t a quick fix or a quick diagnosis. You just have to hang in there and go down the path. There are so many things in life that you can’t change and this is one that you can.”
Teresa has done some research on her own and found there is a lot of hope with breast cancer as there is a 95 percent survival rate but that 95 percent of the women who get it don’t have a family history of it.
“That just means everyone needs to get in,” she said. “Every woman should embrace who they were created to be and in doing that they have an obligation to themselves and their families to take care of their health and this (self examination) is one thing they can do. I see so many women who are phenomenal caregivers who forget to put themselves on the list. It’s wonderful to care for others but if the caregiver isn’t nurtured, they cannot give something they don’t possess.”
Not long after learning she had breast cancer, Teresa and her husband, Maj. John Robbins, 32nd Air Operations Center, sat down and talked about the best way to let their daughters, Kellis, 13 and Shoshannah, 11, know what was going on.
“John and I talked about it at first and we wanted to get more information before we shared it. We decided to share it in a very positive manner,” she said. “Knowledge empowers us and it also disarms any fears. Fear can be one of the deep dark holes in our lives but by knowing and having a name, it seems to diminish it in size.”
When asked how her family has dealt with her cancer diagnosis, she said, “I think the family, in most circumstances, takes its cue off of you so it’s how you decide to step in that arena as to how they will follow. If you feel your first step might be an unsteady, highly emotional one, it might be better for you to resolve your issues before sharing.
“Our family has been given a lot of challenges and we have the opportunity to deal with those and we’ve chosen to look at that proverbial glass half full, versus half empty and we firmly believe that God doesn’t give you more than you can handle,” Teresa said.
“That being said, (God) has given us the opportunity to remind us how precious life is, how unexpectedly things can change and how every day it’s important to value each day and each other. So, you could look at this as what a burden or what a blessing and we choose to look at it as a blessing. Tomorrow you have the opportunity to make it count. When it’s your turn to step up to the plate, I hope that each one will ‘carry the torch.’”
