It will be an emotional evening on Wednesday, October 13th, as three women will discuss their tales of surviving breast cancer. The three women, including one from Garden City, will share their struggles and triumphs with the disease, at the annual Celebration of Survivorship of the Adelphi NY Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline & Support Program. The event will take place from 6 p.m. to 7 pm. via Zoom.
“This is the first year we’re doing the Celebration of Survivorship via Zoom because of the pandemic,” said Lyn Dobrin, a longtime volunteer with the breast cancer hotline. “There will be a series of speakers including three survivors of the disease, who will tell the audience their personal stories and experiences. The audience will be a mixture of breast cancer survivors, which adds a human element to the survivorship journey.”
The three women who will be participating in the hourlong event are Julie Bickar Nappi, a Garden City resident and three-year survivor of breast cancer, Arlette Hagans, a four-year survivor from Elmont and Luisa Jefferson, a seven-year breast cancer survivor from Westbury.
Bickar-Nappi, who is 45, said that she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, after finding a lump against her right arm near her torso area.
“After rolling over in bed one morning and discovering the lump against my arm on my right side I went to the doctor and had an immediate ultrasound,” said Bickar-Nappi. “Within a matter of days, a biopsy was scheduled and I ended up having surgery at the end of March to remove the cancer.”
She said that her two children, who were 9 and 11 years old at the time, were instrumental in helping her through the grueling process of surgery, chemo and radiation treatment.
“Both of my parents died of cancer at an early age. My mom died of breast cancer when she was 63 and my dad died of colon cancer when he was 53 years old. I strongly encourage people to become their own advocates and educate themselves about cancer.”
Hagans, an Elmont resident, said she received a breast cancer diagnosis in 2017 after finding bleeding in the ductal area of her breast.
“I thought maybe it was an infection of some sort, because it would bleed then heal and start bleeding again a few weeks later,” said Hagans. “I went to Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, and had a biopsy done which revealed a tumor.”
She said that it was very emotional day in the last week of July in 2017, as she sat in a room in the Medical Center, and had multiple doctors, including a plastic surgeon and radiologist, explain to her the diagnosis and the course of her treatment.
“It was a very emotional day with me crying and even the doctor cried. It was a big surprise to me because no one in my family ever had been diagnosed with cancer.”
She said that in January of 2018, she had both breasts removed through a procedure called a mastectomy, because she was worried that the cancer would spread to other areas of her body.
Luisa Jefferson was diagnosed with breast cancer in the summer of 2014. In 2015 she was treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
“Although I’m generally a private person and not comfortable sharing details of my personal life publicly, I’m hoping that by sharing my story at the forum, others can relate and know they’re not alone in their journey,” said Jefferson. “
She said that she is especially hopeful to reach out to the Latinx survivors in the audience.
“Being one myself, I know that there are unique hurdles that we face, especially cultural ones. So, from that perspective, I hope to encourage other Latinxs to tell their stories and share what helped them get through the tough times so that we can lift each other up.”
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