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Think P nk!The Paducah Sun | Wednesday, October 10, 2012 | paducahsun.com

It’s one thing for a 16-year-old boy to want to fi nd a way to raise money for breast cancer awareness.

It’s another thing to make J.R. Mason want to wear pink.

Mason, a junior at Graves County High School, raced Friday and Saturday for the fi rst time at the famed Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, for the UMP DIRT-car National Champion-ships.

His ride? A Modifi ed race car trimmed out in black and scads of pink to promote breast cancer awareness. And while he’s been getting the car ready, sister Tiffany, 18, has been handling the promotions.

“The breast cancer thing really kind of surprised me because I didn’t expect him to come up with it,” mom Sandy Mason said. “And when the two of them start-ing talking about it — J.R.’s not a pink person.”

J.R. came up with the idea to race a breast cancer awareness-themed car in August. Once details mate-rialized, Tiffany, a market-ing major at West Kentucky Technical & Community College, jumped on board, helping design and order T-shirts, which have been the duo’s main fundraising operation.

Sandy, who said she and husband-crew chief Ronnie are simply ob-servers in this endeavor, said the original T-shirt

order was for 70 shirts, but once they had 67 pre-orders in a matter of days, the order has since been tripled. The goal was to raise $1,000 for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation, which she said was easily attain-able.

After advertising only on J.R.’s Facebook page, and through word of mouth, they received nearly 50 names of survivors and victims of the disease to memorialize on giant pink ribbons swirling down both sides of the car and on the T-shirts. The front of the car says “Think Pink” and the rear spoiler, often reserved for the driv-

er’s own personal message, says “Save the Ta-Tas.”

The hope for the entire family is that they can reach a new audience at national and area race tracks, and encourage early detection of the deadly disease.

“I’m going to try to race it all through October and at the end of October, I want to auction off the side of the race car,” J.R. said, adding that the last race for the car will likely be Oct. 27 at Paducah Inter-national Raceway.

Though breast cancer awareness and a pink theme might be surpris-ing for the Mason family to see J.R. supporting, his desire to help is not. Sandy

recalled J.R. giving away snack money to kids who had none in elementary school, knowing he could get a snack at home and they might not.

“J.R. has always had the biggest heart,” Tiffany said. “He’s always been like that. He always wants to help. Like Salvation Army, J.R. always rings the bell at Christmas or helps at the animal shelter or whatever.”

Heading to Eldora may be one of the biggest high-lights so far in J.R.’s young career after being too young to race at the speed-way owned by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart. While most drivers were focused on the competition, J.R., a

three-time track champion at PIR, was also focused on the message.

“I think it’s great that they want to help some-thing,” said their proud mother before the big race. “It’s easy to just go out there and follow along with everyone else. It’s just going to be different. But that doesn’t seem to bother him.”

Brother and sister are already planning next

season’s cause which will likely be autism or child-hood cancer awareness.

And as the car was fi nally coming together a few days before the race, J.R. seemed to have no qualms about ribbons and pink overload.

“Tough guys wear pink,” J.R. said.

Call Dusty Luthy Shull, a Sun sports writer, at 270-575-8662.

DUSTY LUTHY SHULL I The Sun

J.R. Mason (right) and Tiffany Mason pose with J.R.’s modified race car that has been outfitted with a breast cancer awareness theme. The siblings paired up to raise mon-ey for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation by selling T-shirts. J.R. Mason raced his car Friday and Saturday at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, and plans to continue racing the car until Paducah International Raceway’s final race of the season Oct. 27.

Masons soup up car for breast cancer awarenessBY DUSTY LUTHY SHULL

dshull@paducahsun.com

DUSTY LUTHY SHULL I The Sun

A ribbon displays the names of survivors and victims of breast cancer on J.R. Ma-son’s No. 83 modified race car. Mason designed a breast cancer awareness concept for his car and asked his fans to help him honor those affected by the disease. Ma-son and his sister, Tiffany, have also designed and sold T-shirts, with proceeds going toward the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation.

