STOUGHTON - Finding out from her doctor that she had breast cancer was not something Virginia Deren wanted to hear.
Deren has lived in Stoughton since 1983 and works at the New Hope Pharmasave. She has collaborated with several different owners there since 1987.
She always knew she would be at a higher risk for breast cancer, with her sister and aunt having dealt with the same issues.
Deren had gone for her regular mammogram, but it was Deren who detected the lump. In 2013 she received the news that nobody wants to hear.
She was told she had invasive ductal carcinoma. This is a cancer that attaches to the lining of the milk ducts and invades breast tissue.
A Stage 1, Grade 3 cancer was found and six weeks later Deren was scheduled for a double mastectomy. Although the cancer was detected only in the one breast, she was a candidate for a double mastectomy due to the elevated risk.
Now it was time to heal and start her chemotherapy treatments. She only felt sick after the first session and felt pretty well for the rest.
A brief time after treatment started, she noticed her hair falling out by the hands full. It was at this time she phoned one of the local hairdressers to shave her head. She wore a wig that was so natural to her own hair that close friends did not even notice.
“Everyone is different and deals with it in many ways,” she said.
Deren is assessed every six months through bloodwork, and it is something that is never to far from her mind.
Judy Graham lives a block and a half away from Deren’s home and has lived in Stoughton her whole life. At the time she did not know that she would also be diagnosed with breast cancer.
The two women have known each other for years, and Graham too, detected the lump herself in October 2020, right in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Even with COVID in full force, surgery did not take long to book and it was scheduled for January 2021.
Graham had a lumpectomy performed, which removes the cancerous lump, along with some healthy tissue that surrounds the spot. She had Stage 2 cancer, and it was aggressive.
After six to eight weeks of healing, chemotherapy would begin. She received three rounds, once a month, and then 15 treatments of radiation.
Graham explained that the radiation feels like a bad sunburn. She too, began to lose her hair, and called a local hairdresser to shave the rest. Graham decided to go about without a wig.
Graham’s daughter has also struggled with breast cancer as did a good friend 23 years ago. Both are doing well.
Both women said that the Allan Blair Cancer Clinic in Regina is a fabulous place. They are caring and make one feel especially important.
They both agreed that early detection is important, and they said to not skip your scheduled appointment and to begin early detection if it runs in the family.
“Cancer is not any fun, but you have to deal with it,” said Graham. “You need to live and let live.”
These two friends are now cancer free, but continue to be evaluated, and will remain positive and happy, living each day to its fullest.
