Inspiring Lives Magazine Spring 2017: Issue 4 | Page 23
pany called Bright Pink, which was doing some things
locally with American Eagle, and I spoke to them that
first year. I did get some training with them to do some
early detection, training young women about breast can-
cer, what is your family history, what is your risk, etc.
They have a tool online you can use. I went to Chicago.
They paid for me to have that training. Then I had some
health issues, so then I couldn’t do it. But it was a bless-
ing in disguise because I wanted to get more into the
thick of things as far as research, and I got a call from
Glimmer of Hope.”
A pilot program via Allegheny Health Network began
with ten women between the ages of 30–40 with breast
cancer in early treatment. The integrative program in-
cludes massage, acupuncture, dieticians, helping with
children, and more. It has gone so well that another
group of ten women will start a program soon, and it
may expand to other places.
Pillar has also shown up on the political side of things.
She works with the Tiger Lily Foundation, a breast
cancer support, education, and advocacy foundation in
Washington, D.C. They brought Pillar on to help speak
to Congress about their U.S. Preventative Screening
Task Force. At the time, the guideline age of first-time
breast cancer screenings was going to be pushed back
from 40 to 50 and to only have women screened every
two years instead of annually with exceptions being
made for higher-risk patients.
“So we introduced two pieces of legislation that asked
Congress to put a stop to this guideline, so we could
have experts speak about the guidelines. Of the people
on the task force (who drew up the guidelines), there
was not one radiologist, there was not one oncologist,
there was not one breast surgeon.”
Pillar and the rest of the advocates with Tiger Lily
went to Capitol Hill, met with several lawmakers, and
within two months, had the bill to stop the new regula-
tions passed.
What do cancer survivors and advocates like Pillar
want people to take away from their stories? The Butler
Hospital nurse (yes, through all of this she is still work-
ing) sums it up in one word: education.
“It’s a matter of each of us educating ourselves and be-
ing aware of where our hard-earned money is going, and
reaching out to groups and organizations that actually
give 100% to metastatic research. 99.9% of breast cancer
deaths are from metastatic cancer. That’s where we need
to get research! You know we’re getting pretty good at
this early detection stuff, trying to figure things out and
trying to maintain people, but still, nothing has changed
in 40 years as far as how many go metastatic.” n
For more information on breast cancer organizations that
support metastatic research—studying the spread of cancer
cells throughout the body—please visit the following web-
sites:
• metavivor.org
• symbolofthecure.com
• tigerlilyfoundation.org
SPRING 2017
INSPIRING LIVES
23