Local survivor finds support—and returns the favor—with help from ROH By Jessica R. Lischka, ROH Volunteer

At the age of 32, Lorene Blohowiak was diagnosed with breast cancer five months after the birth of her second child. She underwent a double mastectomy, six months of chemotherapy and 35 radiation treatments. Despite lymph node involvement, her condition was stable after the treatments. Then in September 2004, doctors found cancer in her brain. She again went through rigorous radiation treatments and was considered stable. But the fight was still not over. In July 2005, an area of Lorene’s liver was identified as cancerous. Another five months of chemotherapy treatments have gotten that situation under control. Scarier even than facing so many instances of this inexhaustible disease is the fact that Lorene is mother to two young boys, Eli, four, and Isaac, three. Diagnosis at such a young age can hit families harder than those with grown children, and unfortunately the commonality of this experience seems to be on the rise. But Lorene has been lucky, and with the support of her husband, Jesse, and a little help from Ribbon of Hope, she is still in the fight—and she is winning. Through a friend’s mother, Lorene heard about ROH and decided to check into how the foundation could help her. ROH provided Lorene and her family with financial support in the form of two grants, the first of which she used to purchase a wig after her first round of chemo treatments, and the second of which helped her pay insurance premiums because she was not able to work for an extended time period. But the help did not end there. Lorene met ROH Vice President Meg Fay at the Breast Cancer Vigil in 2003, and their acquaintance quickly became a friendship. “If I had any kind of questions after I was diagnosed, Meg and Kathy [Miller] helped me get in touch with people,” Lorene said. The information provided by ROH led Lorene to an Infinite Boundaries retreat for young survivors put on by the Breast Cancer Recovery Foundation. She spent a weekend in 2004 with nine other women diagnosed with breast cancer before age 40 and has kept in touch with those women ever since. Like many women, Lorene’s experience motivated her to continue expanding the network of support through community involvement. She participated in the Susan G. Komen 3-day, 60-mile walk in Chicago last September, and is in a uniquely powerful position as a radiologic technologist/mammographer at a local hospital. Lorene has the opportunity to interact with women in similar situations on an unfortunately regular basis. “I open up more to younger women during their mammograms,” Lorene said, “Especially the ones who are going through a diagnosis. I give them my number and give out information about Ribbon of Hope, because I know how important it is to be in touch with others in your same situation during your initial diagnosis. It’s important to know you’re not alone.” Her relationship with ROH proved to her the importance of a support network, and she hopes to help others in similar situations in any way that she can. “I want to volunteer for the ROH golf outing this June. I really just want to give back for what they’ve given me and my family.”