Trish Wallace

Patricia "Trish" Brewer Wallace, 45, of Cape Girardeau, learned she had breast cancer in 2013. An LPN and former social worker, she is looking ahead to what's beyond her personal struggle: She wants to become a health educator. She says she has witnessed firsthand a significant problem with how some local African-American and other minority populations tend to seek treatment and support when they are diagnosed with a serious health problem. Wallace wouldn't have known she had breast cancer if not for her decision to use the Dig For Life Program, which annually provides 400 mammograms to financially disadvantaged women. The program is sponsored by Saint Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri State University.

__Tell us about your diagnosis.__

I was diagnosed after my very first mammogram at 44. A friend who found out she had breast cancer kept telling me to get a mammogram. She said she didn't want me to end up like her. I had the mammogram in July 2013 through Dig For Life and was diagnosed in September. I had no sense of it all, no lumps, no bumps, no pain, nothing. But the mammogram detected it. I was uninsured and then referred to the Siteman Center in St. Louis for biopsies. Initially, my doctors thought they could take care of it with a lumpectomy, but they found more cancer, and I eventually had to have a mastectomy of my right breast. Tests after that on lymph nodes showed the cancer was more aggressive than they thought. I went to Southeast Cancer Center for oncology and radiology and went through chemo, waited a month and had 25 radiation treatments. Now it is in remission.

How has day-to-day life changed for you?

My priorities are much different. I was worried about the job, and kind of material things, before, and now I know my life and the people in my life matter more than those things. I try to make better lifestyle choices, like I drink enough water, and I exercise more.

__When you were going through treatment, what did you need most from the people around you?__

I needed a lot of financial support. That was a big thing. You are trying to fight for your life, but you are worried about having to pay rent. If it wasn't for my family ... I don't know what I would do. I am a single mom of two. They have jumped in and taken care of me in every way -- physically, emotionally, just every way. My mom stayed with me and I stayed with her when I had chemo. I would be so sick from it. And I needed positive energy, and spiritual support, so my church was really important.

__Are there any life goals you have reached because of your experience with cancer?__

I am already a nurse, but I have always wanted to be a health educator, and now that this has happened, it has pushed me more to do that, to reach that goal. My African-American community needs help. I would go to breast cancer events for support and fundraising, and when I got there, I would be shocked. My family and I would be the only black people there. Community-wide events, even, with like 100 people, and I would be the only person of color. I know I'm not the only black woman in Cape who has had breast cancer, but they aren't seeking support, and I don't know why. Somebody needs to get out and start talking and let women of color in the community know there is support and find a way to get them there. They need help. They need transportation and financial help and education. People with cancer I have talked to don't have that, and there needs to be more culturally diverse outreach. I would love to be the one to do it. I didn't get this cancer diagnosis for nothing. It's going to help me help someone else. I've been praying about it, and I know it will happen.

-- By Erin Ragan