Maine woman says rescheduling mammogram during pandemic saved her life
By Kathleen Jordan
Click here for updates on this story
PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) — The CDC says breast cancer screenings went down by 87% during the pandemic. A Maine woman says rescheduling her missed mammogram saved her life.
“I’ve got a 6-year-old and an 11-year-old, so I’ve got a long way to go,” said Audrey Bartholomew.
She says her first mammogram was scheduled for mid-March of 2020. That didn’t happen and neither did a couple more until she finally went in during October last year.
“They caught my breast cancer. I don’t think you could have caught it any earlier,” she explains.
She remembers getting the call in a hallway at UNE where she teaches.
“It was a shock to come back that I had it,” Bartholomew said.
A shock because she was only 41 with no history of breast cancer in the family and no other known risk factors.
“That breast cancer diagnosis, as random as it felt, has changed the way I’m eating, the way I’m drinking, the way I’m taking care of myself,” she said.
Dr. Jillian K. Smith is a breast surgical oncologist with MaineHealth. She says she understands mammograms can be nerve-wracking.
“I think the anxiety beforehand is the worst part,” she said. “Most people tell me afterwards that part, the thinking about it, was actually harder than doing it.”
She says research shows getting screened is the best way to fight the disease.
Because they caught it early in Bartholomew’s case, she didn’t have to go through chemotherapy. Instead, she’ll take medicine for the coming years, and she underwent radiation for a month. Bartholomew says her diagnosis doesn’t define her, but it will always be a part of her.
“When you think about what makes up your identity, for me, ‘cancer survivor’ is now part of that,” she said.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
