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Dr. Larry Geier examines Master Sgt. Dee Ann Poole,
who is battling breast cancer. Poole started a
cancer support group at Whiteman AFB, Mo. where she
is assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing public affairs office.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Andrea Ernst)
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By
Melissa Klinkner
509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE,
Mo. -- At 8:15 p.m. on Aug. 30, Master Sgt. Dee Ann
Poole received the call that changed her life.
It
came from her doctor’s office; the nurse had called to inform
Poole she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I was breathless,” she said.
“My conversation with the nurse was a blur. It didn’t really
sink in until the next day.”
In what seemed like minutes,
Poole’s life went through a whirlwind of change. She went
from working in the 509th Bomb Wing public affairs office
here to becoming the recipient of numerous surgeries and
treatments. It also included time-consuming computer
research and learning a new language -- medical terminology.
“It’s a tough language to learn
because it can be so confusing,” she said.
Over a period of seven months,
she underwent several magnetic resonance imaging tests,
a mastectomy and removal of seven lymph nodes, two of which
had been cancerous. She received eight chemotherapy treatments
that left her feeling nauseous, foggy and exhausted.
After overcoming these physical
challenges, Poole is now trying to rebuild her familiar
way of life while creating a “new normal.” This comes with
confusion and many, often unanswerable, questions: “What
happens next? When will my hair grow back completely? When
will my taste buds return to normal? How will I try to prevent
the threat of the cancer coming back?”
Although she has been surrounded
by her husband, Senior Master Sgt. Steve Poole, her two
children, extended family, friends and fellow Airmen through
the journey, Sergeant Poole said there were still times
when she felt alone.
“You can’t do it by yourself
… you just can’t,” she said.
Poole said she knew there were
others in the Whiteman community also fighting a form of
cancer. It was with this thought that she decided to form
a cancer support group here.
“This was important to me because
I wanted to meet other military members who had or have
cancer so we can be a resource for other members of the
Whiteman team to call upon,” she said. “I feel the military
tie we have binds us together as a family.”
Members of the group said it
helps to share experiences.
“I now have more people I can
call on if I need help when I’m feeling down,” Poole said.
“They’ve been where I’ve been.”
She said maintaining a full-time
positive attitude is impossible, but it helps to set small
goals and meet them. Starting this group was one of her
goals.
“It gave me something to focus
on besides the chemo and how I felt after each one,” Poole
said.
“It helps to know you’re not
the only one,” said Master Sgt. Karin Clark, a support group
attendee who is assigned to the 509th Maintenance Squadron.
“You feel less isolated.”
Clark has her own story of
battling cancer.
It started with a routine appointment
at family practice. After a two-and-one-half-hour appointment,
Clark was notified she could have either a severe infection,
a collapsed lobe in her right lung or lung cancer. Three
weeks later, her doctors determined it was lung cancer.
After learning the diagnosis,
Clark said she was surprised and scared to tell her children.
She said at 39 it is rare for someone her age to have an
advanced lung cancer tumor.
“I just let them think everything
was going to work out OK until I knew for sure if I was
going to have a surgery,” she said.
Clark said it was extremely
hard for her to tell her mother and siblings -- her father
died of lung cancer in 1985.
“It was like a repeat nightmare,”
she said.
She was recommended to a thoracic
surgeon, and her entire right lung was removed in 2004.
“The hardest part for me is
knowing I probably could’ve prevented the whole experience
if I’d never started smoking,” she said.
When she saw Poole’s ad in the base newspaper advertising
the support group she decided to participate. Clark
said it helps to get a different perspective on the experience,
and it has been valuable because of the military connection.
The group is also beneficial
because people are at least talking about things and not
bottling them up, Poole said.
“When you’re going through
something, and you feel alone and like no one understands
because they’ve never been there, that’s when you need to
talk and hear from those who’ve been there and are going
through it too,” said Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Taylor, another
participant in the group. He is assigned to the 442nd Logistics
Readiness Squadron.
He fought his own cancer battle
in 2001. After having a wart removed from his leg, a biopsy
analysis revealed it had been cancerous. As Taylor began
checking himself more thoroughly, he found an irregularity
and brought it to his doctor’s attention.
Taylor was diagnosed with testicular
cancer, underwent an operation and had follow-up radiation
treatments. Now, because of early detection and treatment,
he has been certified cancer-free.
He attended the cancer support
group to share with others the fact that “being diagnosed
with cancer isn’t the end of the world. Cancer can be beaten
and survived. I did it, you can too,” he said.
Holding onto the hope of beating
the battle and keeping a positive attitude as often as possible,
these cancer survivors are reaching out and making a difference
in their lives and the lives of others through their cancer
support group.
“If it can make one person
more positive about themselves and their situation, it’s
worth attending and recommending,” Clark said.
