Pocono News Section

Walk A Mile in My Shoes: Noreen

Walk A Mile in My Shoes: Noreen - Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 4:50PM EST

Reported by: Candice Kelly
Wednesday, Nov 5, 2008 @ 04:50pm EST
You know the phrase, "Walk a mile in my shoes?" Well, what if, for a brief moment, you did? Our new series focuses on people who have or are overcoming obstacles and challenges in life. In our first story we walk a mile in the shoes of Noreen Snee, as she finishes her last phase of cancer treatment.

Noreen Snee casually walks into the Henry Cancer Center at Geisinger Wyoming Valley. For the past year, it's almost become her home away from home. "I had my first original mammogram on October 15th, 2007. It was a Monday. And actually the next Wednesday, October 24th, the doctor called me and I was told I had breast cancer," she said.

Noreen had stage two breast cancer. A diagnosis, that was tough for her to take at the time. "Because we had buried my mother two years before from lung cancer, and my brother had passed away in September last year of lung cancer," she said.

With the recent deaths of her mother and oldest brother, Noreen was afraid to tell her family she too had cancer. It had been one month, to the day, since her brother had passed.

It was hard. Now I'm going to cry on you," she said.

It was a lot to absorb. But after a second opinion, Noreen had a mastectomy and removed 3 affected lymph nodes in January. "And I was shocked because you hear you have it but you don't realize how many steps there are and what you have to do," she said.

She began chemotherapy the next month. It was just the beginning of her year-long treatment. "The first one was the worst, because you're a nervous wreck. How is this going to affect me, am I going to get sick, is it going to be immediate?"

When she first started chemo, it was every two weeks, sitting in a chair for 4 or 5 hours a day. "I was very lucky. I didn't even get nauseous. A lot of people lose their appetites, or have a metal taste in their mouth, I didn't have any of that. The worst thing was the fatigue,” she admitted.

By the second week she started seeing physical changes. "The hair, yes, that's a big thing. Because you don't realize how your hair defines you," she said.

Noreen immediately shaved her head and continued on with her treatment which became less frequent as the months passed.

The drug Herceptin is the last phase of Noreen's therapy. It's more of an inhibitor to stop the cancer from returning. But through it all, she's remained positive. “They've come a long way, there's a lot they can do now, and I'm going to live a long time. One day at a time, one step at a time,” she said.

It's one of many steps in the road to recovery, when you walk a mile in Noreen's shoes.

Noreen says she was amazed at how aggressive breast cancer can be. If there's anything she would like people to take away from this, is to keep up on your annual breast exams and mammograms.