If you were to watch the energy level at which Audrey Chapman, the principal of Gladys Wood Elementary School, engages with students in the classrooms and hallways and on the playground, you would never guess that more than a decade ago she was in a battle for her life against breast cancer.
Ditto for Susan Schmidt. After retiring from her elementary school principal post with the Anchorage School District, she took over as the executive director of staffing and operations in the ASD human resources department. Just weeks before school began this fall, Susan was working overtime to fill key teaching positions as Anchorage—like many other large school districts around the country—faced a significant shortfall of qualified candidates.
Yet both women are indeed 10-year plus survivors of not just the emotional rollercoaster of being diagnosed with breast cancer, but also the draining effects of chemotherapy, radiation, reconstruction and physical therapy.
Their friendship, which preceded breast cancer, has only been refined and strengthened as each one—Susan first and then Audrey about three years later—got the news she had a rare form of breast cancer: invasive lobular carcinoma.
What is ILC?
ILC begins in the milk-producing glands of the breast. The "invasive" part of its name means that it breaks out of the lobule where it began and has the potential to spread to the lymph nodes and other areas of the body. According to the American Cancer Society, of the 180,000 women in the United States diagnosed with breast cancer each year, only 10 percent have this form. It is difficult to detect through mammograms because it starts deep in the breast tissue where milk production begins, not in the actual milk ducts closer to the surface, as is the case with other more easily detected cancers.
That fact the two friend each had the same less common form blew their minds.
But it also gave Susan insight into the challenges Audrey faced when she was diagnosed in 2005.
True empathy
"Susan just took care of me," Audrey said of the critical adjustment period after diagnosis. "She guided me through all of this and thought of things that nobody else would have thought to ask."
Susan knew exactly what her friend would need. She gathered catalogs for Audrey to order wardrobe items a woman in recovery from a double mastectomy would need. Susan brought Audrey the camisoles she used that are designed to accommodate having a permanent chemotherapy shunt in her chest during treatment.
She gave her journals to write down the unending thoughts and questions she knew Audrey would experience.
It was the least she could do for her friend who had been there for her in a different way.
When Susan's diagnosis came, she was principal of Wonder Park Elementary. Audrey was her teacher-in-charge when Susan was out of the building. Audrey made sure things ran smoothly in Susan's treatment absences. She took care of the never-ending Title I paperwork for Wonder Park's large population of students from low-income families. She trained the teachers and oversaw implementation of the program, reporting back to Susan on a regular basis.
Looking back
Back-to-school is a strange time for Audrey. She was diagnosed in August the week school principals are back to work prepping for teachers to show up the following week.
"Each year, it comes around and often I am so busy with getting ready for school that I might not think about it right away," Audrey said. "But then it always comes back and I think, oh yeah, that's right."
Both women were determined to not let breast cancer define their lives. Audrey especially was near militant about this. She rarely missed work, opting to undergo chemotherapy on Thursdays after school hours so she could get through Friday before hitting the wall. She spent her weekends with the eventual tiredness and plain old crappy feeling that followed each treatment. Come Monday, she felt rested enough to get back to her school, Ravenwood Elementary School in Eagle River, and back to her students.
"I rarely sit behind my desk when school is in session," Audrey said. "I want to be in the classrooms engaging with the teachers and the students."
Susan's cancer treatment took a different course than Audreys. Susan's tumor was so large that doctors wanted to shrink it first before surgery. She did chemotherapy first and had to take leave from April to October of that year because she was just too sick.
"Audrey was so blessed because she was able to work through her chemotherapy," Susan said. "Not everyone can do that."
Audrey agrees and she also emphasized that no woman going through breast cancer treatment should measure her experience against that of another.
"It impacts everyone differently," Audrey said. "Just because I was able to work does not mean that someone else should expect that for themselves. Everyone is different because everyone's body is different. Each woman has to do this the way that her body needs her to."
And if you can have a true friend by your side, so much the better.
For a list of breast cancer resources and support in Alaska click here.
This article first appeared in the 2015 edition of Alaska Pulse magazine. Contact Pulse editor Jamie Gonzales at jgonzales@alaskadispatch.com.