Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
FINDING EMOTIONAL SUPPORT AFTER BREAST CANCER DIAGNOSIS
A range of options is available for breast cancer survivors to aid in their journey from diagnosis to survivorship.
When Cathie Fasciglione of Delaware County went for her annual mammogram appointment last year at age 61, it was the start of an unexpected health journey.
“A spot showed up on my mammogram, which I get every year,” Fasciglione said. “They called me back to get another picture and they did the biopsy, and it came back cancer.”
Fasciglione, who lost her father to colon cancer when she was just 1, recalls the moment she received the news.
“I came home and I can remember I was sitting in my recliner and I was home alone when I got the call,” she said. “I started crying hysterically and I called my son, and he and my daughter came right over.”
She was surprised by how her grown children, son, Nicholas and daughter Danielle Ryan, reacted to her diagnosis.
“My kids were the strongest, and I said, ‘How did you get so strong?’ and they said, ‘We learned it from you,’ ” Fasciglione said. “I said, ‘I don’t feel that strong,’ and they said, ‘That’s why we’re here, and it’s going to be OK.’”
It wasn’t long before she went to Crozer Health of Delaware County to have a lumpectomy on her right breast.
“My surgeon, Dr. Jandie Schwartz Posner, was amazing,” she said. “As soon as I walked in she made me feel so comfortable.”
It was determined that radiation
would be the next course of treatment post surgery.
“I fell to the floor,” Fasciglione said, of when she learned her treatment would be radiation and
not chemotherapy. “I was so worried about losing my hair and being sick, since I knew someone who went through chemotherapy, so I was petrified.”
After her 20 days of radiation was over, it was a joyous occasion when she got to ring the ceremonial bell.
“My daughter and my grandson came, and he had flowers in his hand and they videotaped it,” Fasciglione said. “My son took me to every radiation appointment, so he was there too.”
Support during her journey
In addition to her children, she had a friend from high school who was another form of support during her journey.
“He was going through throat cancer at the same time, so that was a lot of comfort for both of us,” she said. “He had to go through lots of chemo, and it was texting each other asking how we were doing through each of our treatments.”
Getting support from someone who was going through a similar situation was comforting to her.
“We could talk on the same level and were both in a place where the cancer was treatable,” she said. “I tended to lean more toward my family, my kids and friends for support.”
Fasciglione is now on a fiveyear medication plan with an upcoming mammogram scheduled nine months post-radiation. She feels very fortunate her cancer was caught early.
“There was no lump — just a shaded thing on there that looked different than the year before,” she said. “I can strongly say: Get your mammogram every year.”
While Fascigline prefers oneon-one support, some who receive a breast cancer diagnosis seek out group support through a survivor-driven organization such as Breast Cancer Support Services of Berks County.