To the editor:

As Fairfield Memorial Hospital and others begin fundraising for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, I would like to share some of my own personal experiences as to why this race is so important for this and other surrounding communities.

I am the director of diagnostic imaging at Fairfield Memorial Hospital. When I started my career in radiology in 1983, it seemed like one of the most important jobs in the hospital. A patient would come in for a test with abdominal pain, and I was able to help determine why they were having such pain.

It was somewhat amazing what I was able to contribute; however, the word cancer was thrown around a lot in many of the cases. Throughout my schooling, I would find cancers on all types of individuals, rich or poor, it really did not matter, as everyone stood the same chance.

It wasn’t until a friend of mine, who was older, confided in me that she had had breast cancer. She went through a mastectomy and then radiation treatments that had burned her skin so bad that it was just like tissue paper.

Not long after the initial diagnosis, she found another lump in her breast on the opposite side and had a mammogram confirming cancer. So, she again faced another mastectomy surgery along with treatments that went along with it.

I finished my radiology program and decided to go to ultrasound school. At that time, there were only two ultrasound schools in this part of the United States, one in Tennessee and one in St. Louis. I was accepted into the ultrasound program in St Louis; however, little did I know that with ultrasound you may find a tumor, but as a technologist you are not allowed to let the patient know. So, I could not show emotion on my face even though the patient is anxiously laying on the bed looking at me for assurance.

After I graduated, I moved back to Southern Illinois and went to work at a cardiologist’s clinic. His nurse, Vicky, and I instantly became friends.

As life goes, people come into your life, and then they are gone. You keep track of one another for a few years; then they just seem to disappear. This was what happened with Vicky and me. I had thought about her a lot, but didn’t know where she was, as the last I had heard she was somewhere on the West Coast.

One day my phone rang. It was a co-worker friend who had heard me talk about Vicky. She told me Vicky had been diagnosed with breast cancer and her prognosis was not good.

I started calling other friends, but no one seemed to know where Vicky was living. I finally thought the worst. I thought she had passed away and that I knew nothing about it. I then began to think about her in a past tense.

In June 2006, I was hired for this position at Fairfield Memorial Hospital. I was at the hospital for my first day and I heard someone call my name, pretty loudly. My first thought was, “That sounds like Vicky.”

When I turned around, it was Vicky! I didn’t know what to do, so I hugged her, cried and couldn’t believe she was still alive!

I have always supported the Susan G. Komen Foundation, but now I have multiple reasons for supporting the cause. Most people have a reason to support this cause, if they will just think about it.

Since I started working at FMH, we have received multiple grants from the Komen Foundation to do mammograms on women who have no insurance or a high deductible. One would be surprised by the number of women who will put off having their mammogram because the kids need something or something in their house needs fixed.

This is what Komen is about. They give back to the communities what supporters of the cause have worked so hard to raise, as 75 percent of the money raised in this area stays in this area.

If you would like to join our team and help raise money, call me, Cindy Short, at 847-8271 or Charlotte St.Ledger at 847-8297. You don’t have to go to Evansville the day of the event, as there are many ways to show support. 

By simply joining the team, you can raise money by asking your friends and family to donate to the cause. It just takes a little time to ask, and donations — no matter how large or small — help.

Cindy Short

Fairfield Memorial Hospital