on the cover / By Helen Sanderson

Wounded Healers

Breast cancer survivors’ journey comes full circle

(March 15, 2007)  For almost three years doctors had been assuring Bonnie Etz that the large lump she felt in her breast was probably just dense fiber, nothing to worry about. So when Etz found out in 2004 that she had a rare and advanced case of breast cancer she felt betrayed and distraught. But her husband was the one who fell apart at the news. Reluctant to burden his sick wife with his intense feelings, all the fear and anger he’d been experiencing stayed bottled up.

Noticing that Dave Etz was having a particularly difficult time with the diagnosis, Bonnie’s surgeon, Dr. Ellen Mahoney, referred him to the Humboldt Community Breast Health Project, an Arcata nonprofit. She assured him it was a good place to learn about what to expect during his wife’s journey through a mastectomy and chemotherapy, and also to find a sympathetic ear.

“Persephone Returns” by Joyce Radtke. Photo by Helen Sanderson.

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So Dave took the doctor’s advice, made the call and continued to completely lose it on the phone. He cried and swore at the woman who answered. But Sharon Nelson, the recipient of his outburst, wasn’t offended. She just listened and let the unhinged man get everything off his chest. Nelson, who is now the Humboldt Community Breast Health Project’s (HCBHP) client services director, understood the man’s pain. Her family went through it too, back when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999.

Bonnie Etz, 55, has since come full circle. Now she’s the one answering phones. Etz is what the HCBHP calls a “warm liner,” a volunteer who takes calls from people, usually women, who have a question about breast or gynecological cancer. Warm liners are prepared to talk with people at any stage on their road to recovery. That might be a woman who just discovered a lump and isn’t sure what to do next. Or it could be a return client wanting to talk about reconstructive surgery with someone who already went through it.

Etz is one of a dozen warm liners - most of them, like her, are breast cancer survivors - and last year alone they made 4,308 client contacts, 193 of them with first-time clients. Butmore often than receiving calls or walk-ins, the warm liners are the ones reaching out, going through their log books and calling women who they haven’t heard from in a while, or checking in on someone who recently had an oncologist’s appointment.

“It’s important for women to know that they’re not just a statistic,” Etz said.

*According to 2006 figures**in the state’s annual death rate report, the County Health Status Profiles, Humboldt County ranks last in many of the*death categories - everything from random accidents to diabetes. In other words, if the statistics paint an accurate picture, Humboldt County is a dangerous place to live.

Each year the California Department of Health Services analyzes the death rate data over a three-year spread and publishes the yearly average. The most recent statistics come from the period between 2002 and 2004.

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