HOLLIDAYSBURG —
Barely 18 months after her youngest daughter died from breast cancer, 76-year-old Patricia Barefoot discovered a lump on her own breast.
Unlike her daughter, whose malignancy was detected at an advanced stage, Barefoot’s cancer was small and confined to a single tumor.
She believes there was some providence in the early detection.
“I just thought it was my daughter telling me to reach up and find that,” Barefoot said at her Hollidaysburg home. “She said, ‘Mom, go up and get that taken care of.’ ”
After a biopsy at Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center in Windber diagnosed the cancer, Dr. Dianna Craig at Windber removed the tumor and several lymph nodes in early September. The prognosis is good.
“I was very fortunate that there was no cancer in my lymph nodes,” Barefoot said, adding that the small tumor made her a candidate for new technology in radiation therapy.
Breast brachytherapy offered at Herbert L. Hanna Center for Oncology Care at Indiana Regional Medical Center introduces radiation inside the breast where a tumor was removed. The technology allows women to complete their regimen in one week, with fewer side effects than traditional approaches.
Because there was no cancer found in the lymph nodes or in tissue around the tumor, there will be no chemotherapy treatments, Barefoot said. Except for follow-up exams, additional mammograms and a maintenance drug, her cancer treatment is now complete.
“I feel like I have a good outlook,” Barefoot said. “I was lucky to find it early. I’ve been blessed to have those doctors and to have my daughter and the rest of my family behind me.”
Rallying behind a loved one comes naturally to the Barefoot family. When Tami Barefoot was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 46, her older sister, Kimberlee Johnnie of Portage, was right there by her side.
Their parents, Patricia and Fred Barefoot, were living in Florida at the time. The sisters had not told their parents about the lump or suspect mammogram prior to the biopsy at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC in Pittsburgh.
“We were hoping it was nothing,” Johnnie recalled.
After the doctors gave Tami Barefoot the bad news, her parents sold their Florida retirement home and moved back to Hollidaysburg to be with their daughter and help care for her sons, Zackary, Jacob and Lucas Over.
The couple’s son, Brett, also provided emotional support.
“She had a long hard battle,” Johnnie said. “She did really well for a while. Then it came back with a vengeance.”
Fighting cancer has become a family mission, uniting generations, Patricia Barefoot said.
“The boys were wonderful with their mother,” Patricia Barefoot said. “They were very involved. It brought them together with each other and with her.
“They all have tattoos now for their mom.”
Tami Barefoot died Dec. 22, 2009, at Altoona Regional Health System.
Family remains important to Patricia Barefoot, who continues to celebrate the time she has gained with her children and grandchildren. Relatives know they will find a warm welcome, Fred Barefoot said.
“We have an open house policy,” he quipped.
Patricia Barefoot likes to busy herself on shopping trips and seeing movies with friends. At home, her favorite pastime is cooking. Homemade soup is a specialty.
“As long as I keep busy – like come out and make a pot of soup – it keeps me busy and takes my mind off other things,” she said.
“And my family appreciates that.”
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