From BMT Newsletter May1994 Issue # 23 - Breast Cancer Reprinted by NYSERNet with Permission from BMT Newsletter
As a mountain climber, Laura Evans took on progressively bigger challenges that tested her mettle. Then she faced perhaps the biggest challenge of her life - breast cancer.
Evans, 45, is a fashion designer by profession. She designs active wear, outerwear and skiwear in addition to publishing a forecast report for the sporting fashion business. Her true joy, however, has always been to be in the great outdoors where she has climbed the highest peaks from America's Northwest to Africa.
"I've always been active, swimming competitively in high school, skiing, hiking, running, biking," she says. "I live in Ketchum. Idaho, near Sun Valley and the Sawtooth Mountains, and there's lots of wonderful peaks to hike around."
In 1983 Evans did her first serious climb up to the 14,410-foot peak of Mount Rainier in Washington state. "Unfortunately I came down in a basket," she says. "I shattered my ankle; literally shattered everything that holds the foot onto the leg."
Two years later, Evans climbed Rainier again and was hooked. She went on to climb Rainier a third time and later took part in a 250-mile expedition up an 18,000-foot mountain in Nepal.
"I came back from that expedition feeling stronger than I ever have in my life," Evans says. "It never, ever occurred to me I would get breast cancer. I worked out all the time. There's no breast cancer in my family."
In spring 1989, Evans says she discovered a lump in her breast. A mammogram test in early September showed nothing unusual and her physician sent her home.
But in early December that year. she discovered a second lump under her arm. A biopsy determined it was cancer and exploratory surgery revealed it had metastasized to 11 Iymph nodes. With the help of her husband, Roger, Evans consulted several oncologists across the United States. Most said the survival rate for her condition was poor. Late in December she underwent a lumpectomy and surgery to remove the cancerous Iymph nodes under her arm. "But I wasn't convinced that chemotherapy and radiation would be enough," Evans says. "I wanted to find out what my options were and what other treatment there was."
Evans learned about bone marrow transplants being done in San Francisco, and decided to have high-dose chemotherapy and an autologous BMT. For three months beginning in early 1990 she commuted between San Francisco and her home for preliminary chemotherapy treatments to shrink the size of her tumor. She had an allergic reaction to one of the drugs and developed temporary rheumatoid arthritis.
"I couldn't raise my hands above my elbow," she says. "I had to go to the bathroom standing up."
By the end of March 1990, Evans entered the hospital to have her bone marrow harvested and began intensive chemotherapy in preparation for the BMT. During the six weeks of chemotherapy, she stayed in a sterile room to protect her while her immune system was suppressed. Afterward, her bone marrow was given back to her, and she then received two months of radiation before she was able to return home.
"I was pretty weak when I left the hospital," Evans says. She had lost her sense of taste, hair, fingernails, toenails and some of her memory. She regained everything back, though she occasionally has memory lapses.
"My whole focus after the diagnosis became survival. Returning home after the BMT, my first priority became wellness, eating well, keeping my head in the right place. I believe you can't get well or stay well without a positive attitude."
Evans has been free of cancer for four years. "I think the BMT saved my life, and I'm very much in favor of it as one of the best options we have today."
She credits her continued wellness to the support she's received from Roger, her dog Buster and the peace she finds in nature. "Buster's a very gentle spirit, very loving, totally accepting and always there for me," Evans says. "He's my hiking buddy and when I would come close to becoming overwhelmed, Buster and I would walk in the wilderness."
Evans resumed training for climbing trips, and in June 1992 she climbed Rainier again with Roger, who's not a climber but trained to do it with her. "One of the things I had planned to do the year I got sick was a trip to Kilimanjaro and the Rainier climb showed me 1 was strong enough to do it."
In early October 1992, Evans traveled to Africa and climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro. "To be able to stand at 19,200 feet was such an amazing feeling for me," she says. "I suffered so much, yet overcame so much also."
Evans has since done climbs at the twin volcanoes in Mexico and future plans include trips to Bolivia and Mt. Elbrus in Russia. But her most intensive planning is for a trip set for January 1995 to the top of the 23,000-foot Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina. Called "Expedition Inspiration," Evans says the trip will include 15 breast cancer survivors and will raise funds for breast cancer treatment.
"We all know intellectually we're going to die at some point but unless you've been confronted with a life-threatening illness it doesn't become real," she says, "and once it does, you realize how valuable life is and you make the most of every day"
This document was created by NYSERNet, Inc. through a grant funded by the New York State Science and Technology Foundation as part of the Breast Cancer Infomation Clearinghouse.