Sentara hospital lights up for metastatic breast cancer awareness

Valerie Ryland has only recently begun sharing her story about Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. At 43, she is approaching ten years of survival with an incurable illness, and she's not finished living.

"You can lead a robust life with metastatic breast cancer," Ryland said. "There's been great innovation in science and medicine, and now we can live longer."

Ryland is a nurse and regional director of integrated care management for three Sentara Health hospitals in Virginia Beach and Northeast North Carolina. It's a high-pressure job for a healthcare professional who is also a patient.

"It's never over," Ryland added. "You never get to ring the bell to mark the end of treatment. You're always working to keep it from spreading."

Ryland spoke about her cancer journey at Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, during an event marking National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day on October 13th, hosted in partnership with a local non-profit called Here for the Girls (H4TG), which is now 20 years old. H4TG supports women of all ages with all types of breast cancer, with a special focus on metastatic, or Stage IV, breast cancer.

The hospital hosted an evening of community support and testimonials and illuminated the front entrance of the hospital in teal, pink, and green lights, the colors representing the metastatic cancer community.

Metastatic cancer occurs when breast cancer cells metastasize to other organs, most often the liver, lungs, and brain. Ryland's cancer has spread to her bones.

Ryland stands in the lobby of Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, one of three hospital where she oversees integrated care management.

Ryland receives CT scans of her heart every three months because the medication she takes is toxic to the heart and must be carefully monitored. She gets full-body CT scans to track the cancer's progression. She receives IV immunotherapy infusions every 21 days, all of which she takes in stride in her busy life as a nursing leader, wife, and mother.

"This disease does not define you," Ryland added. "It did make me pause, and it made me cherish every day."

"We teach our women to live life with an exclamation point, not a period," said H4TG co-founder Rene Bowditch, a breast cancer survivor who co-hosted the event in a white dress, tiara, plastic wings and pink feather boa as The Good Health Fairy. "It's a hard, scary part of having cancer," Bowditch said of metastatic cancer, "but women can live ten years or more."

The executive director of H4TG emphasizes living with stage IV cancer. "People think it's the end, but that's not always the case," said Chris Schwab. "It is absolutely different than the earlier stages of cancer, and it can shorten some women's lives. That's just a reality," Schwab admitted. "But we have women who lead fruitful, loving lives for many years."

Schwab describes the journey through metastatic breast cancer as embracing a balance, among living, working, monitoring and treatment, and meeting the challenges of the disease with support. "The message we're sending is that we're a community and a family and we're here for each other."

As a full-service hospital and trauma center with a strong oncology program, leaders at Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center were quick to respond to H4TG's request to host the event.

"We think this is a great opportunity for us to lead the way and show other health systems what it looks like to really support this cause," said Loren Smith, vice president of operations at Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center.

To learn more about Sentara's mammography services or to schedule an appointment, visit this page on Sentara.com.