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Cancer survivor beats long odds after misdiagnosis

Glenda Christian was told she had a 2-year survival rate of 50%.

Jim Witmer Glenda Christian, a breast cancer survivor.

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By Robin McMacken, Staff Writer 8:02 PM Friday, October 14, 2011

Glenda Christian’s license plates on her Chrysler Town & Country minivan say it all: She proudly wears pink as 19-year breast cancer survivor.

The vanity plates, which were given to her as a birthday gift from her husband Scott last October, feature the pink ribbon to the left of the letters “SRRVVR.”

She also will wear pink today when she walks in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, as she has for many years, with a group of co-workers from The Children’s Medical Center of Dayton where she works as a registered dietitian. Her sister, Vicki Brown of Lexington, Ky., also joins the team annually.

Although the cancer is in remission, the 54-year-old Washington Twp. resident is adamant in sharing her story to help raise breast cancer awareness in people of all ages and stress the importance of early detection.

After spending 3½ years with her cancer misdiagnosed, Christian is admirably upbeat in recounting the details of her illness and, in particular, how faith guided her through the arduous process of treatment.

A long journey

Shortly after her marriage to Scott Christian, she discovered a lump the size of a pea in her left breast. She was 30 years old.

“Something in my gut immediately scared me,” and Christian had a mammogram but it did not detect cancer. She then became pregnant with son Seth, now 22, and she nursed him for 13 months.

After she stopped breast-feeding, Christian noticed the lump had grown to the size of a small pickle. Once again, a mammogram and also an ultrasound revealed no cancer. A year later, Christian noticed cottage cheese-like lumps encompassing more than half of her left breast. “It took off like wildfire in 1991, and I had shooting pain from my armpit to my breast.”

She was diagnosed with stage 3B estrogen-receptor-negative breast cancer.

She had a left mastectomy in 1992 and then chemotherapy. Since she tested positive for BRAC1 – a gene mutation that increases a woman’s risk for breast and/or ovarian cancer – she also had an elective right mastectomy and a hysterectomy in 2008. Two autologous bone marrow transplants – in 1992 and 1998 – with radiation and chemotherapy in between were also part of her treatment plan. Although bone marrow transplants are no longer considered effective in treating breast cancer, Christian firmly believes they helped her recovery.

“In July 1994 I had a recurrence of cancer in a lymph node on my left side,” she added, which was treated with chemotherapy and radiation. “A second recurrence of the cancer happened in October of 1997 in my right lung. Then I had the chemo twice, and right upper lobectomy surgery,” during which a wedge was remove from her lung.

As happens in some breast cancer patients, Christian also developed lymphedema – the build-up of fluid in soft body tissues when the lymphatic system is damaged or blocked – in her left arm. “If this is the only thing I have to deal with now, I am fine with that.”

Beating the odds

From the beginning, the outlook was grim. Christian was given a two-year survival rate of 50 percent.

Yet she was determined to defy the odds.

“I did not accept the statistics of how long I had to live,” she recalled. “My son was only 2 years old at the time.”

Christian was furious that despite the repeated visits to doctors, the cancer was not discovered. “I had so much anger, it was like a tiger fighting to get out.”

A higher power

Christian said the stress of her illness affected her marriage and the couple went to counseling during the early years of her breast cancer experience.

Ultimately, it was their unbreakable sense of faith that steered the Christians through the many challenges – physical, financial and emotional – of the life-threatening disease.

“I guess the one thing for me was my faith in God of the outcome and positive thinking,” said Scott Christian. “You have to look at the glass as half full, not half empty.”

These days, Christian eats sensibly and works out regularly. She walks, gardens, water-skis and take Zumba dance classes.

She is especially grateful for the tremendous care she has received from Dr. Basel Yanes, her oncologist; Dr. Rebecca Glaser, her surgeon since the first mastectomy; and Dr. Steven Schmidt. who performed Christian’s breast reconstruction.

“I do praise the Lord because without God and my doctors, I would not be here today,” said Christian.

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