Lucille Allen Martens - LHS Class of 1949

Having faced down the prospect of breast cancer, Lucille Martens said if there’s one thing she’s learned, it’s that every story is different.
Firstly, she said she had always understood that cancer was not painful.
“Mine was,” she said. “It hurt.”
Furthermore, Martens said she has learned the hard way that breast cancer does no discriminate. About 11 years before her diagnosis, Martens said one of her sisters had been diagnosed with the disease. Another was diagnosed six years before her.
Along the way, Martens said she had taken the proper precautions.
“I had mammograms the whole time,” she said, though none had showed up positive.
Martens said she was in her 70s at the time of diagnosis as well, which she said made news even harder.
She’s not alone. Statistics from Susan G. Komen for the Cure indicate that the two most basic, common risk factors for breast cancer are being female and age. Only 5 percent of patients diagnosed with breast cancer are younger than 40, the American Cancer Society states. But, according to the same statistics, incidence of diagnosis does level out somewhat after age 70, on average, before falling off about age 80. Martens is now 81.
Mortality rates, on the other hand, for breast cancer patients increase dramatically with
age, the ACS said. Martens said it was because of the idea of going through chemotherapy or radiation treatments that she decided to have a mastectomy in 2007. She would eventually have another.
“I just wanted some peace of mind that I was done with it, and I didn’t want to go through radiation or chemo,” she said.
Martens said she joined the Picked to be Pink breast cancer support group recently, which she said has some solace in knowing that other women had gone through similar experiences.
“It’s been encouraging,” she said, to be able to have that support not just in her recovery, but also in her day-to-day life.
It’s also led her to conclude that one of the most important pieces of advice that she can give is to pay attention. That extends beyond annual mammograms — she said doctors can give their patients attention but there is no substitute for listening and trusting one’s own body.
“If you feel something, speak up,” Martens said.
The Leavenworth Times