MY LIFE Matters - Spring 2022 - 22

Bone Health ANGEL ADVOCATES
KIANA WOOTEN'S STORY
Kiana Wooten was very young when she was
diagnosed with breast cancer. At 34 years
old, she was informed that she had stage IIA
Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC).
This type of cancer is labeled as one of
the most common types of breast cancer
due to its prevalence in diagnosis. Almost
80% of all breast cancer diagnoses are
labeled as IDC. What does this type of
breast cancer mean exactly? " Invasive "
means that cancer has spread or invaded
throughout the surrounding breast
tissues; " Ductal " means that cancer has
started in the milk ducts, which are tubes
that carry milk to the nipple; and " Carcinoma "
is cancer that begins in the skin
or any tissue that covers internal organs.
Therefore, this type of cancer has moved
from the wall of the milk duct throughout
the breast; from there, it can spread to the
lymph nodes and to the rest of the body.
Over 180,000 women are diagnosed with
this cancer every year.
Just three years after Kiana's breast
Tigerlily ANGEL
BY VIRGINIA LEACH, KIANA WOOTEN AND MARQUITA GOODLUCK
B
22
MY LIFE MATTERS
SPRING 2022
eing diagnosed with breast cancer can lead to a domino effect
of health issues that patients are not always aware of. Patients
put their bodies through extreme processes when exposed
to chemotherapy, radiation, and intensive drug medications.
Exposure to harsh treatments forces the body to change rapidly.
One of the potential changes is the drastic loss of bone mass in the body,
leading to osteoporosis, bone pain, fractures, or loss of mobility.
The stories of Kiana Wooten and Marquita Goodluck highlight the
urgency to discuss bone health in addition to exploring ways to counter
the impacts of cancer treatments on our bones.
Advocates Speaking
Up on Bone Health
cancer diagnosis and after completing
several rounds of chemotherapy, she was
told that she had full-blown osteoporosis
after completing a bone density scan. She
has lost almost 15% of bone mass due to
the side effects of chemotherapy on her
bones. You might be thinking 15% loss of
bone mass doesn't sound like a lot, but in
just one year, that's a significant amount
of bone loss.
To address osteoporosis in Kiana's
bones, she recently started receiving
treatments to strengthen her bones at her
local cancer institute twice a year. These
infusions take several hours to complete,
in addition to getting blood drawn, which
exhausts a lot of her energy.
In her own words, this is what Kiana
had to say about dealing with the side
effects of chemotherapy: " People look at
me, and they say I look great and that I
don't look sick. I'm not sick, technically,
but having to do injections monthly and
taking oral chemo and now having other
ailments from chemotherapy really stresses
me. It would stress anybody in this
situation. I'm sure other cancer patients
could attest and agree with what I am
saying. This is what we go through. This
is the aftermath. This is my aftermath of
chemotherapy. "
https://www.tigerlilyfoundation.org/breast-cancer-toolkit/types-of-breast-cancer/ https://www.amgen.com/stories/2018/10/know-your-bones
MY LIFE Matters - Spring 2022

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