Cancer ‘thriver’ shares story at event
Under chandeliers of flushing pink roses, DeAnna Korte shared messages of support with those fighting breast cancer and urged those who have not been diagnosed to take the fight seriously.
“Lean on the people who love you and who are there for you” and “find your reason to fight” are the words of advice Korte, assistant vice president of marketing and communications at Relyance Bank, offered to attendees at the second annual Pretty in Pink luncheon at the Pine Bluff Country Club on Tuesday. The event encourages women to receive annual mammograms.
Korte received clear scans in June after spending a year battling breast cancer. She underwent a biopsy on July 1, 2022, and received a call three days later while hanging out with her family near a lake.
“I knew then it was not going to be good, so I had a momentary visit with the doctor, went inside and cried so the [granddaughters] wouldn’t see me,” Korte said. “I looked at their little faces and said, ‘OK, I’m going to do this.’”
Korte underwent a lumpectomy that July 18, but then doctors found another sign of cancer not previously diagnosed, she said.
“I ended up with cancer in both breasts,” Korte said.
She had two rounds of chemotherapy — suffering an allergic reaction both times — and was told she had to start over with the procedure.
“This is preventative chemo. I don’t want to do it any more,” she recalled telling a nurse. “I already lost my hair, and she told me, ‘DeAnna, you’re strong. You can do this, but you need to think about, ‘I have cancer in one lymph node.’”
The cancer got outside the lymph node and a cancer cell could be floating around that doctors missed, she was told. She was also assured: “You can get through this,” and she underwent a double mastectomy on Jan. 18.
She later found out that her tissues were dying and she needed reconstructive surgery.
“I just turned 60 two months ago, and I said, ‘I had the girls for a good while, so it’s all right,’” Korte said. “My husband has been supportive, and I thought ‘I can do this.’”
Korte is a former executive director of the Little Rock music festival Riverfest and told the luncheon attendees that she went without getting tested for breast cancer for five years. Korte added that her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer five years to the day before she received her own bad news.
“When they say to get a mammogram, you need to do it,” she admonished the guests. “The early detection is why I’m here today. I got clear scans in June.”
KLRT (Fox 16) news anchor Donna Terrell emceed Tuesday’s luncheon and urged guests to be screened every year starting at age 40. Terrell’s husband, Dr. Kenneth Lambert, is an obstetrician and gynecologist (OB/GYN) at Jefferson Regional Medical Center, which sponsored the luncheon.
Early detection is the greatest ammunition in the fight against breast cancer, said Terrell, who referred to the cancer survivors as thrivers. She noted that 128 of those in attendance were thrivers.
“The risk of getting breast cancer increases with age,” Terrell said. “Sometimes we sit back and think, ‘Well, I haven’t had breast cancer.’ But the older we get, we’re more at risk of getting it, so it’s important to stay aware as we get older and stay on top of things.”
Dr. Joseph Browning, an OB/GYN, and Dr. Asif Masood, a hematologist/ oncologist, sat on stage for a fireside-style chat about recommendations for being screened and, if diagnosed with breast cancer, treatment.
“The question always comes up, ‘Why do you do this screening?’” Browning said. “The whole purpose of our screening, the methods that are derived from medical-based evidence and expert opinion, is to intervene and pick up pre-clinical disease in asymptomatic women so that we can do three things: That is to improve outcome, increase survivability and decrease the need for more intense therapies.”
Masood told the guests of a boy’s journey that started at age 15 when he lost his mother, 33, to cancer. The young man with dreams of becoming an Air Force pilot turned to the medical field and understood that a journey is an important thing for those battling cancer and their loved ones.
“Life is good. Life’s pretty. When it takes an exit, that’s where difficulties happen,” said Masood, fully grown from that 15-yearold who started his journey. “We come along every step of the way.”