Project31 in the September 24 Edmond Life and Leisure
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September 24, 2015
Vol. 16, No.16
By Susan Henry Clark
“Twenty-five-year old women don’t get breast cancer,” Edmond resident Sarah McLean told herself in
2002, anxious after discovering a lump during a
breast exam while showering.
She and her husband, Steve, were celebrating their
first anniversary and had just moved to Edmond from
Dallas.
Ironically, her new obstetrics and gynecology physician told her she had nothing to worry about at her
age either, but over the next six months the lump
grew and became a little tender.
Her husband accompanied her on a second visit
and pushed the still hesitant doctor to order a mammogram, a test not considered routine before the age
of 40.
“She kind of treated me like a hypochondriac but I
was trying to be my own advocate,” McLean said. “I
still hesitated, did some research, and waited a couple
of weeks to make the appointment thinking maybe I
was overreacting.”
The mammogram led to a biopsy, which led to the
phone call no one wants to receive: “I’m sorry to have
to tell you this. The biopsy was positive. You’ve got
cancer.”
The beautiful young woman could not have comprehended the emotional and physical roller coaster
ride she and her family would experience over the
next 10 years, which included a second cancer diagnosis in 2011, but through tremendous faith, courage
and strength she organized Project31, a support
group for women with breast cancer and wrote her
memoir “Pink is the New Black.”
At 26, she received the bad news and couldn’t
fathom what it meant as she was yet to have children.
“Nothing prepares you for hearing those words,”
she said. “How do you accept having a disease in
your body that threatens your life?”
Alone at home when she got the call, she tucked
her knees into her chest, wrapped her arms around
them in a fetal position, and cried.
“I called Steve, tried to get it out the best I could
and we just sat on the phone in silence like ‘What are
we going to do?’” she said.
McLean underwent a lumpectomy but another
biopsy and pathology report revealed the cancer was
not contained and that she needed a double mastectomy.
“I was the youngest in the state,” she said. “So
there I am back in surgery the following week basically amputating one of the most feminine parts of a
woman’s body and not knowing long term how that
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would affect my psyche,
my self-image, my intimacy with my husband,
my inability to breast
feed my children.”
McLean became so
adamant about getting
cancer out of her body
she was unaware there
were other factors to consider.
“I could probably have
just done a lateral or a bilateral and have been ok
but you live and learn,”
she said. “Some women
go straight to double
mastectomy and that’s
not necessary for everyone.”
Although she almost
died of an overdose of
morphine following surgery, surgeons were able
to remove all the cancer
allowing McLean to
forego chemotherapy
and radiation.
The seeds for educating other women about
their options were
planted.
“I just really felt like
God gave me a purpose
to speak to the lives of
other women on this
journey because one in
eight women is going to
get breast cancer,” she
said. “Not everyone
wants to step into this
role because it’s ugly and
messy and painful.”
Following reconstruction of her breasts,
McLean was told it
would be wise not to
have children for two
years to allow her body
to heal.
“My son, Colin, was
born on Thanksgiving
Day of 2004 and six
months later I was pregnant with my daughter,
Tatum, who was born on
St. Patrick’s Day,” she
said.
McLean said she felt
much emotional trauma
but being an introvert,
she had a hard time articulating to her husband.
“I didn’t know how to
get my words out as easy
as he does so we started
hitting this wall where we
were conflicted,” she
said. “He was trying to
help me and I didn’t
know how he could.”
Steve McLean found a
counselor, also a cancer
survivor, who helped
them put some of the
pieces back together
again.
“Most people think
once you get cancer out
of your body, life will go
back to normal and that’s
not how it works,” she
said. “There’s a new normal that you have to
site that eventually became so painful surgeons
performed a nine-hour
surgery to remove
healthy tissue and muscle
from her back used for
reconstruction and the replacement of her decade
old implants.
Not happy with the results, she got a second
opinion from a different
plastic surgeon who she
called “amazing,” getting
the results she wished
for.
Project31 moved their
partnership with Oklahoma Breast Care Center,
which was being sold, to
Integris Cancer Institute
of Oklahoma.
The partnership gives
McLean and her group
the opportunity to expand their reach to more
women, including rural
areas of Oklahoma.
“We liked their approach as they are very
holistic and are all about
restoration and wellness
which is our focus,” she
said. “We are expanding
our support groups to
Lakeside Hospital in October and Yukon (Integris
Canadian Valley) in November,” she said.
The growing foundation provides counseling,
mentoring, financial assistance for counseling, support groups, speakers,
and ‘handbags of hope,’”
she said.
McLean’s story has
been featured by Ellen
DeGeneres, Joan Lunden,
the Integris Cancer Institute and KOKH Fox 25.
“I just feel like we finally are getting our bearings and establishing a
foundation to grow from
and my heart is to go national to create a sustainable support group
model where we can really equip women because cancer just wreaks
havoc on the whole family,” she said. “It’s not just
the survivor, it’s the
whole family.”
Project31 is hosting its
inaugural pink-tie gala,
“Paint the Town Pink,”
on Oct. 23 from 7 p.m.
to 10 p.m. at the Bricktown Chevy Events Center.
“This is going to be a
fun party where the
ladies can come and feel
beautiful again because
this disease tries to take
all of our femininity,” she
said. “I want them to
come in and have that
‘aha’ moment where they
can say ‘I am beautiful,’”
The public is invited
and the evening includes
a live band, dancing, dinner and drinks. The ticket
price is $100 per person.
“A lot of cancer survivors think they can live
out of their former identity and they don’t find
the new normal,”
McLean said. “We want
to give to them that fullness of life.”
“Pink is the New
Black” can be purchased
through Amazon.