Photography by Donovan Roberts Witmer
Laurie Schwing
Laurie Schwing is in the unusual position of not only knowing what it’s like firsthand to be a cancer patient but also knowing what it’s like to help develop treatment areas in a new cancer center to be as aesthetically healing and comforting as possible.
Schwing was diagnosed in 2000 with breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy and radiation. When the PinnacleHealth-Fox Chase Cancer Center in Harrisburg was being planned, Schwing, manager of Library Services for Pinnacle, was asked to join the community advisory board because of her experience as both a cancer survivor and as an employee. In both of those roles, Schwing was actively involved in cancer support groups and keeping professionals at Pinnacle updated on cancer-related research and news.
“The center was designed by patients to be spiritually and physically comforting and healing,” says Schwing. Little did she know when she began her role as part of the advisory committee that she would again become a cancer patient before the committee held its last meeting.
Schwing was diagnosed again in late July 2010 with a non-recurrent, new cancer in the same breast and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy. “Unfortunately for me, the center was not done in time for my treatment,” she says. She started treatment on August 30.
The PinnacleHealth-Fox Chase Cancer Center opened in April of 2011.
She helped with design and in selecting materials, colors and décor over 18 months, including lighting, flooring, fabrics, paint and themes. The advisory group selected furniture for the chemotherapy area and also worked on the lobby, resource center, community room, nurse navigator office and massage therapy area.
They selected stone flooring; wood-sculpted walls; glass that is slightly patterned and colored to look like water and crystals; leaf- and vine-patterned fabrics; wood grain furniture; a sculpted carpet; and open layouts and atriums to be part of the design. They chose earth tones and soft pastel colors to be used in all of the décor.
“The theme that we wanted to convey when designing the center was one of nature, calmness, cool colors, elements such as rocks, stones, sea glass, water, sky, sand, earth and wood. The entire facility is meant to inspire, comfort and be relaxing and spiritual,” she says.
Schwing says she was finished with chemotherapy in time to attend the open house for the cancer center. “[I] was still wearing my wig and hoping that I could ‘last’ through the work day and the open house. I toured the entire center that night, often with tears in my eyes at how beautiful and comforting the facility looked,” she says.
For the first time, Schwing saw what the committee had imagined as it chose the design elements: the entire ground floor, with its atrium opening to the next floor, conveying a sense of oneness with nature and the spirit of renewal and hope, she says.
“I felt a deep sense of satisfaction in being part of the planning process for this beautiful new center, which would not only improve comfort and convenience for cancer patients in the region but also improve the quality of care and the treatment of the individual as a whole person,” says Schwing.
Schwing has contributed to the Facing Cancer Together blog on WITF’s website at www.witf.org. Her entry is in the comment section under Dr. Roy Williams’ entry titled “Cancer Changes Your Life, But it Can Change You for the Better.”
Jane Rudden
Jane Rudden is no wallflower. So when “the beast” decided to take her on a turn around the dance floor, she quickly decided she would be the one to lead.
Breast cancer, which Rudden dubbed “the beast,” challenged the Millersville University professor with varying steps and tempos: lumpectomy, chemotherapy, mastectomy and radiation.
Though the dance was grueling for her physically, mentally and emotionally, Rudden, at 66, finds herself at peace.
“Despite the physical scars I have, I’d say I’m the most at peace I’ve ever been. I’m happy, love my job and love my life. I seem to know so much clearer what I have control over and what I don’t have control over. If I have control over something, I stop and change it, but if not, ‘Ta ta,’ ” she says.
Rudden has written a book about her experience with breast cancer. It was published last year. Titled If We Must Dance, Then I Will Lead: A Memoir of Breast Cancer Survival, the book is a candid account of her many surgeries and treatments, her support system of friends and family who were with her from start to finish, and her childhood and parents, which is where she drew her strength to face her unwelcome dance partner. Rudden has 10 siblings, six of whom are sisters. The book is also leavened with humor and wry observations.
“Yesterday illuminated today and helped me to understand how it was I had the gumption to face one curve ball after another. I found myself mentally reaching back and weaving in stories of my childhood and brothers and sisters,” she says. She began writing as a way to document her experience, “and to let my sisters know what to say when they had to check the box ‘yes’ when they went to the doctor.”
