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Sisters survive cancer in different ways

Sisters Ruth Howard, right, and Brenda Howard, both breast cancer survivors, along with their other sister, Judy McGeorge, sit with a pink ribbon cake made for them by Lisa Kain at Ruth's home Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 in Franklin, Ohio. Ruth was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970 and again in 1984. Brenda was diagnosed in 1999.

Nick Graham/Staff Photographer Sisters Ruth Howard, right, and Brenda Howard, both breast cancer survivors, along with their other sister, Judy McGeorge, sit with a pink ribbon cake made for them by Lisa Kain at Ruth's home Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 in Franklin, Ohio. Ruth was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970 and again in 1984. Brenda was diagnosed in 1999.

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By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer 8:46 PM Sunday, October 18, 2009

FRANKLIN — Ruth Howard and her sisters gather every October at Ruth’s home in Franklin to commemorate the anniversary of when Howard was first diagnosed with breast cancer, close to 40 years ago.

It’s a celebration not just of Ruth’s survival, but an entire family’s 39-year struggle to defeat cancer.

“We’re survivors,” Ruth proudly proclaims.

Two of Ruth’s seven sisters were also diagnosed with breast cancer over a thirty year period.

Ruth was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970, when she says cancer patients were treated much differently.

“People thought you were contagious,” Ruth said. “My husband was told he’d probably die of cancer too. I really only had my family and God to pull me through.”

Despite finding a lump on her breast, Ruth said she was told by a family physician she was “too young” to get cancer. Ruth, though, had an aunt who died at age 40 from breast cancer. She sought alternative opinions until she found a doctor who would finally listen.

“Everyone I knew who had cancer had died,” Ruth said. “But I had four young boys to raise, so I had to put that thought out of my mind.”

In 1984, a lump was found on Ruth’s other breast. She underwent a mastectomy and two weeks later went on a road trip to Florida with her husband, Charlie.

Ruth’s sister Judy McGeorge felt a lump in her breast in 1996. Despite, or perhaps because of her sister’s ordeal, Judy tried to “ignore it away,” but finally had the lump analyzed. She too had cancer.

“The treatment was much different for all of us,” said Brenda Howard, another of Ruth’s sisters, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999. Because Ruth and Judy had recurrences of breast cancer in the breast that wasn’t initially removed, Howard had a double mastectomy. She also underwent chemotherapy, which wasn’t even an option for Ruth in 1970.

“I felt like I was on borrowed time,” Brenda said. “I was always prepared.”

Brenda had genetic testing and determined that despite the common occurrences of cancer in their family, she is not a carrier of the breast cancer gene. Her children are not high risk to get cancer.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4544 or jmcclelland@coxohio.com.

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