Project31

A Personal Story of Surviving Breast Cancer Twice and Helping Others

 

By Jason Doyle Oden | Photos Provided by Sara McLean

 

Project31 is helping women around the Oklahoma City metro who are dealing with breast cancer. The organization helps guide women and their loved ones through the process of healing. It is meant to empower and educate. Project31 is the vision of its executive director, Sarah McLean, who is a two-time breast cancer survivor.

At the age of 25, Sarah and her new husband, Steve, moved to Oklahoma City from Texas. The newlyweds were about to begin a journey which would take them to the brink. It started with a simple self-exam.

“About six months after we got here, I had gone for an annual checkup. I noticed there was a spot. I asked the doctor about it because I thought this is maybe something, but I didn’t know,” said McLean. “I had been doing self-exams since I was 18 because that was what the doctor had recommended. It kind of felt tender, but she assured me that it was nothing. She told me I was too young and that it was probably just a cyst.”

McLean noticed the cyst wasn’t going away. In fact, it was growing.

“About six months after that, it had begun to grow. I thought, you need to get this looked at. I went back and had her look at it again, but this time my husband went with me. She was kind of apathetic about it. She didn’t think it was anything to be concerned about. We had to kind of push her to give us a referral for a mammogram because I was so young. I had turned 26 at that point. You couldn’t get a mammogram because insurance wouldn’t cover it.”

McLean began to think it wasn’t serious.

“I was so young I thought maybe I am overreacting, so I put it off and didn’t go.”

It took a couple of months before she would return to the doctor’s office to have the growing cyst examined.

“I went by myself because I didn’t think it was any big deal. Once I go there a doctor had come in after they examined it. They wanted to do a biopsy on me because they had found some calcification in the mammogram. At that point, it started to get real.”

McLean got a call the next day to set up a biopsy that Friday.

“From that point forward it was like a roller coaster. It was a Friday, so we went through the weekend. They called and they told me it was cancer. I couldn’t believe it. I was in disbelief.”

McLean ended up having a lumpectomy. During the procedure, the surgeon found the cancer had started to spread.

“The following week, probably around June 2003, I went back in and had a double mastectomy. Because of my age, being so young, it would probably be wise to go ahead and remove them to reduce any future risk. I agreed with that. So, Steve and I were on the same page.”

It was then the young couple would find themselves struggling on a level other than a physical one. It was something never mentioned during all the discussions of treatment plans.

“The part that was hard was that no one at that time talked to me about any kind of emotional problems that might surface going through something like this.”

As recovery began, McLean found the cancer might have been removed, but it was still intruding on her life.

“I ended up doing reconstruction. I had expansion and all that. Which we didn’t finish that until the end of 2003. It takes a long time. I felt myself just withdrawing from Steve and from other people. I was feeling isolated. I was depressed but didn’t know why. I was feeling very up and down emotionally. It was really starting to affect our relationship.”

Her husband Steve relentlessly searched for a counselor. Someone who could help them to reconnect and communicate. He found a counselor who had survived breast cancer. After the first meeting, McLean felt relief.

“She was able to translate to him everything that I had been feeling. She first-hand understood what it looked like. She explained to me that when you have the loss of a body part that often times it is like the grief over a loved one. It is like a death that you’re grieving.”

The couple spent the better part of a year with the counselor. The McLeans found what they needed with their counselor. It also inspired Sarah to act.

“Through that experience I had a passion ignite in me that I had to do something for this community of women who probably thought the same way that I did; nobody’s talking about it.”

That’s when Project31 began to take shape.

“Even though I’m not a professional counselor, I can raise money and I can provide financial scholarships for survivors and their families to be able to go. Because what we realized through our experience is that it wasn’t just me, it was Steve, too. Especially, when it comes to breast cancer specifically because it affects the intimate relationship in such a private way. We need to bring light into that arena.”

McLean worked to build Project31. Meanwhile, life continued to unfold. Soon, the couple had two children. The family was growing and so was the vision for the organization.

“I started to realize that maybe someone wouldn’t go to counseling, but they would read a book. I have to find a way to connect to new and diverse patients. The challenge that we have in the medical arena is the HIPPA law.”

McLean began forging relationships with cancer treatment centers. She would provide them with what she called a Handout of Hope. It was a tote bag filled with practical resources for recovering patients.

As things were looking brighter for the McLean family, round two with breast cancer was about to begin.

“I continued to do self-exams even though I had a double mastectomy because I knew there was a small risk of recurrence. I still wanted to be proactive as I could. I ended up finding a spot over on my right side on the skeletal wall on my ribs. I thought maybe that was just scar tissue. I ended up going into my annual MRI. They told me let’s go ahead and take a look at that.”

It turned out to be a different kind of breast cancer than the type she beat just a few years before. This time McLean was better equipped to take on the treatment. She’s now cancer free.

“This is actually the first year that I have felt really healthy. I haven’t had any surgery.”

She’s now pursing Project31 full time.

“I haven’t been able to fully dedicate myself until this year. So this year, starting in January, we’ve hit the ground running. We’ve done so well. I’m so excited.”

Her efforts are paying off. According to McLean, Project31 will have helped more than one hundred women to recover from breast cancer this year. Two new support groups will start before the end of the year. McLean has even written a memoir of her experiences called, Pink is the New Black.

On October 23, Project31 will be hosting its “Paint the Town Pink,” pink tie gala at the Bricktown Chevy Events Center.

“It’s going to be like a party. It’s not just a typical fundraiser where you come watch a video, write a check, and have some dinner.”

“Getting through the trials and tribulations of breast cancer can be such a challenge, both physically and emotionally,” McLean said. “This event will allow us to help more survivors and their families not only meet those challenges, but also provide them with the comfort of knowing that they are not alone.”