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Jamestown\u00a0 (JRMC) \u2013 Tuesday was a bittersweet day for one breast cancer survivor at Jamestown Regional Medical Center.<\/p>\nJamestown\u00a0 (JRMC) \u2013 Tuesday was a bittersweet day for one breast cancer survivor at Jamestown Regional Medical Center.<\/p>\n
Photos from JRMC<\/p>\n
Kari Smith, of Carrington was the first graduate and the first to ring the bell at the JRMC Cancer Center.<\/p>\n
She thinks of the people who did not have the same chance.<\/p>\n
Kari says, \u201cIt\u2019s kind of joyous, but the fact is, this is a serious condition.”<\/p>\n
Smith has had an overwhelming six months. Diagnosed with Triple Negative breast cancer in April, doctors performed a mastectomy in May. Chemotherapy treatments began in June.<\/p>\n Hearing the news was \u201cpretty shocking,\u201d she said, even though she thought she had prepared for it.<\/p>\n Her husband, Kerry, attended several of her eight chemotherapy appointments, including her last on Sept. 17. He said he tried to stay strong for her.<\/p>\n Kerry says, \u201cI didn\u2019t handle the news very well.\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t let her know that.\u201d<\/p>\n One in eight women will receive a breast cancer diagnosis in her lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. Catching it early can mean the difference between keeping the breast or needing surgery to remove it.<\/p>\n Triple-negative breast cancer is cancer that tests negative for estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and excess HER2 protein.<\/p>\n These results mean the hormones estrogen and progesterone or by the HER2 protein do not fuel cancer. So, triple-negative breast cancer does not respond to hormonal therapy medicines or medicines that target HER2 protein receptors. Still, other medicines are used to successfully treat triple-negative breast cancer.<\/p>\n In Smith\u2019s case, her Oncologist Dr. Shelby Terstriep, ordered eight four-hour rounds of Adriamycin\/Cytoxan followed by taxol. Once the JRMC Cancer Center opened this summer, Smith could have her treatments here. Previously, she\u2019d received them at the Roger Maris Cancer Center in Fargo.<\/p>\n Smith says, \u201cThis cancer center is a huge benefit for the area. It reduced our drive time from four hours a day to less than two.\u201d<\/p>\n About 10 percent to 20 percent of breast cancers are triple-negative breast cancers.<\/p>\n Now that her treatments are over, her husband wants to celebrate with dinner, whereas Smith joked that she may do laundry instead. She can also return to her normal routine of working at Farm Credit Services.<\/p>\n The couple said they are grateful for their support team, including family, friends, coworkers and Smith\u2019s bowling team. More than a dozen of them surprised Smith at her bell ringing. Smith\u2019s friend supported her in many ways \u2013 meals, rides to treatment, listening ears.<\/p>\n She celebrated with family and friends on Tuesday, Sept. 17. As October approaches, Kerry Smith says he plans to update his wardrobe. He plans to introduce pink to his closet, in support of others like his wife.<\/p>\n He adds, \u201cShe\u2019s a tough cookie. She handled it better than I would.\u201d<\/p>\n Kari says she will continue to support her others and encourage them to receive their preventative services like mammograms and cervical screenings.<\/p>\n Based on national utilization data, 1,346 Stutsman County women over age 40 have not had their mammograms in two years. About 3,000 of them are behind on their cervical screenings.<\/p>\n She says, \u201cIt\u2019s better to know than to wonder.\u00a0 Catching it early is better than catching it late.\u201d<\/p>\n Jamestown Regional Medical Center, in partnership with Sanford Health, opened the JRMC Cancer Center in 2019. The JRMC Cancer Center serves 100 people from Sanford and other healthcare organizations in the Jamestown area each month, saving more than 160,000 miles of travel each year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jamestown\u00a0 (JRMC) \u2013 Tuesday was a bittersweet day for one breast cancer survivor at Jamestown Regional Medical Center. Photos from JRMC Kari Smith, of Carrington was the first graduate and the first to ring the bell at the JRMC Cancer Center. She thinks of the people who did not have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jamestown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181021"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181091,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181021\/revisions\/181091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nShe said in surprise, \u201cYou all came here from Carrington?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou find out you have a lot of friends.\u00a0 You see how much they support you.\u201d
\nSupport is important when it comes to cancer care.<\/p>\n