An unexpected breast cancer diagnosis
Lauren Whitaker shares how her community helped her through breast cancer and why she’s telling her story now.
Lauren Whitaker had planned to pick up her two boys from school that Friday. First, she had an ultrasound to check a lump she’d noticed getting bigger. Her mammogram in February had come back clear, and her primary care doctor thought the lump was probably a cyst. Lauren expected a quick appointment and enough time to make it to school.
Then the doctor told her the ultrasound looked concerning and recommended a biopsy that afternoon. Before the procedure, Lauren called her mom. Could she pick up the boys? There was something else she needed to tell her, too. The doctor suspected breast cancer.
Over the next two weeks, Lauren navigated more appointments. She remembers the Friday in May 2022 when she finally got the full diagnosis because it was raining. She also remembers the piece of paper her surgeon pulled out. As Lauren took in the words stage 3 breast cancer, her surgeon drew out what lay ahead, who would be involved in her care, and why chemotherapy would come first. Lauren still had a whole vocabulary to learn, but she had something she could look back at when the conversation was over.
What help looked like
Lauren began chemotherapy in Oklahoma City. She loved to run and stay active, and the fatigue made it hard to do the things that usually helped her feel like herself. When she lost her hair during treatment that summer, she found a baseball cap with hair attached around the back. It was easier to wear than a full wig, and she wore it all summer.
At home, help came in ways she could feel by the end of the day. Someone picked up the boys or brought them dinner. Her neighbors mowed the lawn. Her next-door neighbor Natalie, one of her closest friends, gave her a rainbow necklace. Lauren wore it to her Cancer Project interview, as she often does when she talks about her experience with cancer.
Some people who checked in barely knew her. What stayed with Lauren was that they kept checking in. Through Project 31, a breast cancer support organization, she also met women who understood the parts of treatment that were hard to explain. Seeing them doing well gave her a way to imagine her own life beyond the next appointment.
Proton therapy close to home
After chemotherapy and surgery, Lauren received proton therapy at Oklahoma Proton Center. She knew the center was in Oklahoma City, but she’d never had a reason to learn how proton therapy worked. Her radiation oncologist explained why she recommended it for Lauren’s treatment plan. The goal was to limit radiation exposure to nearby organs, including her heart and lungs. Lauren remembers going home curious enough to read more about it herself.
Around the time she started proton therapy, Lauren was asked if she’d let a documentary crew follow part of her treatment. The invitation came after she’d checked a box at patient orientation saying she might be willing to share her story. She laughs about her original reason for checking it. She’d seen Barry Switzer in the center’s commercials and thought she might get to meet him.
Instead, she said yes to The Accelerator, a documentary about the history of proton therapy. The crew filmed her during appointments and treatment, while she was still figuring out what life on the other side of it would feel like.
Being there for someone else
When asked what she’d say to someone just learning they might have breast cancer, Lauren thought back to a woman at the breast center. The woman was a patient advocate and a stranger to Lauren. She sat across from her, took her hands, and cried with her.
Lauren remembers how hard it was in that moment to take in anyone’s reassurance. She could barely see past the appointment she was sitting in. Years later, when she imagines being there for someone hearing the same news, she thinks about what that woman did. She’d sit with them and hold their hand.