Breast Cancer: Four Stories

Southwest General presents the inspiring stories of four women, each of whom found hope at the
UH Ireland Cancer Center at Southwest General.

By: Ken McEntee
Date: 10/21/2009
For the ninth year, Southwest General and Westfield SouthPark mall teamed up on Oct. 3
for a special Breast Health Awareness Day and Survivor Makeover Fashion Show to promote breast cancer awareness and to celebrate survival. Ten breast cancer survivors, including Paula Milodrowski, Theresa Roberts, Azzie McKnight and Christine Kowalewski—patients of the UH Ireland Cancer Center at Southwest General—were showcased in the annual event.

Few things are as devastating as hearing that you have cancer. But the caring support of family, friends and cancer experts, along with the exceptional level of clinical care offered at the UH Ireland Cancer Center at Southwest General, were keys to reducing anxiety and promoting recovery for these women.
Paula, Theresa, Azzie and Christine share their stories below.

Paula Milodrowski

Paula, a marketing specialist from North Olmsted, was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2008. Dr. Cathy Graham performed a mastectomy the following month and developed a treatment plan for Paula.

“Those women at the UH Ireland Cancer Center at Southwest General are heroes,” Paula declares. “They are the most compassionate people I have ever met. They made me feel comfortable and they made me feel very hopeful.

They stressed that we were just going to work hard to do whatever we could to get rid of this.”

Following surgery, Paula began four months of chemotherapy and about a year of weekly treatments of Herceptin, a relatively new treatment for women with aggressive node-positive HER2-plus breast cancer. She had her final treatment on Aug. 7.

“So far, so good,” reports Paula, who is now concentrating on finding a new job after her position was eliminated. “I am confident that I’ll find a job. But what’s important is that I am healthy, and I feel very fortunate.”


Theresa Roberts
When Theresa Roberts, of Strongsville, was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2007, her doctor recommended the UH Ireland Cancer Center at Southwest General. Two years later, she believes it was the right call.

“The staff was wonderful,” she says. “I keep telling everybody all the time that I wouldn’t go anywhere else. It’s a very scary time when you’re going through cancer treatment. You don’t always understand your symptoms or what’s happening, but anytime I had an issue or a question, they addressed it right away.”

Unlike many breast cancer patients, Theresa’s first sign of cancer was a lump under her arm.

“By the time I discovered it, the cancer had already spread,” she recalls. “That was frightening. Especially having two children.”

In September, Theresa’s chemo port was removed, signaling a major milestone in her recovery.

Her participation in this special Breast Cancer Awareness Day was a celebration and a time to share her experience with other survivors.

“It was wonderful,” she says. “I think in your everyday life you kind of push the cancer to the back of your mind and don’t really talk a lot about it, so it’s kind of nice to be around people who have been through it and share your stories.”

Azzie McKnight

Early detection and treatment is generally a key to surviving breast cancer. That makes Azzie McKnight’s case unusual.

“I had cancer for a long time, and I didn’t do anything about it,” Azzie admits. “Twenty years ago I had a lump removed from my breast. A year later, my doctor said he saw something else, but I never had it treated.”

At least until the cancer spread to her spinal column last year, rendering her unable to walk.

“It started last summer with a backache, then my toes went numb,” recalls Azzie, a licensed dietician. “Finally, I couldn’t walk at all.”

Azzie’s treatment started with radiation therapy to eliminate the cancer in her spinal column. That was followed by chemotherapy. In September she began radiation therapy to eliminate tumors in her breast.

Azzie says her biggest worry was the humiliation of losing her hair.

“The doctors were saying, ‘We’re concerned about your health and you’re worried about being bald?’”Azzie laughs. “They said I didn’t have a choice about that. I was going to be bald.”

But she’s made the best of it.

“I did quite well after I found some really nice wigs,” she explains. “I like them so much that I may never wear my own hair again.”

The mother of two adult daughters – who were young children when she had her first breast lump removed – Azzie says she would recommend the UH Ireland Cancer Center at Southwest General to anybody.

“I’m a private person and I really don’t like to talk about it,” she says. “But if this helps somebody, then it’s all right.”

Christine Kowalewski

Christine Kowalewski says finding the UH Ireland Cancer Center at Southwest General was a shot in the dark.
“I don’t know how it happened, but I couldn’t have fallen into better hands,” she insists.

A native of the Cleveland area, Christine was living in Florida with her husband and two young daughters when she learned she had breast cancer in June 2008.

“I started therapy in Florida, but was so sick my husband moved me back here to have the support of family,” she recalls. “He didn’t think I was going to make it down there.”

She found the UH Ireland Cancer Center at Southwest General listed in her benefits directory and made the call.

“I just absolutely love those angels of nurses over there,” she says. “They really do make a difference. They just try to make it as easy on you as possible. I would actually look forward to going there because they were so positive and upbeat.”

Christine has finished her chemotherapy and just this month received her final dose of Herceptin.
“I am doing great,” she declares triumphantly. “I have won. I just know that I have won.”

For more information about the UH Ireland Cancer Center at Southwest General,

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