October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Kassie Nelligan’s Story: A Five-Year Breast Cancer Journey

By MONICA CALZOLARI
ONEONTA

Katherine Nelligan, who goes by Kassie, discovered she had breast cancer five years ago.

“It was five days before my 35th birthday when I discovered a lump in my breast,” she recalled.

Nelligan has no history of cancer in her family. She is not sure why she got cancer. She is in remission now and gets annual mammograms.

She said, “The problem is that people are not getting checked until they are 40 years old and cancer is occurring at younger and younger ages.”

“It really caught us by surprise,” she added.

Nelligan did get genetic testing to see if her sisters or daughter should be checked for cancer.

At the time she was diagnosed in late October 2019, Nelligan’s children, Addison and Easton, were only four and six years old.

“I was going through a divorce at the time and did not know what the future would hold, so I had my eggs frozen before my chemotherapy,” Nelligan explained. “I did six rounds of chemotherapy and COVID hit during my last two treatments.”

The hardest part of the breast cancer journey for Nelligan was “not being able to hug my family.”

“With chemo, your immune system is depressed,” she said.

Nelligan opted to have her lumpectomy in New York City at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in May 2020. She traveled two and a half hours to New Jersey for her chemotherapy treatments.

She had her radiation treatments at Bassett because those sessions were five days a week and it did not make sense to travel a long distance every day.

Nelligan said her radiation oncologist at Bassett, Dr. Timothy Korytko, “was wonderful.”

She praised the nurses at Bassett, too, saying “they are very helpful.”

Coordinating care has been a challenge for Nelligan. After seeing their primary care practitioner and having a mammogram read by a radiologist, a breast cancer patient will often see three specialized physicians: a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, and a surgical oncologist. This multidisciplinary team approach to cancer management results in improved patient outcomes.

The earlier the cancer is detected, the better the prognosis. The National Cancer Institute reports if localized, the five-year breast cancer survival rate is 99.6 percent.

Nelligan considers herself lucky saying, “Mine was caught early, at Stage 2.”

When she lost her hair during chemotherapy, her son also shaved his head in solidarity. Nelligan said that her son and daughter only have vague memories of when she was in treatment.

Her children are 9 and 11 years old now.

“I was blessed to have the love and support of my family and friends, and even people at work,” Nelligan said.

This made the experience easier.

Nelligan is a manager of the Department of Mail, Receiving and Supply at SUNY Oneonta.

“I am very fortunate to be working for the state, which has a dedicated Cancer Resource Services program. When I saw my bill for one chemo treatment, it was $20,000.00.”

Six treatments could have cost Nelligan $120,000.00 out of pocket.

She said, “I am so grateful. I did not have to pay a dime.”

Nelligan recommends, “People should know that you do not have to do it alone. Ask for support. There are support groups out there, too.”