COUTURE FOR A CURE BOAZ BEATS CANCER TWICE WORDS t!egan Ledbetter I I PHOTOS Abigail Cooper~ Rebecra Boaz R ebecca Boaz, associate professor of family and consumer sciences, survived the trauma, surgeries and struggles of being diagnosed with breast cancer twice. In addition to the support from her family, Rebecca found a support sy tern in her do e-knit childhood friends. One of these friends was Lisa Fuller, student succes librarian and assi tant profe sor. " he is an exceptional woman and she ha a remarkable story," Fuller aid. " hen ) ou are hanging out with someone in the fourth grade, you have no idea the remarkable indi idual they are capable of becoming. a friend, though I cannot imagine my life, ithout her at this point. \ e have been through marriages, divorces, sick children, well children and her cancer twice." ntil the time of her first diagnosis in 2006 Rebecca the single mother of Annabelle, who was three year old at the time, had no family history of cancer and had just been offered an adjunct teaching position at Harding. After taking precautions with a lump she found on her chest, she discovered that, although the lump she found was nothing, she had stage zero breast cancer that would not have been found otherwise. "I _feel like that was just God getting my attention," Rebecca said. "I wa only 38. I would not have had a regular mammogram until I \\·a 40, and by that time, I could have been r ally sick.' Because they caught it in the early stage a simple lump ctomy and radiation was ufficient treatment without using chemo therapy. For the next five years, while teaching visual merchandising, Rebecca remained on a chemo drug and maintained clear scan . he was declared in remi ion in 2011 and got a pink ribbon tattoo on her ankle, but in 2013, Rebecca was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time. "\'v'hen she had clear scans for five years in a row, we honestly thought she was done," Fuller said. " o, when it came back on the other side in a different form, we knew that this time it had to be an aggre sive treatment." To ensure this would be her last diagnosi , she had a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction that consi ted of five urgerie. in 10 months, radiation and a year f recovery on a "forced sabbatical" that allowed her to be with her daughter, who..: as then 10. fter her return to chool in 2014, Rebecca's mother, andra l3 az, was diagnosed with brea t cancer the following year. "It was almost like a post-traumatic stress reaction," Rebecca said. "I wouldn't want anybody to have it, but if she was going to have it, I'm glad that I had it first because we already had all the doctors in place. She and my dad had been with me to my appointments, and they knew the doctors. She had exactly the same procedures done, down to the type of reconstruction we had, so that wa good because , e had all that scuff figured out." Rebecca ·cared for her mother and took her to Race for the Cure only three weeks after her first surgery to participate in the sur i or walk. " he is my hero," andra said. " he has been through a lot of things very young. he is so strong." On ept. 14, 2017, Rebecca's experiences culminated at the Rum: ay for the Cure, a usan G. Kamen fundraising fa hion how in which all the models were breast cancer survivors. After participating in 2015 a a model, Rebecca took a group of students as volunteers to the show in 2016. In 2017, Rebecca and her mother were both selected as models while her visual merchandising students helped run the show backstage. " lt was an overwhelming experience," Rebecca said. "Everyone was back cage getting dressed and talking about their different experience and the urgeries and doctors they had. It was kind of surreal. You would never want to be in that club, but if you were going to be in it, it' an automatic belonging. 11 those women were like me." 1egan Golliver, a enior fashion merchanclising student who volunteered in 2016 and 2017 at Rum ay for the ure, de cribed Rebecca as resilient and wa inspired by eeing Rebecca and her mother recei e the applause and recognition they deserved. "Having everyone in the room together and [supporting] her was an amazing opportunity," Golliver said. 'Tor someone that pours into others all the time, for u to get to pour back into her and be there for her, that was a really great moment." Rebecca learned through her experiences to care for herself along the way. "It has given her the permission that she needs to take care of herself," Fuller said. " he is a very sacrificial person. Through having cancer, I think he has learned to take care of her elf in the proces coo. The beautiful part is that I Rebecca and andra] are both here, and they have both Ii ed through it." I Rebecca Boaz, associate professor of family and consumer sciences, reviews a textile swatch kit with sophomore Sierra Heasley in the Olen Hendricks building on Oct. 27, 201 7. Boaz not only taught students about fashion merchandising but also demonstrated resiliency in the face of adversity.// Photo by Abigail Cooper Boaz accompanies her mother Sandra at the Susan G. Kamen Ru:1way .or he Cure in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Sept. 14, 2017. Boaz and her mother were part of a group of 48 breast cancer survivors chose as models for the show.// Photo courtesy of Rebecca Boaz
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