| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2009 7:41 pm |
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Local News 
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Stanwood breast cancer survivor among 6 area women to model in Macy's show Deblynne Whittlesey has beaten breast cancer.Last week, tests confirmed that her body has been free of cancer for three months. Now it's time to celebrate. Saturday the gregarious 53-year-old Stanwood woman, who had both her breasts removed and six months of chemotherapy to beat the disease, will share her triumph publicly. She'll take to the runway, wearing designer fashions, with 15 other local women for a Macy's Breast Cancer Survivor Fashion Show in Seattle. Gaylen Brule of Camano Island nominated Whittlesey, a longtime friend, for the honor because of her unfailingly positive attitude through more than a year of grueling tests and treatments. Whittlesey delighted her doctors and nurses with her upbeat outlook, not a common thing in an oncology department. "She was a shining star. She brought light to the hospital," Brule, 47, said. "She always looked at the bright side." When Brule heard about Whittlesey's diagnosis, she worried that breast cancer would be too much, even for her lighthearted friend, who had faced numerous challenges in recent years. Whittlesey's mother had died in 2005. Her beloved dog, a rescued Labrador, had died in 2006. That's not to mention the cruel fact that the heartbreakingly futile fertility treatments Whittlesey had endured years earlier might have contributed to her cancer. "I was about to learn that the universe had selected the right person to teach a teacher the most meaningful of lessons," Brule, a Stanwood Middle School teacher, wrote in her nomination essay. "She taught me that happiness comes from within and even people fighting cancer can be very, very happy." Staying positive was routine for Whittlesey. Doubting her doctor, however, wasn't. Whittlesey, who had a mammogram every six months, was told in August 2007 that she needed a lumpectomy on her left breast after a biopsy confirmed cancerous tissue was present. During that same time, however, Whittlesey had noticed a lump in her right breast. She asked if she needed a biopsy on that side too. Her radiologist said no. That's when Whittlesey's sister, Maureen Scott, urged her to get a second opinion. That second opinion may have ultimately saved her life. It was, in fact, Whittlesey's supposedly healthy right breast that harbored invasive stage-three breast cancer. "You're in just such shock. You tend to trust what they're saying instead of being your own best advocate," Whittlesey said. "You have to question, even if it means (questioning) somebody that you consider an expert in their field. "It's your body. Get a second, maybe even a third, opinion." On Oct. 10, 2007, Whittlesey had a double mastectomy, followed by chemo treatments every Friday for six months with her sister, Patt Dronen of Olympia, at her side at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. She continued to work as a court clerk and bailiff for Skagit County District Court throughout most of her treatment. Her breast cancer journey, despite her sunny disposition and the help of prostheses-enhanced bras, was sometimes scary and sad. "It really is a horrifying sight, seeing yourself without breasts," she said. She is looking forward to her reconstruction surgeries coming up this November. Whittlesey didn't just survive cancer. One month after her chemo ended, she set out on a walk with her two dogs -- to begin training for what would have been her fourth Danskin Triathlon -- when a motorcycle spooked her dogs, causing them to bolt. She fell face down and broke her jaw. Her mouth had to be wired shut for seven weeks as she healed. Her husband, Patrick, a commercial fisherman, had just left for Alaska, leaving her to cope on her own. Whittlesey, who damaged her teeth in the fall, continued to keep her spirits up. "It could have been so much worse," she said. "I don't do the, 'Woe is me.' I'm a real optimistic person. There's always something to be grateful for." In fact, Whittlesey arranged to have her teeth fully repaired with crowns just in time for the fall fashion show. Whittlesey, along with the other local cancer survivors who will be modeling, is featured in a life-size portrait cutout in the downtown Macy's window display. During the fashion show Saturday, she'll wear a knit cape from the Jones New York Fairfield collection for her first outfit, followed by a ruby-colored three-piece suit from the Kasper Dolce Vita collection for her second outfit. Though Whittlesey said she would normally wear clothes with more of an edgy style, she's excited to participate and to be pampered. "It's going to be such an awesome day," she said. Reporter Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@heraldnet.com Other local breast cancer survivors Five other breast cancer survivors from Snohomish and Island counties will walk in the Macy's fashion show Saturday. Eunice White of Everett, 80, an active resident of Lago de Plata Mobile Villa, a south Everett retirement community, beat breast cancer at age 79. Sherry Lebed Davis of Lynnwood, 62, helped create a therapeutic exercise program, "Focus on Healing: The Lebed Method," with her two brothers, both surgeons, during her mother's struggle to beat breast cancer. Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996 and has since devoted her life to helping others heal through movement and dance. Traci Winn of Langley, 46, tested positive for both breast cancer and a breast cancer gene, which involves a higher chance of recurrence. Her treatment included six surgeries in all, including a double mastectomy and hysterectomy. Patsy Jacoy of Lynnwood, 45, endured a lengthy cancer fight that started with seemingly successful chemotherapy but ultimately continued with a double mastectomy as well as more chemo and radiation. Kathleen Terry of Snohomish, 44, lost her sister to breast cancer in 2000 and her father to male breast cancer 1987. She was diagnosed in 2006. She recently started volunteering with the Breast Cancer Network of Strength, where she counsels newly diagnosed women. |
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