Breast cancer survivor an advocate for others

While Charlene Daughtrey battled breast cancer, a tumor in her spine and severe lung infections, she made a promise to herself to become an advocate for cancer patients once she regained her health. Daughtrey kept that promise. Now, as a volunteer for MUSCâs Hollings Cancer Center, Camp Bluebird, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, she uses her own experience to help others fight the battle against cancer and win.

Daughtrey first noticed a lump in her left breast while performing a self breast exam in June 1992. Eight days after her 40th birthday, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Daughtrey remembers being ready to do whatever was needed to recover. For her, that meant a mastectomy, the removal of three cancerous lymph nodes, and more than eight months of chemotherapy.

As the chemotherapy ravaged her body, the emotional stress of cancer began to take its toll. ãAbout midway through my chemotherapy I didnât want to take another round,ä Daughtrey said. ãI had really rallied for my surgery, and I didnât understand why I was thinking such negative thoughts.ä

Thatâs when she looked to New Image, a cancer support group, for guidance and information. ãAt the very first meeting I laughed until my sides hurt,ä Daughtrey said. ãIt was such a lifesaver to find others with similar fears and doubts. Being able to share my experience with others who knew what it was like was an intricate part of saving my life.ä

Her involvement with other cancer survivors helped her through more than just her ordeal with breast cancer. As she neared the end of her chemotherapy, Daughtrey began having pains in her lower back. Doctors discovered a tumor in her spine. Fortunately the tumor was benign, but the surgery to remove it left behind paralysis in her left leg and impaired her mobility. Bouts of pulmonary disease kept her in and out of the hospital. It took months of medications, pain management and physical and aquatic therapy, before she slowly began to recover.

Though physically she wasnât able to get out much, Daughtrey began phone work for the Lowcountry Coalition for Cancer Survivors.

ãIt began to empower me,ä Daughtrey said. ãI felt like I was contributing something.ä

As she regained her health, Daughtrey expanded the scope of her volunteer activities. ãI began to seek out things that were very meaningful to me and could impact my life and the lives of others in a positive way,ä she said.

After meeting the founder of ãLowcountry Survivor,ä a publication of the American Cancer Society for survivors of cancer, Daughtrey began writing articles about her experience for the publication. She also served as editor for the newsletter of the Lowcountry Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, a group that is now in an inactive status but hopes to be up and running again soon.

Since 1996, Daughtrey has donated considerable hours to the Hollings Cancer Center (HCC) as a volunteer. Through HCC, she helped plan the first Women and Cancer Conference, an event designed to empower women through knowledge of the cancers that affect them. She also brings a survivorâs perspective into the planning for Camp Bluebird, a special camp held annually for adult survivors of cancer. ãItâs been a wonderful experience getting to know all the people at Hollings Cancer Center who support cancer research and survivors,ä Daughtrey said.

This year Daughtrey became a volunteer for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundationâs Charleston, SC., Race for the Cure® and BMW of North Americaâs Drive for the CureTM, events whose ultimate goal is to find a cure for breast cancer. After the Drive for the CureTM caravan of BMWs spends the day in Charleston, Daughtrey plans on being a transport driver as the caravan goes on to Hilton Head. ãI believe that whether by corporate sponsorship or a single individualâs support, the Race for the Cure® and Drive for the CureTM offer an opportunity for a community of voices to be heard. To be a part of such an event evokes a sense of hope that soon there will be a cure. And with that a sense of hope that my nieces or any other women will never have to go through what is now the leading killer of women ages 35 to 54.ä

Now when 45-year-old Daughtrey uses the old saying ãthank God for my health,ä she means it from the bottom of her heart. ãI once read that Îthere can still be life after a diagnosis of cancer,âä Daughtrey said. And sheâs living proof.