Bertha’s Story

By Lauren dealbuquerque
Managing Editor

Bertha Stoner’s breast cancer was diagnosed by chance. In the hospital after a car accident 17 years ago, she decided to have a complete check-up—and her lump was discovered.

“I was crushed,” said Stoner, 76, who had her sister come with her for moral support when her doctor broke the news to her. Her mother was still living at the time—at the ripe old age of 100. “I didn’t want her to know. But she was living with us…how do you keep something like that from your mother?”

There was no cancer in her immediate family, so the diagnosis was quite unexpected. And Stoner felt as if she were in the dark. “People didn’t know that much about breast cancer then [in 1991]” she said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of information out there.”

Stoner’s cancer was treated with tamoxifen, but she experienced side effects. Still, she remained in remission until 1998, when a lump was discovered in the other breast. But it was a different form of breast cancer. The first was ductile; the second was lobular. This time, she underwent a modified radical mastectomy. Again, she went into remission.

In 2004, she discovered that her cancer had metastasized to her bone. “I started getting terrible headaches on my left side,” she said. Her daughter encouraged her to tell her doctor, who did a PET scan of her skull. The scan revealed cancer. “Dr. Lewis (Ronald Lewis) saved my life. He called a neurosurgeon. They took part of my skull out and replaced it with titanium.” She also had some radiation after surgery.

Stoner’s most recent recurrence is hormone-related. “I get a shot of Faslodex once a month to kill the hormones,” she said. “I’ve been taking them for two years.”

Despite what she has gone through in her life, she remains optimistic—and has not allowed the disease to get the best of her—or her family. Eight years ago, her daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. “It broke my heart to shave her head—my own daughter,” she said. “But all this makes you know what life is about. Some days I’m down, especially when I first wake up,” she said. “But then I get motivated.”

And motivated she is. Along with DeeDee Savoy, Stoner is co-facilitator of Bosom Buddies, a support group for breast cancer survivors and their families, which meets once a month at Christus St. Patrick’s Hospital. And she has organized a luncheon at Temple Sinai next week to honor breast cancer survivors.

“I’ve always had a positive outlook on life--even now,” she said. ‘But my family, friends and support group are what got me through.”