Kristin Worley did everything right. Worley, 42, has no family history of breast cancer but still actively took steps to avoid it. She breast fed, eschewed antiperspirants, never wore underwire bras and avoided getting a mammogram, mistakenly thinking they did more harm than good.
A change in her nighttime routine may just have saved Barbara Ross’ life. One evening last spring, Ross put on her nightclothes and sat down to watch TV, rather than going straight to bed, as was her habit.
Michalena Kalaitsides has devoted her life to her Greek Orthodox faith, her family and friends who need her. “I’m blessed,” she says, more than once.
A stay-at-home mom with twin daughters, Jamie Hill was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2017. “All I could think was, ‘I can’t leave (the girls) without a mom. I’m not going to see them go to kindergarten,’ ” said Hill, a North Canton resident. “They were not even 2.”
Photo Gallery of our 2017 Brave & Beautiful honorees captured throughout our gathering day at Belden Village Mall and Gervasi Vineyard. Presented by Mercy Medical Center.
Thanksgiving and Christmas didn’t hold their usual joy for Allison in 2016. Two mammograms and an ultrasound had come back inconclusively, and she was scheduled for a biopsy in early January.
A life of medical expertise didn’t prepare Gayle for the phone call that changed her life. Gayle Smith is funny, smart and accomplished. She has an infectious laugh, the kind that, when you hear it, you know it can’t be anyone else.
Renee Salter says she’s proof that you can beat breast cancer if you detect it early and follow your doctor’s treatment orders.
By her own description, 2015 was a “rough year” for Laura Weisgarber. Highlighted two years ago in The Canton Repository’s “Brave & Beautiful” section, the Jackson Township resident saw her job move out of town just days before she lost her mother to Alzheimer’s disease. A few weeks later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer—for the second time in the years since her battle against Hodgkins disease when she was a freshman at Ohio State University.
For Sarah, the joy to recovering her health has reached the other side. With support from her family, Mercy Medical Center and the students she serves at Jackson Local Schools, Butler, a monitor at Jackson Middle School and for the school’s bus system, completed her treatments in April.
