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12 communiTy news JTnews . www.JTnews.neT . friday, ocTober 1, 2010
Dealing with the dreaded diagnosis
lillian coHen-Moore JTNews Intern
Not all cancers are the same. On occasion,
gene mutation plays a role in cancer
risk. Women who inherit a mutated copy of
the gene known as BRCA are at increased
risk for breast cancer, and many women are
unaware of the role BRCA plays in both risk
and treatment options, particularly among
Ashkenazic Jews. Women with a mutated
BRCA gene are estimated to have a fivetimes-higher
risk of breast cancer, according
to the National Cancer Institute.
With October designated as Breast
Cancer Awareness Month, several local
Jewish women shared their experiences:
Esther Herst, Dawn Schiller, Eva and
Elaine Corets, and Michelle Sloan all
talked about unique aspects of the disease,
while common threads ran through their
stories about dealing with the disease.
Sisters Elaine and Eva Corets, both
BRCA positive, went through breast
cancer in close succession. Elaine was diagnosed
in 2002, during an annual exam.
Living alone and away from family, “it took
me awhile to really take it in, to process and
grieve,” she said. “I was very matter of fact,
at the start, not letting myself dwell.”
Then, a few years later, Elaine’s sister
received the same diagnosis after finding a
lump during a self-examination.
“When my sister Eva was diagnosed,”
Elaine said, “I really grieved through that
process. It brought back things I thought I
had been finished with.”
Eva, however, was able to look to her
sister for support.
“Fortunately, because Elaine has been
through treatment, she was there for me,”
Eva said. “The rest of my family gave any
support they could.”
Michelle Sloan was diagnosed when
her kids were still small.
“When I was first diagnosed, my kids
were 5 and 9, and I told them I wanted
their lives to be normal,” she said. “I
wanted to do everything I could to make
life stay normal.” Though Michelle was
determined to stay productive and independent,
she still wanted her kids to know
things were different.
“On chemo days,
the first time, I’d leave
them a shirt in their
room, or a little gift,
that they could wear
and be close to me that
chemo day,” she said.
The tradition has continued
through another
diagnosis and a positive
BRCA test.
Each family has had
unique ways of coping.
In the case of Dawn
Schiller, who wrote a
memoir titled Wink
about her experience
with breast cancer, she
said her diagnosis changed how she
approaches others.
“I’m typically a pretty closed person,
and one of my son’s friends had a mom
who had breast cancer,” Schiller said. “I
was so scared and nervous, and I called
her. She was amazing. She said after
cancer, I’d be an open book.”
Schiller met with the woman and
another cancer survivor at Starbucks to
talk about the process.
Later, “when a friend just got diag-
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CouRTESy Eva CoRETS
eva Corets and her father ellis Corets, who
shaved his head in solidarity with his
daughter, who lost her hair during her
cancer treatments.
nosed as I was ending treatment,” Schiller
said, “we went to Starbucks. It was wonderful
to see how you can be a part of a
bigger thing, much bigger than yourself.”
Putting her experience into book form
was cathartic for Schiller.
“I’ve always loved to write,” she said.
“It’s just a personal walk through what
happened, my family’s responses. We’re
very candid.”
Esther Herst was an
“open book,” as well,
only she spoke through
e-mail updates on how
she was doing.
“As soon as I was
diagnosed, I started
e-mailing people. I’ve
done one after every
major milestone —
diagnosis, surgery,
chemo, my haircut,”
Beth Huppin has taught
day school Judaic studies
at the Seattle Jewish
Community <strong>School</strong> since
1995 and is currently a
fi fth-grade teacher there.
She is also a middle
school and adult
education teacher at
Congregation Beth
Shalom in Seattle.
Herst said.
Her cancer odyssey
began this past June
with three words: “This
feels weird.”
That came from
Herst’s physician during an exam that led
to her breast cancer diagnosis this past
June. Herst has no familial history, and
a negative result for BRCA gene abnormalities.
Eva Corets also had regular e-mail
updates about her progress. including the
2007 announcement of her diagnosis: “I
am going to fight this with everything I
have got, with both strength and courage,
chazak v’ematz,” she wrote
Though these women have survived
If
you
go:
City of hope’s annual Walk for
hope to Cure breast Cancer will
take place sun., oct. 3 at 10 a.m.
at magnuson park, 7400 sand
point Way ne, seattle. registration
at 8 a.m. Visit www.cityofhope.org
for details.
cancer, they know others haven’t been as
fortunate. Still, survivor is a word they
don’t always care to use.
“That’s not how I define myself,” said
Elaine Corets. “I’m Elaine, and I have
other things that make me who I am, and
it’s not thinking about if I’m going to get
sick again.”
But they still have plenty to say about
their disease. Schiller said she prefers to
take things more slowly these days.
“Everything in life isn’t brain surgery,”
she said. “Appreciate the pace of life.”
Sloan’s advice is about trusting instinct:
“Listen to your body, and don’t be afraid
of going to the doctor. Do self-exams, and
take good care of yourself.”
Eva Corets, who approached her diagnosis
with fortitude, said, “It’s not the end of
the world, and it’s treatable,” she said. “It’s
not a death sentence. But you have to fight.”
Herst sounds a call to strength and selfreliance.
“Annual exam. Self-exam. Anything
you think is weird, get it checked
out. Given medical technology today?
Don’t be afraid. Just go for it. Let it take
you where it will, and keep a very open
mind and a very open heart. And don’t let
the bastards get you down.”