Nine years and 12 days ago, Les Algren received the phone call.
It was her doctor. Could she meet him in his office?
"I hung up the phone and started crying because I knew exactly what that meant," said Algren, 53, who lives in Grand Ledge.
It meant the lump she'd found in her breast wasn't benign. It meant it was actually an aggressive, fast-growing form of cancer.
"From there, life changed forever," she said.
Algren is one of more than 2 million Americans who have survived breast cancer, which will affect roughly one in eight women throughout their lifetimes, according to the American Cancer Society. If caught early, there is a 98 percent chance of survival.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, aimed at raising understanding about the disease and encouraging women to have regular mammograms.
This year also marks the 60th year the American Cancer Society has awarded grants to researchers who focus on cancer.
For the MSU professors who study the disease, and the survivors who battled it, raising awareness about research is crucial to achieving the ultimate goal — finding a cure.
Funding the fight
Before a cure, however, come the smaller — albeit significant — efforts.
Kathy Gallo, an MSU associate professor of physiology and biochemistry and molecular biology, is the principal investigator of an ongoing study that aims to identify certain proteins that can help breast cancer cells grow.
Certain drugs already available can be ineffective because the cancer cells are building resistance to them, Gallo said. By identifying these proteins, researchers hope their findings can be used to develop drugs that can work against even these resistant cells.
"We have to try to be smarter than they are," she said. "If we understand the basic science, it allows the opportunity to develop new therapeutics."
The American Cancer Society awarded Gallo and her team $814,000 for four years. Now into the third year of the project, Gallo will need to find additional funding to continue the project past its fourth year.
Throughout the last 25 years, the society has donated almost $6 million to MSU researchers, said Steve Konsdorf, area executive director for the American Cancer Society's Capital Area Service Center. The society is the second-largest source of cancer research funding in the country — only the National Institutes of Health surpasses it — and the largest source of private funding.
"We give grants because we know the research done at these great universities," Konsdorf said. "Michigan is a great example of a state that has great research facilities."
Gallo's interest in cancer research stems from a molecular level, not necessarily a personal one, but meeting cancer patients is inspiring, she said. Their stories keep her committed to her project.
"That is also why it is important for researchers to connect with survivors," she said. "When we go into our laboratory and we get focused on a small detail, it is also important we see the big picture."
Michael Boivin, an associate professor with MSU's International Neurologic & Psychiatric Epidemiology Program, is looking at how spirituality affects breast cancer patients while they receive treatment. He hopes the results lead to the development of other holistic methods to complement traditional treatments, such as chemotherapy.
The project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and set to begin next month, aims to determine how the brain responds to stimuli spiritually, emotionally, psychologically and neuropsychologically and to find out what impact those factors have on a patient's health. One group in the study also will undergo brain imaging to see how the women react to emotional and spiritual images.
"They're often seen as not medically relevant," he said of the four factors. "It may be that they are the most medically relevant."
Breast cancer seemed to be a logical choice for Boivin's study because of its prevalence in the United States and its impact on women as a whole, but the illness also affects him on a more personal level.
Nearly two years ago, Boivin's wife, Grace, had a biopsy on a lump in her breast, which ultimately proved to be benign. But the initial uncertainty affected him spiritually and emotionally — which are aspects he intends to study in current patients.
"When we went through that scare as a couple, you see how your lives could change," Boivin said. "We were very fortunate, but a number of our friends were not so fortunate."
Dianne Carlisle, who was diagnosed with breast cancer eight years ago, said she pays attention when she hears of current research projects in the news.
"Every time I hear that, I just want to cheer it on," said the Eaton Rapids resident. "It may not be my time, but they're going to find a cure."
Seeking support
The license plate on the back of Carlisle's car has a pink ribbon sticker attached in the middle, right between both sets of numbers. On the sticker is one simple word.
Survivor.
Only eight letters. But they are the eight letters Carlisle, 42, has embraced for almost a decade.
In 1998, at age 33, Carlisle was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer — the most advanced and aggressive stage of the disease.
Because of her age, Carlisle didn't feel she was immediately at risk for developing breast cancer — she said she was more concerned for her mother and grandmother — and she didn't perform regular self-examinations.
"One day I just had a shooting pain," Carlisle said.
Her doctor initially told her that, because of her age, it likely wasn't cancer. But she learned the truth at a follow-up appointment.
"It really didn't sink in for a little while," she said. "Never once did I consider putting myself in those shoes, and by the time I did, I was already Stage IV."
Carlisle underwent a lumpectomy before beginning a treatment regimen that consisted of three months of chemotherapy, two bone marrow transplants and seven weeks of radiation. But the prognosis wasn't good.
"I was told that more than likely I'd be lucky if I survived two years without the second transplant," she said.
The transplant worked.
Carlisle has been cancer-free ever since. But last November, she opted to have a double mastectomy — despite the fact that there had been no recurrence of the illness — to lower the risk of it returning to the same area.
When she was diagnosed, Algren said she was told her chances of survival did not look promising. But she said she kept a positive outlook and sense of humor to guide her through the dark times.
"Mine was less than 50 percent, but I told my oncologist, 'I'm not going to be in that bottom half, I'm going to be in the top half,'" she said. "I went through treatment to live. It wasn't easy, but my goal was to live and not think of myself in that bad part of the statistic."
Carlisle and Algren became active with the American Cancer Society following their diagnoses. Both women are involved with the Reach to Recovery program, which matches survivors with patients currently receiving treatment to offer information and encouragement.
They also row with the WeCanRow crew team, made up of breast cancer survivors. The team formed at MSU about four years ago and has roughly 40 members at present, Algren said.
"We've learned to trust our bodies again, and it's just been a great experience," said Algren, who has been in remission for eight years. "You have to learn to regain some sort of a trust, and by building your bodies up physically, you're also helping yourself mentally."
But the group is more than just a crew team. It's a support team.
And for Algren, support has become her mission.
"We're there to help the person get through not only a physical time, but a very emotional time," she said. "We don't want anybody to go through breast cancer alone."
