“I FOLLOWED IN MY MOTHER’S FOOTSTEPS”
During a routine mammogram, Julie was diagnosed with the same disease she had nursed her mother through.
When Dr Julie Gross McAdam was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 58, she wasn’t entirely surprised.
The internationally recognised dementia researcher had previously nursed her mother through the same disease. Twice. “My mother was very pragmatic and so am I,” she smiles. “I was too busy with work to worry about my diagnosis, so
I just dealt with it.”
In the second year of her PhD research, she underwent radiation, then began a five-year treatment with cancer drug Tamoxifen.
“The treatment is, of course, invasive, painful and unbelievably exhausting,” she remembers. “It was something I could not easily ignore but I got through it one day at a time.”
Although war-torn and weary, she nonetheless could see no point in lying around “without purpose”, so she did most of her research reading and writing in the warmth and comfort of her bedroom.
“Like many others before me, I have grown to deeply appreciate the luxury of beginning and ending the day surrounded by a sea of books and ideas,” she says.
Now 70, Julie understands that there are many reasons women delay their screenings, including the idea that a once-off screening is enough.
“Many people think they can have one breast screen and that’s the end of the story; they’ll never get breast cancer after that,” she explains. “Well, I was diagnosed on my fourth routine mammogram. You must keep having them – it may be momentarily uncomfortable but then it’s all over, and you can get on with your life!”
“I felt besieged during treatment, and I was frequently astonished to wake up every morning.”