Survivor Stories 2013:
Jane Roser
1. How did you first find out you had cancer?
My cat found the lump in my breast. They say that animals know and that cat saved my life. He stepped right on it and it hurt so bad, I noticed a lump and had it checked out by my OBGYN a week later.
2. How did you react when you heard the news?
I was pretty numb, I mean, there’s no way you could react any way else. You feel like you’re in a movie. You know that Goo Goo Dolls song Iris? ‘When everything feels like a movie, yeah you breathe just to know you’re alive.” That’s how I felt. When I asked my original doctor what could have caused my breast cancer- I was young, a non-smoker and cancer didn’t run in my family- she told me it was because I was a woman and I had bad luck. So I did the one thing that was in my power to do…..get another doctor. My boss at the time was the iconic fashion designer Betsey Johnson, who was also a cancer survivor. She sent me flowers when she heard of my diagnosis, then she came to visit me in Virginia. To have that kind of love and support, well, that right there just made me fight harder.
3. What course of treatment were you prescribed?
I first had a mammogram, then a sonogram, two biopsies, a MRI and a second opinion, just to make sure it was cancer. After I was diagnosed with DCIS (stage 0 breast cancer, but level 3 in it’s aggressiveness), I had a mastectomy, reconstructive surgery, radiation (my doctor told me that I was only the second person she had ever treated for DCIS that needed a mastectomy and radiation treatment, it was that rare) and a prescription for Tamoxifen, which I’ve been on for 4 years now and gives me such sever hot flashes, I feel as if I’m back in south Georgia kicking up a fire ant hill.
4. What most surprised you about your treatment?
That it wasn’t as traumatic as I had expected it to be. I had an amazing support system and the doctors and nurses were so fabulous. They kept my chin up with humor and made me feel like I was the most important person in the world and the next patient they saw after me, was also the most important person in the whole world. I healed quickly- I was back at work within a week, which surprised my doctors. To this day I chalk it up to being positive and eating a whole lot of pie.
5. What would your advice be to anyone who’s just received a cancer diagnosis?
Get checked out immediately and if your doctor says you’re too young to have cancer, get a second opinion. I was 37 years old when I was diagnosed and I’ve met women as young as 21 when they were diagnosed. I met an incredible woman whose doctor told her she was too young to have cancer and so she was misdiagnosed for 6 months, by the time she finally got treatment, her breast cancer was stage 4. She passed away a few years ago leaving behind a husband and young son. My question is why? So much could have been prevented in such a short time.
6. How long have you been cancer free?
I’ve been cancer free since June of 2007- 4 years.
7. What lessons did you learn from the experience?
I found an interesting book on breast cancer that dealt with it’s history and the different treatments used over time. I learned that a 1943 naval disaster in the Mediterranean had jumped started chemotherapy research and that before anesthesia, patients were offered the choice of opium, whiskey, or mallet, to which my sister replied that she would personally opt for the opium since whiskey takes icky and a mallet is too caveman-like, unless the caveman looked like Johnny Depp. But mostly, I learned to never give up, to not feel sorry for yourself and to throw a huge party for yourself after you finish with your treatment, Complete with a monster truck pinata and ice cream.
8. If you could send one message to all the Good Enough Mothers out there – what would it be?
Simply that we have no guarantee of tomorrow, so we do what we can today. There is a lot I have to live for: family, friends, guilty pleasures. After I was diagnosed, I took a pole-dancing class, watched every season of Supernatural in 2 months, finally got to say, “We’re with the band,” and drove to Toronto and back in two days. The classic film, Limelight, has a wonderfully quirky quote that I scripted and illustrated out to hang on my fridge. Charlie Chaplin said, “What is there to fight for? Everything! Life itself! Isn’t that enough? To be lived, suffered, enjoyed. What is there to fight for? Life is a magnificent thing. Even to a jellyfish.”
I live in Fairfax, Virginia, the daughter of a former Air Force lieutenant from New York and an actress from Georgia. I grew up hopping from country to country and with a fairly eccentric outlook on life. I managed Betsey Johnson’s Tysons Galleria store for 11 years until she went out of business. I currently run the luxury men’s swimsuit store Vilebrequin at Tysons Galleria and write for Philly’s That Music Mag in my free time. I love 80’s movies and TV shows, music, a good book and sweet potato pie.
