Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast Cancer Awareness Month starts Thursday and local hospitals, nonprofit groups and businesses have a lot planned to help with the cause. Is your organization doing something? Let us know by e-mailing information to amullins@gannett.com. Be sure to include the relevant details such as time, date, place, cost, contact information and if it is a fundraiser for a specific group.

Thirteen years passed, and cancer reappeared, this time in the lymph nodes on Newcomb’s neck. Newcomb’s husband had died by this time, and she did not have insurance. When her doctor learned this, she arranged for Beverly Hospital to pick up the tab. After six months of medical procedures followed by medication, Newcomb’s health improved. “I was doing fine, and then, 15 years later, it comes back,” she said. “I thought, does this mean it’s three strikes and I’m out?”

That wasn’t the case, though, as more medical procedures and new medicines got rid of the newest tumors. “That was four years ago,” she said. “I thought I was out of the woods.” Then, earlier this year, Newcomb went to the doctor and learned the cancer is back once more. She’s preparing for another meeting with her doctor later this month to decide what to do. “It’s all about attitude,” she said. “Thinking positive is how you get through it.” Newcomb said her husband stayed supportive during everything she went through, as well as their three daughters, Donna, Gail and Karen.