DUSTY LUTHY SHULL I The Sun

The hood of J.R. Mason’s No. 83 modified race car reads “Think Pink” which goes along with the car’s breast cancer awareness theme.

DUSTY LUTHY SHULL I The Sun

The rear spoiler of J.R. Mason’s No. 83 modified race car reads “Save the Ta-Ta’s.” Mason created a breast cancer awareness theme for the car, and with sister, Tiffany, have designed and sold T-shirts to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation.

Western Baptist Hospital’s cancer care is among the best of the best. Of all nationally-accredited programs, only 5 percent meet the highest standards to earn the Outstanding Achievement Award. Western Baptist has won it the last two three-year cycles.

Why is that important? Ask a woman who’s had breast cancer.

Nursing professor and college administrator Victoria Seng, R.N., Ph.D., of Fulton and our own Jane Viterisi, a hospital pharmacy tech from Paducah, can tell you why. Five years after their cancer treatment at Western Baptist, they are cancer-free and enjoying life.

We believe you heal better closer to home.

Jane Viterisi, C.Ph.T.

Victoria Seng,

R.N., Ph.D.

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2 • Wednesday, October 10, 2012 • The Paducah Sun Think Pink paducahsun.com

Breast cancer is expensive.When it comes to showing up for

screenings, transportation costs alone can be prohibitive. “Some of them live far away. Just to fi ll their car with gas is a lot for them, it’s very involved,” said Dr. Luis Concepcion, an oncologist at Oncology Associates of West Kentucky.

“There are a lot of foundations out there that are available if one only knows how to ask for them,” he continued.

Several programs do exist to help people in every step of the process — from screenings to treatment — receive care. Patient navigators can help patients or potential patients who are struggling with the prohibitive costs of breast cancer.

Navigators do the legwork to fi nd out if cancer patients qualify for fi nancial as-sistance, according to Pam Todd, patient navigator at Oncology Associates of West Kentucky.

“We do what we can, because it’s all about patient care,” Todd said.

Todd works with patients who have Medicare, as well as those with commer-cial insurance, to see what assistance they qualify for. When patients don’t meet income requirements, it’s her job to fi nd foundations meant to help them meet the costs of paying for treatment.

“If they don’t qualify, I have found that (foundations) really do work and try to fi nd something. Everybody’s been won-derful about helping,” Todd said.

Todd often works with drug companies and foundations set up for cancer patients in general. But there are also organiza-tions in western Kentucky dedicated spe-cifi cally to assisting breast cancer patients.

The Kentucky Women’s Cancer Screening program works with local health depart-ments to pay for screenings. For people who meet up to 250 percent of the poverty level — meaning they don’t qualify for Medicare, but may have trouble meeting costs on their own — it can literally be a lifesaver.

The program also helps women who have been diagnosed fi nd money for treatment.

“We realize that a lot of women aren’t aware of it,” said Vicki Blevins, program director of the Kentucky Pink Connection, another organization that helps Kentuckians

facing breast cancer. “Why would you need to know about it unless you are diagnosed?”

The Kentucky Pink Connection seeks to serve breast cancer patients by reduc-ing or eliminating barriers to screening, diagnosis and treatment.

“We really work to be a patient naviga-tor for women, no matter where they are in this experience. If they’re needing to be screened or they need treatment, they can call us and we can direct them depending on where they need to go,” Blevins said.

The KPC’s offi ces are based in Lexing-ton, but the three patient navigators serve the entire state of Kentucky. They can be reached toll free at 877-597-4655, or online at kypinkconnection.org.

Call Laurel Black, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 575-8641.

Patient navigators assist people with finding financial solutions

BY LAUREL BLACKlblack@paducahsun.com

Contributed Photo

Vicki Blevin is the program director of The Kentucky Pink Connection, one of many foundations designed to help wom-en with breast cancer recieve funding for treatment.

