Komen for the Cure

Decades of breast cancer treatment, research help survivors today

Many breast cancer patients are surviving today because other women took part in clinical trials.

Posted Updated

By
Rick Armstrong, producer,
and
Debra Morgan, anchor/reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — Many breast cancer patients are surviving today because other women took part in clinical trials.

Tamoxifen is an example of past research study now helping many women live on.

Frank Warf remembers when his 32-year-old sister, Selena Watts, had her third child in 1991. She complained about lumps in her breast, but she was considered too young for a mammogram.

"She was within childbearing age -- and there was no family history," Warf said.

When Watts was diagnosed with breast cancer early in 1992, she fought it hard.

"She put her kids to bed, and she drove herself to the hospital," Warf said. "She'd drive home the next morning."

Decades of breast cancer treatment, research help survivors today

As medical debt piled up and Watts' hope of surviving dimmed, she joined a study testing Tamoxifen -- a drug now proven to block the estrogen hormone from feeding cancer cells. Her participation meant the medical bills would stop.

"I really wish I could say it was sort of the, 'I'm going to help the world,' but it wasn't," Warf said. "It was about helping her family to survive and exist after she was gone."

Watts contributed to the body of knowledge about the drug even as her cancer grew worse.

Decades of breast cancer treatment, research help survivors today

"She finally said, 'I need to let go so that my family can live,'" Warf said. "She died three days later."

When it comes to breast cancer treatment, Warf has seen a lot of changes in the past 21 years. Screening mammography is more widely offered, and treatments are more tailored to the patient's needs.

The difference, he said, is one organization and its ability to raise research funding and awareness.

"The Komen Foundation brought breast health and breast cancer as part of the national discussion," Warf said. "It takes a nation to find a cure."

Warf is planning to participate in this year's Komen Race for the Cure starting at The Frontier in Research Triangle Park on May 4. You can sign up to participate with Team WRAL online.

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