Breast Cancer Awareness Month: A Trip to Share

"It was a shock," said Barnes, a 42-year-old breast cancer survivor from Westchester. "I came in and saw my face, my face was everywhere …"

Barnes's diagnosis of breast cancer was a different shock. Then, 32 years old with a 6-year-old son and no family history, she found herself a breast size during a self-examination in the shower. He was diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer, called DCIS, or ductal carcinoma in situ.

AWARENESS: Local Events to Support Breast Cancer Research and Funding

OPINION: New York health bill would save New Yorkers money

TUBERCULOSIS IN THE NEW ROCHELLE: What you need to know

"It was so surreal, I was in total denial," she says. Barnes spent two years consulting an oncologist until the day her doctor felt a lump under her arm and sent her for a lymph node biopsy: the result returned positive for stage 3 cancer .

Marie Denise Barnes had her photo on a brochure from the American Cancer Society for the annual Walk Making Strides for Breast Cancer. (Photo: submitted)

While she was operated on, her husband was in the waiting room and saw a flyer for the American Cancer Society's Making Strides for Cancer walk. "And he joined the team on the spot," she says.

From there, the couple and their families found solace and power in the larger cancer community.

"It was a tremendous asset," says Barnes of the American Cancer Society. "As a family member (of a person with cancer), you feel so helpless and that gave them power, a task to do instead of waiting. power in our hands, "she says.

The first year, four members of his family walked into Making Strides For Cancer when Barnes started chemotherapy. She could not participate, but "I knew they were walking for me, so I gathered the strength to cook for them." It started a post-walk brunch tradition for her team, which she continues today.

This year, she will feed 30 people from her Denise Bright Eyes team.

Today, the mother of three who now defines herself as cancer free says that all her boys go out and walk for her. Thanks to their mother's fight, they learned the power of positivity. "They've learned to never let go," Barnes says. "Whatever you decide to do, you can do it, keep your faith, your fight and know that you are not alone."

Barnes continues to help raise awareness and fund breast cancer and hopes that those who have seen her triumphant photo on the American Cancer Society brochure are inspired to do the same.

"I'm a warrior," she says. "And I believe that one day we will find a cure and that is why we fight: to fund research so that one day our sons and daughters will not be diagnosed with this disease. "

Buy a photo

Carole Weaver, a breast cancer survivor and photographed, is photographed at her home in Sloatsburg on September 25, 2018. Weaver's book is titled "Side Effects: The Art of Surviving Cancer." (Photo: Carucha L. Meuse / News from the newspaper)

The art of survival

Carole Weaver was ready for her next chapter.

Aged 63 and originally from Sloatsburg, she had raised her children, completed a career in a Catholic college and had begun performing in a community theater. Things were fine. Weaver says she hoped to win a small role in a Broadway show.

Then the phone rang: her doctor told her that she had breast cancer.

"I was sitting at my desk and I took the phone and I remember the wheelchair underneath me hanging on my long skirt," Weaver said. "The more I pulled, the more tight I felt … was I driven to hell?"

Her doctor told her that the diagnosis was serious and Mrs. Weaver was quickly biopsied. She has had many years of chemotherapy, multiple surgeries and painful side effects.

Her comfort, she says, is the art.

"I came to the meditative and reflective aspects of art because all the other regular sources were not there," she said. "Some doctors were good, but others had hurt.My boyfriend went to medical school but could no longer bear the diseases."

Her friends were there for her, but Weaver said she needed more.

She began to think about art at home and felt an immediate impact.

"Discovering each element during a treatment phase has provided comfort, a way to manage pain, fear, trauma," she said.

Weaver has written a book about his cancer journey, titled "Side Effects: The Art of Surviving Cancer".

She describes a dozen works of art and their impact on her.

When she found a statue of Guanyin, the god of compassion, Weaver says that she was introduced to a two-sex power that "listens to the trials of humanity and sends help The surprising idea of ​​a culture that embraces, manages pain with a combination of sympathy and strength, wisdom and love, have prepared me for what was waiting for me. "

Other works of art that she details in her book divert her from nausea, show her endurance in the face of obstacles and she says: "marvel at the insignificance of age in the face of an intrepid talent".

Cancer, she says, has pushed her to a different second act.

"Yes, certainly, Cancer and my answer to this question have pushed me to write the book and begin my career as a speaker at the National Speakers Association."

Weaver gave 16 lectures on art and healing. His next is October 25th in Highland Falls.

Today, a decade after his own battle, Weaver is encouraged by the adoption by the medical profession of alternative approaches to cancer, including homeopathy, acupuncture, reiki , yoga and other ways of healing the mind used in combination with traditional cancer therapy, which she says is essential for healing.

And of course, the power of the art.

"I'm talking about the biochemical and neurophysiological impact of art in my senior talks that, after looking at the Grand Canyon, show a clear increase in good cytokines in their blood, thus boosting their immune system, as well as the art and music that make our body to a balanced state, modifies our chemistry for good, and raises – even temporarily – out of sadness and loss, "says Weaver.

"This real flicker of joy or wonder is precious and constitutes in itself a drug in its own right."

Read or share this story: https://www.lohud.com/story/news/health/2018/10/03/breast-cancer-awareness-month-sharing-cancer-dayney/1412288002/