The good fight

Woman diagnosed at annual breast cancer awareness event, now inspirational speaker

Bonnie Comardelle never dreamed she would be diagnosed with cancer.

When she decided to attend the St. Charles Community Health Center’s annual breast cancer awareness event in fall 2009, she was just going as a preventative measure.

Her sister had been diagnosed with cancer twice, once at the age of 31 and again at 40, but Comardelle thought she was off the hook.

“I never thought that they would tell me I had it too,” she said.

But at the event, which gives the uninsured or underinsured free mammograms, doctors told her they found a lump.

She then went through the process of having a deep tissue mammogram and a biopsy done, where they cut out part of the tissue to examine it for cancerous cells. She was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.

But at least she has a chance to overcome the disease – it’s not too late.

“If I hadn’t gone to the health center’s event, I probably wouldn’t have caught it as early,” she said. “Early detection can save your life.”

Her breast cancer had already begun to spread to her lymph nodes, but because she caught it early, it had only spread to one of the 17 lymph nodes that were tested.

Now she has finished up six rounds of chemotherapy and is in the middle of undergoing a total of 33 radiation treatments.
“It was rough – I didn’t think I would make it through the chemo,” she said.

This year, just a year after her diagnosis, Comardelle was the inspirational speaker at the health center’s event.

“My advice to other women is to get yourself checked every year,” she said. “Get it done. Early detection is a big thing.”

Julia Bodden, spokesperson for the health center, said that Comardelle is the second case of breast cancer found in the three years the center has held the free mammogram event.

“We are definitely making a difference in the community as far as saving lives because early detection is the key,” Bodden said.

The event is held annually in the fall to provide free mammograms to those who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover a yearly mammogram.

“If they have insurance but they still have to pay for a mammogram, they qualify for our free mammogram,” Bodden said.

There is also always a gynecologist on hand at the event. This year, that was Dr. Rachel Bezdek. Funding for the event comes from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Louisiana Breast Cancer Task Force. This year, 30 people showed up to the event and to get their free breast examinations.

The Komen foundation and the American Cancer Society both recommend that women over the age of 40 get a mammogram done yearly. The organizations suggest that women between the ages of 20 and 39 have a clinical breast exam done every three years and women over 40 have one done each year. Visit www.komen.org to find out if you or the women you know are at a higher risk for breast cancer and may need to be checked more often.