Synopsis
In January 2014, Mark fell on a winch on our boat in the
Marquesas. His chest hurt way more than expected, but the pain eased after a
few days. Then, he felt a bump, which he attributed to the injury of the fall. Two
months later while we were in the Tuamotus, the lump was still there, and we
started to worry, so we sailed to Tahiti for a check-up. Upon arrival, we
immediately rushed to the main hospital in Pape’ete, with subsequent visits.
The ultrasound didn’t conclude anything, a biopsy suggested cancer, and in the
beginning of May, Mark jumped on a plane to Boston. The tumor was removed in
Newburyport,
breast cancer was diagnosed, Mark was referred to Dana Farber in
Boston and the fight against cancer started.
Another
operation removing the sentinel lymph node followed with
lots of talks to doctors and four weeks of
radiation. After months of heavy emotions,
meltdowns, disbelief, fear, anger and treatments, Mark should be cancer free at
the moment, but there is no way of telling.
Male Breast Cancer
Awareness!
MEN CAN GET BREAST CANCER. It is not something we ever
thought of or imagined happening to Mark. Usually, male “victims” notice the
bump themselves. We hope with Mark’s story, we have pointed out the possibilities
of male breast cancer to our (male) readers. Although the chances are very
small (1 out of 1000), or as Mark says “With me being the one guy to have
breast cancer, none of my friends should have to worry about it anymore!” – be
aware! As for women, and this is a shocking fact to me as well, the chance of
having breast cancer at some point in your life is 1 out of 8; that is 12.5%!!!
The breast cancer reoccurrence rate is 20%.
BRCA Gene Mutations
When Mark’s sister Dru passed away a year ago, after a long
and brave fight against ovarian cancer, we knew she was a BRCA1 carrier. But,
knowing that this gene mutation presented a higher risk for breast and ovarian
cancer – both female diseases, so we thought – we were only worried for Dru’s
daughter, who, fortunately, does not have the BRCA1 gene. Little did we know
that Mark was a carrier of the gene mutation as well and a year after his
sister’s passing, it would cause havoc in the family again. If you have a lot
of breast and ovarian cancer in your family, it might be wise to look into the
BRCA1 and BRCA2 history. The statistics are horrendous. Women carrying the
BRCA1 gene have a 50 – 85% risk of developing breast cancer (and > 50%
chance of a second one) and a 20 – 40% risk of developing ovarian cancer (which
has a high mortality rate, because by the time it is diagnosed, it is usually a
stage 4 cancer!). For men with the BRCA1 gene mutation, the risk for breast
cancer is 1% (yes, Mark is a rare case) and there is an increased risk for
prostate and skin cancer. Men and women with this “gene” also have a higher chance of
developing pancreas cancer.
The Importance of
Healthy Food
It is common sense that eating healthy is important, but we
didn’t realize just how important it is – in relation to breast cancer - to cut
certain foods and drinks out of our diets. In Dru (who ate incredibly healthy
vegetarian and organic food for most of her life) and Mark’s case, the bad
genes ignored the healthy food approach, but Mark and I still believe that
eating healthy might decrease the risk of (breast) cancer reoccurrence or of the
development of new cancers, as it would in the general population. The big no
no’s are sugar (which “feeds” cancer cells), fried food, processed meat and alcohol. But, non-organic
and genetically modified food are also not good for you, and one should be
careful with certain oils (especially palm oil, which is awful for the health and the environment), red meat and canned goods.
Unfortunately, following
this advice is basically impossible with the current attitude of the food
companies and with what is available on the market. The only way to live a
healthy life in this culture and this time is to grow your own food, which is
only partly doable for most, or buy all organic produce, which more and more grocery
stores offer. The GMO foods are a toughie for everyone (yell at the FDA!). And,
if you add living on a boat in the middle of the Pacific with limited food
availability to that tidbit of information, following a certain diet becomes
hard. But, we will do our best and try to stick to chicken (with no added
hormones, and ideally antibiotic-free), vegetables (especially cruciferous ones: broccoli, cabbage, bok
choy, spinach, sprouts …), olive, canola and peanut oil, fruit, whole grains
and tea. Phytonutrient-rich foods and anti-oxidants are recommended.
The Experts
Mark and I cannot thank our medical team of Dana Farber and
Brigham and Women’s hospitals enough for their knowledge, help, time,
understanding and compassion. Thank you to medical oncologist Dr. Jeselsohn,
radiation oncologist Dr. Harris with nurse Mary, and surgeon Dr. Carter. We also
appreciated the professionalism and care of Newburyport doctors Dr. Jackson and
Dr. Bentley.
The Support
And, while we are at it, we would like to show gratitude to
all our friends and family for their support by emails, phone calls or in person.
We are very fortunate and grateful to have found a personal retreat in the
house of Mark’s parents Stan and Carol and in AstraZeneca Hope Lodge in Boston
during this ordeal. And, last but not least, we thank our good cruising friends
Leo and Gesina of SV Seluna, Fabio and Lisa of
SV Amandla, and Birgit and
Christian of
SV Pitufa for keeping an eye on and taking care of our floating
home Irie in Tahiti during the last 3.5 months!
