"Attitude is Everything" when Battling Breast Cancer

Lisa Cross has worked at Bailey Medical Center since the doors opened in 2006 behind the scenes as Lead Distribution Tech in Material Management. She says she will forever be grateful for the support she has received at work, which lifted her through one of life’s biggest challenges - breast cancer.Lisa was diagnosed in 2010 following a mammogram screening at Bailey. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation followed. Bryan Fowler, her supervisor in their department of two, picked up her responsibilities while she was away for treatment. “All he ever said was, ‘just take care of what you need to do for yourself,’” she recalls.

Pinned to a board in her office, hang three pieces of Xeroxed paper Lisa’s sister sent when she going through treatment. Her hair has since grown back, yet she refers to this message as if nearly fours years have not passed.

There once was a woman who woke up one morning,

looked in the mirror,

and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.

'Well,' she said, 'I think I'll braid my hair today.'

So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up,

looked in the mirror

and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.

'H-M-M,' she said,

'I think I'll part my hair down the middle today.'

So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up,

Looked in the mirror and noticed

that she had only one hair on her head.

'Well,' she said, 'today I'm going

to wear my hair in a pony tail.'

So she did, and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up,

looked in the mirror and noticed

that there wasn't a single hair on her head.

'YEAH!' she exclaimed.

'I don't have to fix my hair today!'

Attitude is everything.

Be kinder than necessary,

for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle .

Live simply,

Love generously,

Care deeply,

Speak kindly.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...

It's about learning to dance in the rain.

“After my mom died of breast cancer, I was always diligent about getting my mammograms,” she says. “Until 2009, my dad got sick, passed away and I never once remembered that mammogram.”

A year later, Lisa returned for her annual mammogram at Bailey Medical Center. However, the news was not good. “The radiologist thought a spot on the x-ray was highly suspect for cancer,” she says. A needle biopsy confirmed it was malignant. “I went emotionally numb at that point. Remembering my mom’s journey, I just felt so, so sorry for what I was going to have to subject my family to. My kids were young. It seemed so unfair to them. They were way too young to be without a mom.”

Diagnosed with stage one cancer, Lisa’s treatment plan began with a lumpectomy, followed by the first round of chemotherapy. “I’d always said,  ‘I will never do chemo,’” she says. “That was before I looked the big ‘C’ word in the face and realized most people will do whatever they can to try and ensure survival, myself included.”

The first round, she says was not that bad physically. Then it started to take a toll. “When my pre-prepped short hair let go of my scalp in huge chunks and fell to the shower floor, it was quite shocking,” she says of beginning to experience first-hand the disruptive wave of breast cancer treatment. “The second round of drugs were something quite the opposite; being trapped inside a poisoned, toxic body was truly a small glimpse of Hell.”

Radiation, she found, was just as difficult. “From diagnosis through treatment took months of ‘one day at a time,’” she admits.  Looking back on the words in the passage, she understood the importance of a good attitude throughout the tumultuous ride. “One of my favorite sayings is ‘Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain. Attitude is everything.’ Today I’m cancer free and I’m thankful.”