Jan Hawkes

Jan and Richard are both healthy now, and enjoy playing golf near their home in suburban Phoenix.

In March 2002, Richard Hawkes sat in an examination room at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., a seven-hour drive from his Iowa home. His wife, Jan, waited in the lobby nearby.

Exactly one year earlier, Hawkes had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and now Craig Davis, M.D., was conducting a follow-up physical to make sure the cancer had not recurred. During Hawkes' illness, the couple had forged a close relationship with Dr. Davis, so it was only natural for him to ask, "How's Jan?"

In fact, the Hawkes were waiting to hear from their local physician exactly how Mrs. Hawkes was. During the summer of 2001, one of Mrs. Hawkes' nipples became inverted, but the local physician who examined her had said, "The mammogram's clear — don't worry about it." A few months later, she found lumps in her breast, but assumed they were recurring fibroid cysts. She again visited her local physician and had an ultrasound, but two and a half weeks later was still waiting for the test results.

"Put your shirt on, Richard," Dr. Davis said. "Jan needs to be seen today."

Not If — But When

Immediate arrangements were made for Mrs. Hawkes to meet with Janelle Shaw, M.D., who arranged another mammogram and ultrasound. Within two days, the Hawkes received the diagnosis: Mrs. Hawkes had breast cancer.

"It didn't surprise me at all," she says. "My mother died of breast cancer when she was 69. My aunt, cousin, and grandmother all had it. To me, it wasn't a matter of 'if,' but 'when.' And we knew that Mayo was the very best place to have it treated."

Surgery was set for the next week. Mrs. Hawkes' oncologist made arrangements for her to receive post-operative chemotherapy and radiation treatments at a facility near her home in Iowa, and also recommended she participate in a clinical trial designed to determine whether a certain combination of drugs could help prevent estrogen-negative breast tumors from recurring.

Following Mayo's diagnosis, but before her surgery, her hometown doctor called to say the ultrasounds results were finally in. "There are some spots we have to watch," he said. "You can have a biopsy now, or we can wait six months."

"There was never a doubt in our mind that Mayo Clinic was the right place to receive treatment." (Jan and Richard Hawkes)

"You know, doctor," she replied, "I've already been diagnosed."

Close Communication

"There was never a doubt in our mind that Mayo Clinic was the right place to receive treatment," Richard recalls. "In fact, Jan came out of surgery waving at me!"

Fortunately, the tumor had not metastasized beyond the lymph nodes. Her surgery was followed with 18 months of chemotherapy.

"Losing my hair was actually a great thing!" she says. "I didn't have to style my hair or shave my legs for over a year. It was heaven! I didn't want to go through the emotional trauma of losing it, however; so I went to my hairdresser and said, 'Buzz this off!' My two-year old grandson thought it was very cool."

"We called her 'The Private,'" Hawkes chuckles.

Since the Hawkeses both worked in educational settings and normally spent their summer months off in Phoenix, Ariz., arrangements were made for Mrs. Hawkes to receive part of her chemotherapy at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. She recalls meeting Donald Northfelt, M.D., her oncologist there, for the first time. "He put his arms out and gave me a hug," she says. "I was 57 years old, and I'd never been hugged by a doctor before!"

Her treatment teams at both Mayo Clinic locations coordinated closely to make sure her care was thorough and effective. "The doctors would call and talk to each other," she recalls. "I'd have some tests up there, and others down here. The communication was vital."

Although, as Hawkes says, "We knew everything would be okay," the Hawkeses decided to take early retirement and follow their dream of moving to Arizona permanently. "At the time, I was in a clinical trial to see if certain drugs could keep breast tumors from recurring," she says. Fortunately, she was able to continue the last 10 months of the trial study treatments at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

The Past and the Future

The Hawkeses have two daughters. "They were one of my first concerns when I learned I had breast cancer," she says. She and Hawkes decided to take advantage of Mayo Clinic's genetic counseling service to assess their risk of passing on an inherited predisposition for certain disorders, including breast cancer.

"First I filled out a family tree," she recalls. "I made a million phone calls to my sister to learn what my father and mother and other family members died of." Family medical history helps genetic counselors narrow down through the generations the possibility of having a mutated gene that can cause a medical disorder.

"We spent an hour and a half with the counselor, learning about genetics. I felt much better after learning there was only a small chance I did have a mutated gene and breast cancer just happened to run in my family. That helped me feel much better."

When the Hawkeses decided to move to Arizona, Mrs. Hawkes continued treatment at Mayo's Arizona campus.

Best Friends

The Hawkeses are both healthy now. They live on a golf course in suburban Phoenix, where Hawkes plays six days a week. And they continue to participate in clinic trials through Mayo Clinic.

"Richard has participated in dermatology and weight loss studies, and I've participated in a lot of studies through the Breast Clinic and other areas," she says. "If it helps someone down the road, that's what it's all about."

"Every time we're at Mayo," Hawkes says, "we know we're with the best, most knowledgeable people in their field. They're cutting edge. There's a huge difference between the health care we get at Mayo, and what people who go elsewhere receive. Our doctors have become our best friends."