Focus on metastasized breast cancer

MARION — Ann Faust Concepcion knew cancer had a head start on her at the age of 31.

"I actually felt the lump myself in a self-breast exam," the 34-year-old Marion mother of two said, adding that she was on the phone with a friend when while using her right hand on her left breast when she made the discovery; "I had done it all the time, but not regularly like you're supposed to." She remembered thinking, "I don't like what I'm feeling."

"I had had two noncancerous lumps taken out when I was a freshman in college, so I kind of knew what I was looking for," she said. "The gynecologist couldn't feel it and sent me for an ultrasound and a mammogram." A biopsy was ordered, and "we knew within a week."

While the cancer was detected on only her left side, she chose to have a double mastectomy, "which turned out to be a good decision because it ended up there was some cancer in the right side, as well." She also had 24 lymph nodes, seven of which were cancerous, removed from her left arm, and completed 20 rounds of chemotherapy and 33 rounds of radiation to her left chest.

A positron emission tomography scan showed a possible cancerous lesion on her tailbone, for which she received stereotactic radiation. But another PET scan about a month later showed numerous cancerous lesions in her bones, including her arm, pelvis and spine. She had her ovaries removed to reduce the amount of hormones in her body, receives a monthly injection to strengthen her bones, and daily takes two pills, whose "actual focus" she doesn't know.

Cancer discovered

"My breast cancer had metastasized. At 31, I had stage 4 breast cancer," she wrote in a story she submitted in June 2014 to The Marion Star.

As she learned more about the disease with which she was dealing, she became an advocate for metastasized cancer, sharing her cancer story with "all who care to know and understand it," beginning with a Caring Bridge website and continued to update family and friends via a support page on Facebook.

Her smiling face and upbeat posts have become a familiar sight to her many Facebook friends, who have noted the inspiration they take from Concepcion's courageous approach to dealing with the disease, her openness in discussing it and her advocacy for others.

"I really do credit growing up in Marion and being in my hometown and being around my closest family, and having girlfriends from high school and true friends around me a lot," she said. "I credit Ian (Cooper, her boyfriend) a lot. I credit my children. You know you have to get up every day for them anyway. We've got school. We've got football. You have to live your life like everyone else, but you have to do it unfortunately knowing your time may be shorter. I guess there was no other option. Obviously, I do have some down days."

Funding research

She recommends people who wish to donate to fight metastasized cancer make sure the organization to which they give is spending its money to research metastasized breast cancer, "the breast cancer that actually kills, the breast cancer that has spread."

The organization METAvivor, which funds stage 4 metastasized breast cancer research and advocates for people who have the disease, is one of the organizations that Concepcion currently supports. She said she's always supported the American Cancer Society with Relay for Life, "but we're going to try to go more local, too, helping women we've met" and Chapel Hill House, a Marion County retreat that provides respite for pediatric cancer families to visit, free of charge. She also supports Little Pink Houses of Hope, a vacation retreat in North Carolina for families dealing with cancer.

Concepcion said she learned less than two months ago that her cancer had spread to her liver and lungs.

"With the bones you just have to be careful," she said. "With the liver and lungs, I'll be looking at possible oxygen down the road. ... Unfortunately, it's been growing very rapidly."

"So, I'm in the final stage," she said, adding that she switched from The James Cancer Hospital in Columbus to Bucyrus Hospital for treatment about a month ago because its nearer her home and takes less time. "My cancer has spread to my lungs, my liver and a lot of my bones. Right now, I've chosen not to have a brain MRI because I don't feel that would change my treatment," and she's not having memory problems. "So, I really don't want to know right now."

The most difficult part of the experience is the "unknown," and having "everything in order — I live for my kids — and the unknown for them and not wanting to leave them," she said, referring to son Caden, 12, and daughter Corlei, 9. "They're doing really well. They're great kids. They know I need rest. They're very respectful about that. As far as what do they know and not know? We don't really go there. ... They don't fully grasp the extent of my disease and probably because I don't think anyone really does, including myself. I think that we will find the time together. I feel good right now. It's really good days and bad. Until it's on a downward slope, and we're not winning, I don't feel there's any reason to bring my children down with that."

She said what she wants most of all is "women and men to do their self-breast exams. I want them to pay attention to their body, and I want respect for cancer patients. I know not everyone knows the perfect thing to say or do, but sometimes it's not something they need to say. A simple hug is enough. We don't need to stand and talk about it."

Taking a moment to read a person's social media posts also is considerate, she said.

"Make sure you check someone's blog or their Facebook page first before you ask them, because they might have gone to that public site so they don't have to say it 80 times; just respect all around for one's self and what, unfortunately, is becoming we all know someone now."

jjarvis@marionstar.com

740-375-5154

Twitter: @jmwjarvis

Relay for Life

The next Relay for Life of Marion County will be held June 17, 2016, at River Valley High School, 4280 Marion-Mount Gilead Road, Caledonia. Proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. For information, follow the organization on Facebook at Relay for Life of Marion County.