While most women with breast cancer likely will undergo surgery to remove any tumors, under certain circumstances women may have to choose between surgical options that bal-ance patient image and peace of mind.

With nearly equivalent local recurrence rates be-tween the two main surgi-cal treatment modalities — mastectomy at about 4 percent and breast conservation surgery (lumpectomy) followed by radiation at 8 percent — in cases of early-stage cancers, women and their physicians can choose between the total removal of the breast and the re-moval of only local breast tissue.

Dr. Peter Locken, radia-tion oncologist at Western Baptist Hospital, said when women are given the option, generally they elect breast conservation therapy nearly 3 to 1 over mastectomy.

“It’s purely a personal choice since there’s no survival advantage, so we don’t push,” he said.

“A good deal of women these days elect for breast conservation.”

The main advantage of breast conservation therapy is that a woman gets to keep her breast through the less invasive surgery, though she may need 5 to 7 weeks of radia-tion therapy immediately following to ensure all cancer has been elimi-nated.

However, if there is

recurrence in the same breast as the lumpec-tomy, the breast gen-erally cannot tolerate additional radiation therapy and a mastec-tomy would be recom-mended.

“While the women get to keep their breast, they still have scar tissue, but even benign stuff that shows up in the future will scare them, so that is a downside to the lumpec-tomy,” said Dr. Daniel Howard, surgeon at Lourdes hospital.

While breast conserva-tion therapy preserves the cosmetic appearance of the breast, the mastec-tomy provides women the peace of mind knowing that the cancer has been

removed.“The mastectomy

isn’t as scary as it used to be,” Howard said. “Women come in all the time for the double mastectomy. The extent of the surgery doesn’t really matter as long as you get enough of it, a good area of tissue around the cancer.”

While the two surgical options are available in certain cases, health care providers recommend keeping an open dialogue with the physician about what treatment options are available to each par-ticular case.

Call Will Pinkston, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8676.

Sun files

Dr. Daniel Howard, a Lourdes hospital surgeon, re-views a patient’s mammography results. Surgical treatment options for patients with potential malig-nancies differ on a case by case basis.

Patients weigh cancer treatment alternatives

BY WILL PINKSTONwpinkston@paducahsun.com

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paducahsun.com Think Pink The Paducah Sun • Wednesday, October 10, 2012 • 3

A recent study from the American Cancer Society brings positive news about breast cancer, but high-lights the disparities that still exist in care.

In general, the number of deaths from breast can-cer continued to decline in 2011 and 2012, accord-ing to the report, “Breast Cancer Facts and Figures 2011-2012.”

Breast cancer mortality rates have been dropping steadily for United States citizens, regardless of the race or socioeconomic status of those diagnosed, since 1990, the report said.

Oncologists in western Kentucky agree with the fi ndings, and attribute the continued progress to two factors.

First, more women are

realizing the importance of early detection and receiv-ing screenings, according to Dr. Winston Chua, an oncologist at the Oncology Associates of West Ken-tucky.

The second factor is improved treatment. “We have a multidisci-plinary approach, a team approach,” Chua said. Pathologists, radiologists, and oncologists work together to attack cancer from different angles, of-fering a level of treatment that is largely consistent with what is available in major cities.

However, mortality rates aren’t falling as fast in certain populations. Along with age and race, the report singles out socioeco-nomic status as a factor in breast cancer survival.

In 2008, 51.4 percent of poor women ages 40

and older had a screen-ing mammogram in the past two years, compared to 72.8 percent of women who were not poor.

Local oncologists believe those numbers are key to understanding why the death rates aren’t decreas-ing faster in groups with lower income.

“Treatment-wise, if they have coverage or not, (patients) get the same treatment,” said Dr. Luis Concepcion of the Oncol-ogy Associates of West Kentucky. “I think that compliance is the prob-lem.”

