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A Positive Outlook is Her Wonder Drug

Strike up a conversation with Jane Lee, and you'll soon learn about her passions: golf, gardening, and her eight grandchildren. And oh yes, she has cancer.

By Laurie Herr

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Strike up a conversation with Jane Lee, and you'll soon learn about her passions: golf (she tees off two to three times a week), gardening (she grows pretty sweet peas outside her home in Piedmont, Calif.), and her eight grandchildren (six girls, two boys).

The slim, energetic 71-year-old also likes to spend time with her husband, Robert E. Lee-"No relation to the famous one," she jokes.

And oh yes, she has cancer.

In 1998, her doctor discovered a small lump in Jane's left breast. Tests revealed that it was stage III breast cancer. Jane underwent a mastectomy, only to learn that the cancer had spread to two lobes of her liver. "I was devastated," she recalls. "It was like a death sentence."

What Jane didn't know then was that she had HER2, an aggressive form of breast cancer caused by a gene mutation. (Today doctors can test for HER2, which affects about one out of every three people with breast cancer.)

Jane started chemotherapy, and in 1999 began taking trastuzumab (Herceptin), a drug which targets HER2. Her cancer has been in remission since 2000.

Now, every two or three weeks, Jane visits California Pacific Hospital in San Francisco for treatment, where she encourages other HER2 patients. "It's like a home away from home," she says cheerfully.

It's easy to wonder how Jane stays so positive. Strong support from family and friends helps, she says, though doesn't belong to a formal support group. "They seem too negative for me," she says. And she's worked through the coping stages: "First you're sad and then you're angry, and then you go to work."

Ironically, Jane also credits her health for her sunny outlook. "Often when people are diagnosed with cancer, they're normally healthy," she points out. "Except for my cancer, my mind and body were strong. I had a lot going for me." Jane has one more secret weapon: the mental "carrots" she dangles before herself. "I think, ‘I'd love to see this next grandchild,' or ‘I want to go to the Hawaiian Islands where I was born,'" she says.

When we spoke late last summer, Jane was busy talking up her next carrot: an August trip to Scotland to play golf "with lady friends" on the famed St. Andrews golf course.

She also has a more technical goal for the year: to get an email address. "I'm the only one in my gardening club without one," she laughs.

Does she worry? Of course. "When you have cancer, you think about it every day," Jane says. "But you can dismiss it. You can think about something else."

She pauses, imagining her next milestone trip. "Like going to Scotland," she says.

Go to eldr.com/resources to learn more about HER2-positive breast cancer.

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