April 2011 - Local Man Honors Mother, Sister By Racing for the Cure
By Sally Silbermann
It was two weeks before his junior prom in 1989 when Scott Dietz came home from school and discovered his mother lying unresponsive on the laundry room floor. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1983, Dietz’s mother had been fighting the disease valiantly but a tumor had surrounded some of the main blood vessels near the heart.
Dietz lost his mother just one day before her 43rd birthday.
“My mom was really the core,” he said. “She kept our family together.”
Scott was 16 years old when his mother died and her passing left a significant void.
His emotional struggle with his mother’s death continued into his late teen years. He went to college but dropped out, something he is convinced would never have happened if his mother were still alive.
“She was always very involved in my education,” he said. “I was 25 when I finally graduated from college, and I’ve always felt that she was pretty much my guardian angel through the whole thing.”
Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be Scott’s last experience with breast cancer.
In August of 2007, 18 years after his mother passed away as a result of breast cancer, one of Scott’s older sisters, Heather, was diagnosed with the disease and had a double mastectomy. After her diagnosis, Heather underwent genetic testing that showed she was positive for the BRCA2 gene, one of the genes associated with increased risk for breast cancer. Scott and his other older sister were also tested but neither had the gene.
Just over a year later, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to Heather’s liver. She died in January 2009 at the age of 39, leaving behind a husband and two young daughters.
For the second time in his life, Scott lost someone he loved dearly to breast cancer.
“You definitely go through that whole, ‘Why-my-family?’ experience,” said Scott. “Then you realize that cancer doesn’t care.”
Still grieving over the loss of his sister, Scott decided to try and turn his experience into something positive. He signed up for the inaugural Susan G. Komen Savannah Race for the Cure in 2009 and set out to get in shape, help raise funds and fight back against breast cancer. And that’s exactly what he did. Scott ran his first 5K and raised more than $7,000 that year to help find a cure for breast cancer.
“That first year was very emotional for me,” he said. “It was just a few months after my sister had passed away and there wasn’t a day that went by that I wasn’t dealing with some aspect of that. I had her memorial card in my pocket when I ran the race.”
Scott’s experience is one that is shared by people across the country and the globe. Women are diagnosed with breast cancer every day. And every day, the husbands, brothers, sisters, children and friends of those diagnosed are standing by their side, fighting with them every step of the way.
In 2010, more than 207,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States alone.
Scott continues to support the overall mission of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Coastal Georgia Affiliate. He remembers the struggles of his mother and sister and holds hope that one day soon, there will be a cure.
“I think of my daughter, who’s 7,” he said. “I’d like to think that when she grows up, breast cancer won’t even be an issue.”
The Komen Savannah Race for the Cure will be held Saturday, April 16, at 8:15 a.m. at Telfair Square. Organizers hope to race $330,000 with the event, which will go to fund research, education, screening and treatment programs. To register, go to www.komencoastalgeorgia.org.
ABOUT GENETIC TESTING
With genetic counseling, you can find out if you have a higher-than-average risk of developing breast cancer. Then, you can work with your physician to determine the best steps to take to protect your health.
You may be at an increased risk of developing breast cancer if you or members of your family have experienced the following:
• Breast cancer before age 50
• Ovarian cancer at any age
• Cancer in both breasts or multiple breast tumors at any age
• Male breast cancer at any age
• Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry with breast or ovarian cancer at any age
• Breast cancer over age 50 in addition to having one or more relatives with breast cancer or ovarian cancer
“You know the saying, ‘It runs in the family.’ Well, sometimes breast cancer does. Five to 10 percent of breast cancers are hereditary,” said Shai Huffard-King, M.S., a certified genetic counselor at the Curtis and Elizabeth Anderson Cancer Institute at Memorial University Medical Center. “The good news is that if you or a family member has had breast cancer, there are genetic tests you can do to look for those genes. Finding out early if you or a family member is at risk could help save a life. Talk to your doctor about genetic counseling if you have a family history of breast cancer.”
The Curtis and Elizabeth Anderson Cancer Institute at Memorial University Medical Center offers genetic counseling services. To learn more, talk to your doctor or call 1-877-224-8515.
ABOUT THE RACE FOR THE CURE
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. The Coastal Georgia Affiliate of Komen for the Cure is working to better the lives of those facing breast cancer in the local community joining more than 1 million breast cancer survivors and activists around the globe as part of the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network fighting breast cancer. Through events like the Komen Savannah Race for the Cure®, the Coastal Georgia Affiliate has invested more than $750,000 in community breast health programs in Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long and McIntosh counties. Up to 75 percent of net proceeds generated by the Affiliate stays in coastal Georgia. The remaining income goes to the national Susan G. Komen for the Cure Grants Program to fund research. For more information, call 912-232-2535 or visit www.komencoastalgeorgia.org.
Sally Silbermann is a volunteer with the Coastal Georgia Affiliate of Komen for the Cure.
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