In an illness where early detection can save lives, not being able to show up for screening can make all the difference.

Call Laurel Black, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 575-8641.

Screening and treatment factor in declining breast cancer rate

BY LAUREL BLACKlblack@paducahsun.com

Keena Miller has seen her share of cancer patients. As the direc-tor of Murray-Calloway County Hospital’s Health and Wellness Center, she has seen her staff work with people to exercise and move forward after remission. But when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2010, it was a different experi-ence.

“We caught it early,” Miller said. “It was stage one, and hadn’t made it to any lymph nodes. I was lucky.”

Miller went through a lumpectomy, then doctors scheduled her for radiation and chemo-therapy. She lost her hair and was fatigued during treatment, but stayed at work and decided against wigs.

“I wore scarves in-stead,” Miller said. “It was easy for people to see that something was going on.”

She was cancer-free seven months later.

MCCH’s Health and Wellness Center is a medical fi tness center that designs workouts for patients looking to lose weight or stay in shape. Miller, a certifi ed exercise physiologist, said she exercised more during and after her treatment because radiation some-times reduces fl exibility. Experiencing a recovery, she said, helped her in her job.

“It really made it easier to relate to the people I am helping,” Miller said. “Not only that, but there are so many people who are, at the very least, touched by it in some way.”

Miller credits her friends, family and church — all of which she says combined for an amazing support sys-tem — with helping her

recover. Her work was also an unlikely source of inspiration.

“Seeing people who have survived, and hear-ing those stories was important and helped so much,” Miller said.

Contact Corianne Egan, a Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8652 or follow @CoriEgan on Twitter.

Contributed photo

Keena Miller is the director of Murray-Calloway County Hospital’s Health and Wellness Center.

Murray wellness director rebounds from diagnosis

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4 • Wednesday, October 10, 2012 • The Paducah Sun Think Pink paducahsun.com

Reduced appetite and changes in taste and smell caused by chemotherapy can turn even your favorite meal into an ordeal. Add the problems of nausea and sore mouth and throat, and you’re left with a recipe for weight loss.

Dietitian Lorrie Terry of Western Baptist Hospital offers a few tips to help people undergoing treat-ment get the nutrients they need to keep their strength up during che-motherapy.

■ Sneak in calories: Peo-ple experiencing weight loss due to treatment shouldn’t necessarily focus on taking in more food. In-stead, they should look for calorie-dense meals that contain some protein.

Terry recommends top-ping salads with eggs and cheese to get the protein and calories you need. Pa-tients can also add calories by using milk when mak-ing dishes such as macaro-ni and cheese, casseroles, and mashed potatoes.

When nausea and a sore mouth prevent you

from eating solid foods, the addition of protein powder to a meal replace-ment can help patients increase caloric intake. Terry suggests scooping extra ice cream on top of milkshakes and other soft desserts.

■ Quench thirst, add citrus: Dry mouth is a common side effect of treatment, leaving patients feeling thirsty. To get the necessary eight to 12 cups of liquid a day, keep water handy at all times.

Terry said lemons and oranges seem to have a thirst-quenching effect on some people. Lemonade or tea with lemon can also soothe a sore throat. But use caution — acidic foods are not recom-mended for people with mouth sores.

■ Get creative with seasoning: Terry suggests adding a dash of extra sea-soning, such as bacon bits, onion, or barbecue sauce, to meat dishes. Marinat-ing meat before you cook it can also lend it a touch of fl avor without making it painful to eat.

■ Communicate with

physicians: Be sure to talk to your doctor before you incorporate any supple-

ments into your diet, Terry advised. Vitamin supplements could change

the effectiveness of treat-ment.

Call Laurel Black, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 575-8641.

Photo contributed by The American Cancer Society.

When undergoing chemotherapy, it is important to take in enough calories and protein. Dieticians suggest adding protein by incorporating toppings like nuts and cheese into favorite meals.

