NEW BEGINNINGS
A support group for cancer
patients, survivors, friends and family.
Meets at 6:00 p.m.
on the third Monday of each month
APRIL 2008

     Margaret Lowe was the speaker at the March 17 meeting. Margaret was not a guest speaker because she is a founding member of New Beginnings and has been active since it started.
     As a nurse, Margaret saw people suffer with cancer. And, in her family, three of her five siblings had some form of cancer. Still, Margaret said she never thought of cancer as something that would affect her.
     In August of 1999 she had a mammogram, which was negative. Shortly after that, she felt something under her arm. She checked her breast and found a lump. Since she was scheduled for a routine visit with Dr. Niazi, she decided to wait until then. However, the blizzard of 2000 canceled that appointment. She didn't get to see her doctor until February 2. He also felt a lump and called Dr. Ertugrul. On Feb. 11, Margaret had a lumpectomy.
     Prior to that, Margaret said, another mammogram didn't show the lump, but a sonogram did. She saw the report after her surgery and learned that she had a ductal carcinoma in situ that was estrogen receptive. She was scheduled for a mastectomy on the following Monday.
     "That's when I felt the floor go out from under me," she said.
     She was at the printing office (Lowe's Printing, run by her husband, Spencer, before his retirement) when Pastor Al (the late Al Joyner, former pastor of FUMC) came in. Her sister-in-law, Foye Ray, had called him.
     "Foye had been through chemo and radiation," Margaret said. Taking their advice, she went to Dr. Boyd for a second opinion. Dr. Boyd agreed that she didn't need a masectomy. He called Dr. Craven, a surgeon, whom Margaret said was "very nice and explained what was going on." He was satisfied that Dr. Ertugrul had gotten all of the cancer out.

April 21 Meeting
Agatha Walters, president of the Anson Community Hospital Auxiliary, will be our guest speaker. Please bring a covered dish to share if you are able.

Debbie Wright said that purple bows ($5) and stars & moons ($1) will be available at this meeting. Proceeds will go to Relay for Life.

     From there she went to oncologist Dr. Liang at Presbyterian Matthews, who was the nearest oncologist at that time. Dr. Liang told her that she would be in his prayers. That a doctor would pray for her was very comforting, she said.
     A sentinal lymph node biopsy showed that the cancer had not spread, so Margaret did not need chemotherapy. She did have 33 radiation treatments.
     "Pastor Al set up a schedule for people at FUMC to help with transportation; also, friends a co-workers at the hospital helped," she said. After radiation, Margaret took Tamoxifin for five years, a standard adjunct therapy.
     "It was overwhelming, the support and caring that I received," Margaret said. "Now I have to make myself believe I had cancer. I know God led me to find that lump as quick as I did."

You are receiving this newsletter either because you requested it or because someone thought you might be interested in New Beginnings. If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, or know of someone who would like to be added, call Sandy at 704-694-5211 or e-mail jimsandy@windstream.net.