• Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of a two-part series. See Saturday’s edition of The Garden Island for Part 2. Kapa‘a resident Susan Oshiro-Taogoshi, didn’t celebrate her 46th birthday with a party last year. “I was diagnosed in July
• Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of a two-part series. See Saturday’s edition of The Garden Island for Part 2.
Kapa‘a resident Susan Oshiro-Taogoshi, didn’t celebrate her 46th birthday with a party last year.
“I was diagnosed in July with an abnormal mammogram,” she said. “I was stage three with a three centimeter tumor.”
Barely a month later her doctor scheduled a mastectomy for August 2, Oshiro-Taogoshi’s 46th birthday.
Doctors recommend that most women begin getting mammograms at age 40.
“I’m proof you shouldn’t wait,” she said. “That was my first mammogram.”
Oshiro-Taogoshi is one of a dozen women who attend the newly formed “Lanakila,” an American Cancer Society support group that meets at 5 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of the month at St. Michaels Church in Lihu‘e. “Lanakila” means to have victory and is facilitated by clinical social worker Michele Rodgaard-McGinley with volunteer Lisa Lewis and breast cancer survivor and nurse, Sandy Diego. Saturday at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life at Hanapepe Stadium, Lanakila members will be under the survivor tent from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. providing information on the group.
The bi-monthly group has become a place to laugh and cry for participants.
“Women are very proactive,” Rodgaard-McGinley said. “Where men would talk about facts and statistics, the women process how they are feeling.”
“There’s camaraderie,” Oshiro-Taogoshi said. “Talking and laughing with women, I love it. We share this common denominator.”
The impetus for founding a support group occurred to Diego when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. Discussions with the American Cancer Society and her oncologist led to the birth of Lanakila in January. Originally formed to serve women dealing with breast cancer, today the group has expanded their outreach.
“Once our group got going we discovered other people with different types of cancer looking for support,” Diego said. “It feels kind of lonely to be given that diagnosis. You want to talk with someone who knows what you’re talking about.”
Three time cancer survivor, Brenda Martin, has been on what she calls her “journey” since first diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 26. At 35 she had a recurrence in the same breast and in 2007 the cancer returned. When a chemotherapy nurse suggested she attend a breast cancer support group Martin was reluctant.
“I used to shy away when I heard about groups,” she said. “But I went to that first meeting and I’ve been to every meeting since — to be in a group of women all on the same page, that is an awesome thing to have.”
Rodgaard-McGinley worked seven years in Hospice homecare and 20 years in oncology in California. As well as volunteering for ACS, she has a private practice helping women develop coping skills for dealing with cancer. Lanakila is what Rodgaard-McGinley describes as “open-ended.”
“They can come as long as they need to come. With a process group it’s about what’s going on at the moment and who’s in the group,” she said. “I don’t have an agenda. I have everyone talk a little about themselves and their cancer. My job as a facilitator is to keep them on target or get them to go a little bit deeper.”
Support groups create a safe space for sharing as well as a place where information is exchanged.
“Sometimes people feel intimidated when they come in to see their oncologist,” Diego said. “You know your doctor’s busy and can feel limited in how many questions you can ask. In a support group people can share problems they are having and how to deal with them. A lot of times in the visit you think you covered all your questions then realize you forgot to ask something or maybe you don’t understand what the doctor said.”
There is an avalanche of emotions that accompany a diagnosis — from anger and anxiety to grief and depression.
“The stress of a diagnosis of cancer brings up old issues.” Rodgaard-McGinley said. “Someone who has cancer comes with their own baggage — and cancer just brings that stuff to the top.”
Diego was surprised by insights gleaned from what other participants shared of their cancer experience.
“Sometimes you don’t know what you are suppressing until you hear other people talk about it.” Diego said. “When I hear someone else talk about things I’ve put on the back burner I realize, now I am ready to look at it. Now I’m ready to deal with it.”
For more information call Michele Rodgaard-McGinley at 332-5015 or the American Cancer Society at 246-0695.