Four tips to healthy eating during chemotherapyBY LAUREL BLACKlblack@paducahsun.com

There’s sheer determina-tion in Shari Wallis that few would ever doubt. So even when Wallis learned of her breast cancer diagnosis in early May, there was no way she was going to let it keep her down.

“I’ve been working the whole time through this, and it really helps because you don’t want to turn around and get depressed, it just keeps me going,” said Wallis, a senior phle-botomist in the Western Baptist’s Women’s Center and 10-year employee of the hospital.

With a family history of breast cancer, Wallis be-came especially concerned when she discovered a suspicious spot on her right breast toward the end of April. But even after a sub-sequent mammogram and biopsy returned news that the tumor was malignant and she would have to have surgery to remove it, Wallis kept looking forward.

“I guess I had prepared myself for whatever came back, because my faith is strong,” she said.

The cancer had spread to the lymph nodes and Wallis elected to have a lumpecto-my several weeks after the initial diagnosis, which was followed up with radiation treatments.

And it was early into her fi rst chemotherapy treat-ments in August that Wallis heard about Western Baptist’s 2012 Pink Glove Dance entry, deciding she was going to show up for the fi lming even if it was only a day after her chemo-therapy.

Standing alongside fellow breast cancer survivors, Wallis was featured promi-nently in the video, as she proudly removed her base-ball cap during the dance to reveal her bald head, a result of the chemotherapy.

“I was proud to show my bald head,” she said. “I just

want people to be aware of what’s going on with breast cancer.”

With only several weeks more of chemotherapy to follow, Wallis said she’s not going to let the cancer beat her and offered some words of advice to women going through similar cir-cumstances:

“You have to have faith and you have to have positive people around you. You just have to be really, really strong.”

Call Will Pinkston, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8676.

Cancer patient goes viral, bares her head in Internet videoBY WILL PINKSTON

wpinkston@paducahsun.com

Contributed by Western Baptist Hospital

Shari Wallis (left), senior phlebotomist at West-ern Baptist Hospital, and Patty Harrison, registered nurse, film a scene during the hospital’s 2012 Pink Glove Dance Video. Wallis is undergoing chemother-apy following her breast cancer diagnosis in May.

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paducahsun.com Think Pink The Paducah Sun • Wednesday, October 10, 2012 • 5

It was just another routine workout for Curves trainer Ruthie Barker. Four years ago August, the then 58-year-old was working out at her local gym when she felt pain under her arm. When she checked, she felt a lump. She immediately consulted a doctor.

“I had had a mam-mogram that April that showed nothing,” Barker said. “It felt uncomfortable when I was stretching, and

once they did some tests, they found another lump in my breast. Then we found out I was already at stage three.”

Barker was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. She had her right breast removed, along with 37 lymph nodes — 33 of those were malig-nant — then underwent chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation treat-ment. Barker’s ordeal led to nine surgeries spread over four years, including reconstruction on both of

her breasts after her left was removed as a precau-tion.

Within those four years, however, Barker took a year off of all surgeries and treatment.

During that time, she participated in clinical trials at Vanderbilt Univer-stiy Medical Center to test a new drug that would pre-vent the return of cancer.

“My type of breast can-cer has a very high recur-rence rate,” Barker said. “It was really important to me to go there and help where

I could.”Barker, who is now re-

tired and works part time at Curves, says her physi-cians told her that her body’s health helped her to survive her battle with breast cancer.

She has also become a Zumba instructor, and continues to preach a healthy lifestyle to those around her.

“I had no other health problems and I was keep-ing very active,” Barker said. “That is one of the reasons my body could

withstand all of the stress that was put on it.”

Contact Corianne Egan, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8652.

Contributed photo

Ruthie Barker, of Benton and her husband, David, who is also a cancer survivor.

Woman cancer free after nine surgeries, four yearsBY CORIANNE EGANcegan@paducahsun.com

6 • Wednesday, October 10, 2012 • The Paducah Sun paducahsun.com