Brandon Twp.- Last year, when Pam Scherer
walked laps in the Relay for Life of Brandon/
Ortonville, a 24-hour walk to fight cancer, she never
imagined that just two months later, the battle against
cancer would become much more personal.
This year, on June 19-20, Scherer will participate
in the third annual Relay for Life of Brandon/
Ortonville? as a survivor.
Scherer was not overly concerned when she first
felt the lump in her
right breast while in
the bathtub. She had
no family history of
breast cancer, and
thought it was most
likely a benign cyst,
which she’d been
diagnosed with before.
But when the
doctor’s office
called just two days
after her mammogram
in August,
wanting her to
come in right away
for the last appointment
of the day, she
knew it was bad.
Scherer’s husband Dave was at her side when
the doctor delivered the news? not only did she
have cancer, but with the size, shape, location, and
enlargement of the lymph nodes, the tumor was
malignant and likely had spread.
‘And then the crying began,? said Scherer at the
Relay for Life kick-off meeting. ‘The thing about
being told you have cancer is that you automatically
think, at least at first, you have just been handed
a death sentence.?
In denial, Scherer and Dave went from the
doctor’s office to a previously planned dinner out
with friends, which ended with tears in the
restaurant’s parking lot as she shared the news. That
was her low point, she recalls, even though she had
difficult challenges ahead.
She had to tell their three children? Rebecca,
21, Hannah, 18, and Isaac, 14. They told her parents,
a task made harder by the fact that Scherer
was the second of their children diagnosed with cancer
last year? her It turned out that Scherer’s cancer was
stage one into stage two, and had not spread
to her lymph nodes, good news. She was
offered the option of neoadjuvant treatment,
in which she could have chemotherapy first,
and then surgery, possibly avoiding radiation.
Scherer took this less invasive route
so she could see whether the chemo was
successful in shrinking the tumor.
Chemo began. She would have a treatment
every other Friday and the day after
she would be OK, but then would be nauseated
Sunday and Monday. She was exhausted
and suffered side effects she didn’t
expect, like changes in taste, soreness in
her mouth and what she describes as
strange things happening to her fingernails.
She did prepare herself for the loss of hair
that often comes with chemotherapy, however,
by getting a wig and hair clippers.
‘Sure enough, two days after my second
treatment I started losing my hair,? recalled
Scherer. ‘I remember going to church
and picking the hairs off of me. The next
day when I got up for work it was worse. I
not only didn’t shampoo my hair that morning,
I didn’t dare to even brush it. I didn’t
care if I was having a bad hair day, I just
wanted a hair day, period.?
When she returned home that night,
Scherer locked herself in the bathroom and
shaved her head, then donned the wig she
had bought.
When her four chemo treatments ended,
she thought she was done, but then learned
she would have weekly treatments for three
months. Her positive attitude may have
wavered for a moment, but Dave gave her
a pep talk. With a supportive husband and
many supportive friends and family members,
Scherer was right back in the fight.
Her chemotherapy ended Feb. 24, and
the following week an ultrasound showed
no sign of the tumor. Still, all it would take
was one stray malignant cell to start the
cancer again. She had to make a decision
between a lumpectomy or mastectomy.
‘I said with the size of my breasts, it
doesn’t make a difference,? laughed
Scherer. ‘I wanted to make sure I didn’t
have to worry about this again.?
On March 29, two days after her double
mastectomy, Scherer was reading ‘Why I
Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy,? a book
to which she could relate.
‘I certainly wore lipstick to mine and I
penciled my eyebrows in, too,? laughed the
township resident and administrative assistant
at the township offices. ‘I didn’t wear
my wig, though, because no metal was allowed.?
When she was in the midst of treatment,
Scherer would sit in the sauna at the athletic
club she and Dave joined and visualize
her tumor shrinking. She called it ‘Baked
Tumor a la Gone? and visualize it melting
away just like the wicked witch in ‘The
Wizard of Oz.?
Visualization is a strategy that works,
she says. Now she can see herself at this
year’s Relay for Life, walking as a survivor.
That vision will soon be a reality.
For more information on the Relay for
Life of Brandon/Ortonville, call 248-663-
3421 or visit relayforlife.org/brandonmi.