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SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER 201 3
The calcifications looked like salt
shaken onto the mammogram
image. The radiologist suggested a
breast-conserving lumpectomy, but
Maddux couldn’Äôt take a chance that
one of those salt granules would be
missed. She also wanted to avoid
chemo, which she felt was half the
battle against breast cancer.
’ÄúThey said some key words: ’Äòductal,’Äô
’Äònon-invasive,’Äô ’Äòslow-growing.’Äô I
knew that meant I could decide
what happened next,’Äù she says. She
received the clarity she had prayed
for. Her decision: what’Äôs considered
a preventative mastectomy.
’ÄúNow everyone says, ’ÄòBrilliant!’Äô
when Angelina Jolie does it,’Äù Mad-
dux points out with a laugh,’Äúbut I
did it last October.’Äù
Like Jolie, Maddux had taken a
genetic test because her mother
and a cousin both had breast cancer.
Maddux’Äôs results, however, showed
that she was not predisposed to it.
Maddux remembers a pie chart
that University of Tennessee genetic
counselors show at that test. Five to
10 percent of risk for breast cancer is
directly hereditary; 10 to 20 percent
of risk comes with a wider family
history. The biggest slice of 75 to 85
percent is sporadic risk, meaning
there is no significant family history.
’ÄúHowmuch more active, how
much more aware could I have
been?’Äù Maddux asked herself after
the diagnosis. ’ÄúI eat broccoli by
the pound. I’Äômmade fun of by my
friends (in a loving way) for being a
healthy eater. I played on two tennis
teams,’Äù she says. ’ÄúAnd I had the
audacity to think, for one little sec-
ond, ’ÄòI’Äôm too healthy to have cancer.
I don’Äôt even cough!’Äô’Äù
She says her oncologist, Dr. John
Bell at the University of Tennessee
Medical Center, suggested a differ-
ent perspective to ponder. If you
hadn’Äôt been doing everything you
do, she paraphrases him, maybe
the mammogram would have been
very different. What if it’Äôs because
you live like you do that you now
have choices?
She’Äôs thankful for choices. She’Äôs
sensitive that her experience with
cancer has been shaped by her
outlook and circumstances, and
has been different from what many
women experience. In fact, the
woman with her when she received
the doctor’Äôs call was diagnosed
with Stage 3 cancer soon after
Maddux’Äôs surgery. She didn’Äôt have
the choices Maddux had. ’ÄúShe
blows my mind still,’Äù Maddux says
in praise of how her friend has
handled her own circumstances.
A tennis friend met Maddux in
the grocery store shortly before the
mastectomy. With tears in her eyes,
Maddux recounts, her friend asked,
’ÄúDon’Äôt you need to mourn that part of
your body before you let it go?’Äù
’ÄúThere was nothing sad about that
to me, though,’Äù says Maddux.’ÄúIt’Äôs
not my legs. It’Äôs not my arms. I’Äôm
not making light of it... but it’Äôs not
a big part of who I am. Some people
react differently.’Äù
Some people have tried to label her
’Äúbrave’Äù for her decision. She stresses,
however, that she simply wanted
to be told she didn’Äôt have cancer; a
mastectomy would rid her of DCIS
and prevent her from ever being put
in that position again.’ÄúYou have
to really listen to that little voice
whispering what to do. My voice just
wasn’Äôt little.’Äù Her’Äúgold nugget’Äù for
others is to give doctors the chance
to find anything wrong.
While there were so many
unknowns in the cause of her cancer,
she says that being physically fit
’Äúabsolutely had everything to do with
my quick recovery.’Äù
She tried to prepare herself for the
pain of the surgery and recupera-
tion. How? She judged by Crossfit.
’ÄúHaving surgery is a scary idea. But
you think, ’ÄòHow bad will it be?’Äô I’Äôve
had two C-sections. I’Äôve had ACL
surgery. I’Äôve woken up before and
thought, ’ÄòSore!’Äô because I’Äôve done
Crossfit. I was trying to count how
Ductal Carcinoma in Situ, or DCIS,
shows up on a mammogram as tiny
granules that look as if salt has been
shaken onto the image. DCIS is a
non-invasive form of cancer.