The Pink Zone team caught up with Carol Baney just after spring break to discuss her experience with breast cancer and recovery.
Tell us a bit about yourself…
My name is Carol Baney and I live in State College, PA. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2017 and am currently in remission!
How are you feeling?
I feel great. I don’t feel like I have any issues going on.
Were you able to find any silver linings in your breast cancer battle?
I think it probably made me a stronger person. I was always independent and stubborn. It just makes you stronger I think.
Since you were so independent, did that make it difficult to ask for help during treatment?
Absolutely. Well I had a friend say to me, ‘You know it’s not just for you it’s also for us. We want to help you. Makes us feel a part of your treatment.’ That made sense to me then. Oh well this isn’t just for me, my friends are feeling it and they really do want to help. So you have to give in a little bit.
Did you have a strong support network? How did this help you?
My family and friends were my support network. My one friend started a meal train and I thought that was really nice of them so I don’t have to cook. She had it setup for a month and after the first four days I had to stop it. I called it ‘my meal train derailed’, because they all seemed to forget that I was single. So the first day a full pan of lasagna came. The second day it was a huge pot of soup. The third day was a huge pot of chili and so I’m never going to eat all of that. And that’s only day three and my freezer was full. So they meant well, but it derailed. But, you know everyone had such great intentions. So I just told people when I was running low on food and then they would bring something. That was one big way.
Another fun way was my family member, who was on a wrestling team, had t-shirts made with my name on it. And then the team were the shirts on their Pink Wrestling Night. That was special, just to see them in my shirt.
Did this support help to keep you in good spirits?
It did. I was also fortunate that I had very few really sick days. I had four chemo treatments and 26 radiation treatments. And I think I had one really bad sick day. I was super fortunate, I would take a week off and then I would go back to work.
What advice would you give to those diagnosed with or battling breast cancer?
You really do need to reach out to your friends and family. They really do want to help you and it’s as good for them as it is for you.
