Mother Of Five Survives Invasive Breast Cancer
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
To look at her, you would never know this vibrant, tanned young mother of five sons recently survived an aggressive form of cancer.
Certainly her wide smile, healthy appearance and upbeat attitude don't give that away. Only her very short hair is any indication that something in her life in the past year was amiss.
But Debbie Gartland, 36, isn't taking anything for granted. She's grateful - and amazed - at the community support she received while she was going through her treatment and surgery, and says she couldn't have done it without the help of her friends, neighbors and even strangers.
Those supporters will walk with her as part of "Debbie's Dream Team" at the Catherine Peachey Fund's "A Day at the Lake." Debbie's Dream Team will lead the "Winona Walk" that starts at 9 a.m. Saturday.
"I think this community was a small miracle," Gartland said last week. "I can't wait to return all the favors - not favors, blessings."
Originally from New Jersey, Gartland and her family moved to Warsaw three years ago, when her husband took a job as plant manager at Kimble Glass Inc.
Last fall, when Gartland was pregnant with her fifth son, she discovered a lump under her arm, then one in her breast. One mammogram, three ultrasounds and a biopsy later, she was told she had breast cancer. And not just any breast cancer. Gartland had an aggressive form of breast cancer, which had spread to many of her lymph nodes.
Since her pregnancy was nearly full-term, her delivery was induced and her son was born Jan. 3 "totally healthy," she said.
Her physician, Dr. Timothy Cook, then sent her to the I.U. Cancer Center, where she began chemotherapy to reduce the size of her 12-centimeter tumor. Her treatment began Jan. 7, her 36th birthday, and succeeded in reducing the tumor to 1.8 centimeters, allowing her to have a mastectomy on May 12.
Throughout the ordeal, she said, members of her church (Sacred Heart), neighbors, friends and even strangers were with her every step of the way.
"From the time I found out until just recently, I did not have to make a meal for six months!" she said.
People dropped off anonymous cards and small gifts, friends and neighbors picked up her sons from school, fellow church members organized prayer groups and cooked meals and "even the nurses from my doctor's office came to clean my house!" she said.
Being new to Warsaw, Gartland and her family were amazed at the outpouring of help and support they received, and she attributes her victory over the cancer in large part to that support.
"I kept thinking, 'I have got to steal some of this positive energy that's coming at me,'" she said. "Your back's against a wall and you come out swinging. ... I thought, 'Who is going to raise my five sons? I have got to beat this.'"
Even the chemotherapy didn't get her down - in fact, she didn't suffer the usual reactions. "Not once did I have any side effects, except losing my hair," she said, "and they hit me pretty hard" by giving her very strong chemotherapy drugs right from the beginning.
She's not done yet, though. Later this month she will start radiation therapy at the KCH Cancer Care Center of Hope.
But now she knows she and her family are not alone in this, that a whole community will rally around her in support.
"It's not that I've come so far, but that I've come so far with so many people behind me," she said. "You just don't know how many people you touch."
Besides the "Walk Winona" Saturday, also there will be the tour of historic buildings from 10 a.m., including the Winona Hotel, Administration Building and lodge.
On Friday, there will be a quilt display and sale, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and a historical re-enactment, "Chatauqua Revived!" at 7:30 p.m. in Rodeheaver Auditorium.
For more information about A Day at the Lake, visit the Web site at www.peacheyfund.org or call The Catherine Peachey Fund at 268-9015. All proceeds from A Day at the Lake will go to the Catherine Peachey Breast Cancer Prevention Endowment at the Indiana University Cancer Center. [[In-content Ad]]
To look at her, you would never know this vibrant, tanned young mother of five sons recently survived an aggressive form of cancer.
Certainly her wide smile, healthy appearance and upbeat attitude don't give that away. Only her very short hair is any indication that something in her life in the past year was amiss.
But Debbie Gartland, 36, isn't taking anything for granted. She's grateful - and amazed - at the community support she received while she was going through her treatment and surgery, and says she couldn't have done it without the help of her friends, neighbors and even strangers.
Those supporters will walk with her as part of "Debbie's Dream Team" at the Catherine Peachey Fund's "A Day at the Lake." Debbie's Dream Team will lead the "Winona Walk" that starts at 9 a.m. Saturday.
"I think this community was a small miracle," Gartland said last week. "I can't wait to return all the favors - not favors, blessings."
Originally from New Jersey, Gartland and her family moved to Warsaw three years ago, when her husband took a job as plant manager at Kimble Glass Inc.
Last fall, when Gartland was pregnant with her fifth son, she discovered a lump under her arm, then one in her breast. One mammogram, three ultrasounds and a biopsy later, she was told she had breast cancer. And not just any breast cancer. Gartland had an aggressive form of breast cancer, which had spread to many of her lymph nodes.
Since her pregnancy was nearly full-term, her delivery was induced and her son was born Jan. 3 "totally healthy," she said.
Her physician, Dr. Timothy Cook, then sent her to the I.U. Cancer Center, where she began chemotherapy to reduce the size of her 12-centimeter tumor. Her treatment began Jan. 7, her 36th birthday, and succeeded in reducing the tumor to 1.8 centimeters, allowing her to have a mastectomy on May 12.
Throughout the ordeal, she said, members of her church (Sacred Heart), neighbors, friends and even strangers were with her every step of the way.
"From the time I found out until just recently, I did not have to make a meal for six months!" she said.
People dropped off anonymous cards and small gifts, friends and neighbors picked up her sons from school, fellow church members organized prayer groups and cooked meals and "even the nurses from my doctor's office came to clean my house!" she said.
Being new to Warsaw, Gartland and her family were amazed at the outpouring of help and support they received, and she attributes her victory over the cancer in large part to that support.
"I kept thinking, 'I have got to steal some of this positive energy that's coming at me,'" she said. "Your back's against a wall and you come out swinging. ... I thought, 'Who is going to raise my five sons? I have got to beat this.'"
Even the chemotherapy didn't get her down - in fact, she didn't suffer the usual reactions. "Not once did I have any side effects, except losing my hair," she said, "and they hit me pretty hard" by giving her very strong chemotherapy drugs right from the beginning.
She's not done yet, though. Later this month she will start radiation therapy at the KCH Cancer Care Center of Hope.
But now she knows she and her family are not alone in this, that a whole community will rally around her in support.
"It's not that I've come so far, but that I've come so far with so many people behind me," she said. "You just don't know how many people you touch."
Besides the "Walk Winona" Saturday, also there will be the tour of historic buildings from 10 a.m., including the Winona Hotel, Administration Building and lodge.
On Friday, there will be a quilt display and sale, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and a historical re-enactment, "Chatauqua Revived!" at 7:30 p.m. in Rodeheaver Auditorium.
For more information about A Day at the Lake, visit the Web site at www.peacheyfund.org or call The Catherine Peachey Fund at 268-9015. All proceeds from A Day at the Lake will go to the Catherine Peachey Breast Cancer Prevention Endowment at the Indiana University Cancer Center. [[In-content Ad]]