Lynn Van Wagenen

Jacksonville resident Lynn Van Wagenen knows what it's like to be on a winning team. She's been on more than one recently.

When she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ in November 2004 after a routine mammogram found some irregularities in her breast, she became the first woman in her family to have breast cancer. The diagnosis was daunting enough, but then she was told she would need a mastectomy. Van Wagenen says she realized that she could accept having cancer but not the treatment her doctor was recommending.

"The surgeon I'd been seeing immediately suggested removing my breast," says Van Wagenen, 52. "We had quite a discussion because that option was not in my plans. It was after that conversation that I realized it was my life, and I needed to take charge of my treatment."

A doctor advised that she go to Mayo Clinic for a second opinion, so Van Wagenen picked up the phone and made an appointment. During her first visit, she met with Mayo Clinic radiation oncologist Dr. Laura Vallow who suggested she get a breast MRI and another mammogram. The results of these tests suggested the need for a second lumpectomy so she met with surgeon Dr. Jack Fulmer, who was able to spare her breast and the extensive recuperation a mastectomy would have required. She was able to forgo chemotherapy because her cancer was not invasive and had been caught early. Instead, she received radiation therapy to the breast followed by Tamoxifen therapy, which she will take for five years. The team approach to her care was especially satisfying to Van Wagenen, she says, because she felt she was a valued player in her own treatment plan.

"I felt they really respected me," she says. "Everyone collaborates on your care. It's a complete team approach and right at the center of that collaboration is the patient."

Around the same time Van Wagenen received her diagnosis, a co-worker was getting worse news. Her friend, 34-year-old Stephanie Carter, was nearly two years into her diagnosis of stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Undergoing treatment herself, Van Wagenen felt the need to help and because of her experience at Mayo Clinic, she thought it might be the right place for Carter.

"She'd been treated elsewhere and they didn't have much hope for her recovery," she says. "So I appointed myself her personal advocate and got her to go to Mayo Clinic. I've gone to all of her appointments with her."

The two women first met with Vallow, then other specialists who worked together to formulate a treatment plan for Carter. Among them was hematology oncologist Dr. Alvaro Moreno Aspitia who began her on a trial of hormonal therapy to try to slow the cancer's progress. This approach works by blocking estrogen from helping the cancer cells to grow and divide. Carter also received courses of radiation in the areas of her bones where the cancer had spread. Currently, she's on chemotherapy and through it all has continued to work full time, living a mostly pain-free life.

"Mayo gave me hope by offering numerous treatment options," says Carter. "They're the reason I am able to enjoy a full life today."

Physicians at Mayo Clinic have an in-depth knowledge of diseases because of the highly specialized medical care environment they work in. That gives patients access to the latest cutting-edge treatments and research to solve their complex medical issues.

"Because of our integrated health care team, we can get our patients the treatment they need quickly," says Vallow. "We have open communication not found at other institutions. Our multidisciplinary approach allows us to tell our patients all the options up front, giving them an idea of what's on the horizon."

Both women say that the prevailing theme for the care they've received and the way they've provided each other support during treatment comes down to teamwork.

And, of course, a lot of strength.

"Stephanie is such an inspiration to all of us," says Van Wagenen, "and helping her has turned my breast cancer into a positive thing. It's awesome to help another human being through this."

(This story first appeared in the January 2007 issue of The Mayo Clinic Checkup, a complimentary newsletter available to anyone interested in the latest news from Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla.)