April Fool’s Day in 2004 is when the beast tapped Rudden on the shoulder and asked her to dance. With a diagnosis of Stage III breast cancer —the stages of breast cancer are expressed on a scale of 0 through IV—Rudden began 12 arduous months that taught her who she was.
She had a lumpectomy. She began her eight chemotherapy treatments, which included the use of a surgically implanted Mediport that caused her endless problems. As she was still having chemotherapy for the first breast cancer, Rudden was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ in the same breast. DCIS is a relatively new diagnostic term given to cells that are growing inappropriately in the ducts of the breast.
The new diagnosis resulted in a mastectomy, a bout with depression, 28 external beam radiation sessions, a failed reconstruction of the breast, constant fatigue and a fragile psyche. Not only did her reconstructive surgery fail, it resulted in a life-threatening infection and a raw chest scar that required a skin graft.
Rudden praises what she calls “the choir of angels,” the friends and family who support cancer patients. Rudden’s angels while she went through her cancer care at Lancaster General Health were her partner Ed, her sisters and friends.
Cancer’s impact on family, friends and caregivers must be considered, Rudden says. You have to make sure your angels are OK, she says.
She didn’t realize while she was going through her cancer treatment how difficult it was on those who loved her. “I had no clue that they needed to slip away occasionally and find their own haven of comfort.” She emphasizes this point when speaking to groups.
Rudden says she chose her book title to send a message to those who have cancer: You do have control over this.
“The beast might force you out to the dance floor, but you are going to set the pace and set the rhythm.”
RIta Allison
A woman has to be her own advocate when it comes to cancer, says Rita Allison.
A little pushing from someone who has been there is good, too. “Do you have mammograms?” she asks.
She has good reason to push. A mammogram helped to save her life.
In 2009, when images from a mammogram and an ultrasound were iffy, Allison says, her radiologist told her she could wait until her next scheduled mammogram rather than have a biopsy right away.
“I asked, ‘What would you do if this was your mother?’ ” The radiologist suggested a biopsy.
Soon after, in July of 2009, Allison was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, DCIS, of the left breast, Stage I. Her cancer was noninvasive, meaning it had not spread into the rest of the breast or to lymph nodes.
“My cancer was only found because of a mammogram. I didn’t feel it, and they told me I would never feel it because it was close to [the] breast bone,” says Allison.
She had a lumpectomy on Aug. 17, 2009, and then in early September, she had a second surgery to remove more of the breast tissue to make sure a safe margin around the cancer had been removed. In October, Allison started her 33 radiation treatments. Allison received all of her care at Apple Hill Medical Center in York, which is part of WellSpan. She said her care there was “awesome.”
Since her radiation treatment was completed, Allison says the protocol is for her to have a mammogram and visit an oncologist every six months for five years.
“You go through so much…that fear of the unknown, and I didn’t want to die. What are they going to do and is it going to hurt?”
Allison said that when the staff at Apple Hill told her the diagnosis, they were positive and told her she would be OK. “I had an awesome surgeon who took very good care of me,” she says.
Allison said a friend of hers had breast cancer that was diagnosed 10 years before hers was found. “What she went through was a whole lot worse than what I went through. What we have now is a whole lot better,” she says.
“I think the biggest thing is good medical care, support, faith and a positive attitude.”
“You have to be proactive when you get cancer. You have to be a part of the planning. Anything they have to offer you, you need to know about it and think about what they are going to do.”
Allison thinks maybe her cancer was a sign for her to slow down and appreciate life. “It probably made my life better.”
She took an eight-week class through WellSpan after her treatment, “Life After Breast Cancer,” at Apple Hill, which she says is excellent. She learned about diet, exercise and holistic approaches to dealing with illness. She was impressed when Dr. Ed Rogers, a family physician with WellSpan, spoke about how the mind and body work together.
“I’m more aware of what I’m doing. I read labels all the time. It actually does stop me. I won’t get [some foods] because of fat grams, salt or sugars,” she says.
“You really learn from this stuff. You know how cats have nine lives? I was given another life. I was given a gift.”
