Tracy Pennington

In order for everyone to understand why I want to do this walk, I have decided to try and give you a little background of each of the people I am walking for. My first person is Tracy Pennington. This is a note from my sister about her friend, Tracy.

Tracy & Maureen in high school

My name is Maureen Davis Broadway and my sister, Jessica Mitchell, is walking in the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk this year. One of the people she is walking in honor of is one of my very best friends, Tracy Pennington. Tracy and I have known each other for over 25 years. We met as kids at a mutual friends birthday party and have been friends ever since. We went through high school together, the ups and downs of being teenagers together, skipping school together, turning old enough to legally drink together (we were born twenty days apart), we started college together, we like to travel together and as best friends we even dated two guys that were best friends. She is one of the strongest people I know. 

On Tracy's wedding day

She didn't always have it easy, actually I would say 75% of her life hasn't been easy but Tracy has always managed to push forward and find the positive in things. When she called me with the news of her diagnosis, I couldn't believe it. As always, my first thought was, I hate that we don't live near each other because how am I going to be there for her when she lives in Seattle and I live in Athens, Alabama. My second thought was it will be fine, because I know Tracy and she WILL beat this. By no means was I diminishing the severity in my head but my gut was telling me, this is not a woman who is going to take this lying down - she is going to fight like hell! Tracy was diagnosed with Stage III ER-PR+, some over expression of HERS-2, with 6 out of 11 nodes positive. She underwent 16 chemo treatments and just finished 33 radiation treatments and will have to take the drug Tamoxifen for the next 5 years. Her biggest complication has been the onset of lymphedema which she still deals with today. But again, Tracy will make it - she's a fighter. 

Tracy & Maureen in Vegas

Tracy and I are already planning our next trip, although this time rather than going and seeing the sites we plan on just relaxing and catching up. We are a lot like a soap opera, we may not get to see each other for years, but all it takes is a few minutes and it's like we were never separated. I'm proud of Tracy and I'm proud of my sister for honoring Tracy in this walk. It is quite a commitment and quite a sacrifice that she is doing but nothing compared to what women go through when diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. Please remember this and make a donation!
- Maureen D. Broadway



Definitions

Maureen & Tracy in Vegas

Stage III - In Stage III breast cancer, the cancer has spread outside the breast to surrounding lymph nodes or nearby muscles but has not yet moved to distant organs. 

ER- - ER stands for estrogen receptor. ER negative breast cancers are more aggressive and and unresponsive to anti-estrogens.

PR+ - PR stands for progesterone receptor. This type of cancer is sensitive to progesterone.

HERS-2 - Cancer cells that have too many copies of the HER-2 gene produce too much of the growth-promoting protein called HER-2 (human epidermal growth factor). Medications are available to shut down the HER-2 protein, thus slowing the growth and killing these cancer cells.

Tamoxifen -  Tamoxifen (Nolvadex®) is a drug, taken orally as a tablet, which interferes with the activity of estrogen, a female hormone. Estrogen can promote the development of cancer in the breast. Tamoxifen is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the prevention of breast cancer and for the treatment of breast cancer, as well as other types of cancer.