Wednesday, September 27, 2000

Breast cancer crusader

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West Chester survivor hopes her story will reach others

By Peggy O'Farrell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Breast cancer changed Constance Hudson's life.

        In a good way.

Constance Hudson (Enquirer photo) | ZOOM |

        She survived, for one. She learned the man she had just married really was the gem she suspected. And she gained an opportunity to work with women all across the country to campaign for increased breast cancer awareness and funding.

        “It's actually been a blessing, because I've really been able to help other women,” the 41-year-old West Chester woman says. She says she feels especially obligated to help educate other African-American women about the importance of detecting the disease early. Statistics show they are more likely to die of breast cancer than any other ethnic group.

        “This is nothing new, but so many women have been afraid to talk about their disease, I want to talk about mine because I don't want anybody else to go through what I went through.”

        Mrs. Hudson is one of the breast cancer survivors featured in “Journey of Hope: Couples Speak Out About Breast Cancer.” The free support kit includes a workbook and video designed to help couples cope with the physical, emotional and financial stresses breast cancer can wreak on a family. Samsung Telecommunications America and Sprint PCS are distributing the kit as part of their “Samsung/Sprint PCS Speak Out for Breast Cancer Awareness” campaign to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
       

Rally on the Square

IF YOU GO

The Greater Cincinnati Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Greater Cincinnati YWCA, in conjunction with Sprint PCS and Samsung, will hold a “Speak Out on the Square” rally from 11:30 to 1:30 Oct. 4 at Fountain Square. Enquirer columnist Laura Pulfer will emcee, and volunteers will encourage passersby to remind friends to get a breast examination. Other highlights:     • Testimonials from local breast cancer survivors     • A mammogram van providing free mammograms     • Information from local breast cancer support organizations     • Literature on Stefanie's Champions, the organization founded by Stefanie Spielman and her husband, former NFL star Chris Spielman, to recognize people who have supported patients and survivors during their battles with breast cancer.     • “The Wall of Hope,” a display of photos of breast cancer survivors at the Westin Hotel.     • The debut of the Breast Cancer Angels pig for the Big Pig Gig makes its debut on the square.

        On Oct. 4, the Greater Cincinnati Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Greater Cincinnati YWCA will hold a “Speak Out on the Square” rally at Fountain Square to urge the lunch-time crowd to call a friend and remind them to get a breast examination. Enquirer columnist Laura Pulfer, a breast cancer survivor, will emcee the rally, which will last from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

        Mrs. Hudson was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 1999. She had found a lump in her breast the previous July. She had a mammogram, but her doctor told her it was a fibroid tumor. When the lump became sore a few months later, she went back to the doctor, who again told her it was only a fibroid.

        It wasn't until a friend urged her to have a surgeon review the mammogram results that a biopsy confirmed the lump was cancer. She had a lumpectomy and four of her lymph nodes were removed. After the surgery, she underwent chemotherapy for 20 weeks.

        “It was pretty scary,” Mrs. Hudson says. “I had just been married for two months” when the diagnosis was made.

        Her daughter, Nakia, was 18 at the time. Her mother, Sallie Finch, was panicked by the diagnosis: Mrs. Finch's mother had died of lung cancer in 1979. “I could see her face when I told her. The fear. All she could see was my grandmother,” Mrs. Hudson says.

        Her husband, Jerry, was frightened at first, she says, but was supportive throughout, encouraging to get up and go out for dinner, holding her hand and paying her compliments, even when she was bald and bloated from the treatments.

        “God knew what I was getting ready to go through, and that's why He put this man in my life,” she says.
       

A crusader

        Her experience with breast cancer turned Mrs. Hudson into a crusader. She's on the board of the Breast Cancer Alliance, and has been to Washington to lobby for more funding to help women without health insurance pay for breast cancer treatment. She is the regional community relations manager for Huntington Banks, and when the branch banks host community day celebrations for clients, she makes sure a mammography van is there with free mammograms.

        “Early prevention is key. Knowing your body. In the back of my mind, I knew something was wrong, but you're in denial,” she says. “But what you find out is you can't afford to be in denial. I know one or two women who didn't go see about themselves right away, and they're not here today. That lump is not going to go away. It's going to keep getting bigger unless you do something about it.”

        To order the free “Journey of Hope: Couples Speak Out About Breast Cancer” support kit, which includes a workbook and video, call (877) 718-HOPE. Kits are available Oct. 1.

       

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