The Future
Who knows about our future? Who knows about any future? In
the short term, Mark and I will go back to Irie and spend more time in French
Polynesia (Societies). As of now, Mark’s chest is still red from the radiation
and a lot of the hair has to grow back. He will take the hormone drug Tamoxifen
for 5 years (depending on possible side effects) and needs a check-up every six
months. We will never know whether the breast cancer is totally defeated, or
whether it will reoccur, or whether another cancer will develop. Cancer is part
of our lives now and forever, but so is our love for each other and the realization
that medical discoveries and cures will keep improving…
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| One of the "bridges" between Dana Farber and Brigham and Women's |
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| Walking through one of the "bridges" between the main hospitals |
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| Mark and his surgeon, Dr. Carter |
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| Mark and the helpful Darlene of Dr. Carter's office |
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| Weekly check-up with Dr. Harris and nurse Mary |
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| Thank you to all our friends and family for their support |
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After three and a half months of living on land and
accumulating a lot of “goodies” to bring back with us to Tahiti, Mark and I
were a bit anxious about returning home to Irie. With four bulging checked bags
and three carry-ons, we kept wondering how we would manage to take everything
back, on the plane, into French Polynesia, towards the marina and over water to
our boat on a mooring ball. And, how would we adjust to the challenging boat life again after all that had happened? All in all, the trips went pretty smooth, except
for a small glitch in LA, which had nothing to do with our luggage, but
everything with poorly defined computer screens and infrastructure.
Our plane landed in Faa’a (Pape’ete) at 5am, customs was no
issue (we didn’t stand out with our cart piled high), we arrived by taxi van at
marina Taina at 6am, where a friendly cruiser – Bonnie from SV Romany Star –
picked us up a half hour later, and let us use her dinghy to bring all our bags
to Irie. At 7am on Friday, August 15th, we were officially back
home. Irie was in decent shape for having been in the tropics this long without
us, thanks to some of our cruising friends. Her waterline was very filthy, a whole foot up from the water surface, because of the big swell and chop and the scum
passing through in this area. Her decks were gross with the city’s particles
falling out of the sky. The bimini was ripped in a few places. All to be
expected. 
Our biggest surprise came when we looked forward of the bow
and found only one mooring line attached - running from one bow to the other,
highly non-recommended and something experienced cruisers would NEVER do,
because of chafe, let alone the fact that Irie was sitting on top of the ball
and the line was rubbing underneath the boat taking all our new bottom paint off!
– while we had left our floating home secured by two mooring lines in the
safest and best positioned way, and a “back-up” line in the middle! None of our
friends had anything to do with this set-up, so the mystery remains unsolved…
Why would a stranger get on our boat and replace a perfectly safe and well-prepared
situation with one that can cause damage and loss of our boat?
But, Irie was safe and sound (and still there!), so we got
to work immediately. By 10am all the bags were unpacked and all the contents
stored somehow. A short nap followed. In the afternoon, Mark fixed the outboard
engine which was seized from laying on its side for so long, still containing
salt water. And, we got the little motor – our lifeline to shore - running
again. Our old toilet seat was replaced and a broken burner as well. When it
was time to cook, another problem arose. The solenoid for our propane stove
didn’t work anymore. Luckily, a new one was found easily (we love our spare
parts!) and an hour later, we could make dinner. On Saturday, we both jumped
into the water early and cleaned the nasty waterline, while the bay was
relatively calm. Good idea, because by noon, the usual choppy waves had
arrived. The afternoon was spent searching for healthier food options in the Carrefour
supermarket and stocking the boat up with groceries. By the end of the weekend,
we had paid our hefty mooring fees, bought a few more odds and ends, had both
diesel engines running smoothly, and moved anchorages.
Following the advice of our cruising friends Birgit and
Christian on SV Pitufa, we motored two hours north, to arrive in the comfortable
anchorage of Arue, where we used our new chain for the first time. Happy to be at anchor again and not bounce
around anymore, we enjoyed the new surroundings and figured out a way to obtain
decent internet (by paying lots of money and having a great WiFi product!),
which kept us entertained for the rest of the day. When the sun set at 5:45pm,
a local woman onshore kept yelling at us to move. We promised her to do so
first thing in the morning, since it was getting dark quickly and we couldn’t see
the reefs. But, she did not let up, screaming and urging us to move NOW. So, against
better judgment, we upped anchor and plopped ourselves in the middle of other
anchored boats, only to have to move again later on, when the wind shifted and
we were too close to our neighbors. No surprise there… This was the first time
we were approached in such an unfriendly and inhospitable way by a Polynesian
resident!
We met up with our friends on Pitufa after many months of
having different experiences and adventures, and the chores on Irie continued:
scrubbing the decks, cleaning the roof to be able to collect rainwater again,
installing a new accumulator tank, changing the oil in both engines, and
performing other engine maintenance. We have much more cleaning to do and a new jib (head sail) is waiting for us. It’s good to be back on Irie! :-)
