Vowing to stay in the race as she fights breast cancer, Penny Severns, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, faced questions about her health Monday with confidence and humor.
“Unlike Lyndon Baines Johnson quite a few years ago, I’m not going to show you my scar,” quipped the 42-year-old state senator from Decatur, referring to the late president’s response to reporters’ questions about his gallbladder surgery.
Severns underwent a lumpectomy Thursday at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield for removal of a half-inch malignant tumor from her left breast.
The tumor, although small, already had spread to three lymph nodes in Severns’ armpit, necessitating full bouts of radiation and chemotherapy in the months ahead, doctors reported.
Located in the lower portion of the breast, the cancer was described as a “very early lesion,” an infiltrating ductal carcinoma classified as Stage 2. There are four stages, ranging from the simplest to the usually incurable.
Ten-year survival rates for such patients are from 68 percent to 81 percent. However, only 61 percent to 66 percent survive without a recurrence, according to studies.
Severns’ unexpected surgery and her continued health could play a part in a campaign where health suddenly has become a key issue. Gov. Jim Edgar underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery last month.
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Asked if the issue of her health was likely to be raised by other politicians, Severns replied: “I can think of one candidate who probably won’t (say anything).”
As she met with reporters in Springfield, Severns had her physician, Dr. Karen Hoelzer, by her side, along with her fraternal twin sister, Patty Love Severns, herself a breast cancer survivor.
“I’m doing well,” Patty Severns said. “Hopefully, it’s behind me.”
A third sister, Marsha, died of the disease nearly four years ago. She was only 36.
“I’m a realist,” Penny Severns said about the ordeal that awaits her. “Unfortunately, my family has been through this in the past, so at least I go into it with a very realistic view of what to expect.”
She said she hoped the treatments would not debilitate her.
“I know there are some challenging days ahead,” Severns said, admitting that “no one likes to receive this news. But I look at my twin sister who is quite healthy.”
Patty Severns has been cancer-free for four years. Her tumor, like Penny’s, was a Stage 2.
Hoelzer seemed upbeat. “Penny’s cancer is serious,” she said, “but we’re optimistic for a complete and full recovery. We look forward to seeing her back on the campaign trail very soon.”
Hoelzer said several of her breast cancer patients have been able to work a full schedule. “I think especially with Penny’s determination and her vigor-she’s otherwise in excellent health-that she should do just fine.”
In a statement Monday, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dawn Clark Netsch expressed confidence in Severns’ recovery.
“Penny will continue as my running mate, and there has not been-nor will there be-any discussion about Penny leaving this campaign,” Netsch said. “I support her 100 percent.”
Hoelzer announced the plan of treatment to be followed over the next several months. There was no evidence that the cancer had spread to other organs, Hoelzer said, but chemotherapy is a must.
The tumor was estrogen-receptor negative, meaning that it probably would not respond as well to tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen drug currently under experimentation as the first breast cancer preventive.
Hoelzer said Severns would begin radiation treatments within the next week to 10 days.
Hoelzer said immediate therapy called for some X-ray studies this week, “but other than that, there’s no other plans for more treatment other than what I mentioned.”
Usually, radiation treatment lasts five to six weeks, Monday through Friday. “Each treatment should take just a few minutes to give,” the physician said.
The chemotherapy would likely begin in September and could take as long as six months.
Severns said she and her physicians have discussed the possibility of 7 a.m. radiation treatments, “which would allow us to be almost anywhere in the state and back the next morning.”
Severns detected the lump during a routine breast self-examination. She said her annual mammogram last March was clear. After finding the lump, she had another mammogram, and that one was clear as well.
“It (the tumor) may have been there in March, but I have to say that the location of this made it very difficult to find by mammogram,” Hoelzer said.
Severns said she has gotten annual mammograms for years.
“Penny’s done everything she could do to avoid this,” Hoelzer said.
Severns said she expects to maintain a full schedule throughout the treatments, “beginning tomorrow morning.”
In 1993, an estimated 182,000 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed, and 46,000 U.S. women died of the disease.
However, cancer experts emphasized that Severns’ chances be kept in perspective.
“The key issue is that if elected to public office, she would be more than likely to survive her term,” said Dr. Steven Rosen, director of the Robert Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern University. “She stands a 65 percent chance of still being alive in 10 years.”
The strong family history suggests that women in the Severns family may have a genetic predisposition to the disease.
“When you see three first-degree relatives with breast cancer, it’s obviously very suspicious,” said Dr. Funmi Olopade, a cancer risk expert at the University of Chicago.
That raises the odds of recurrence to 50 percent, according to Dr. Barbara Weber, an oncologist at the University of Michigan who is testing such families for the first genetic marker to determine their likelihood of carrying the breast cancer gene.
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In such cases, about 20 percent of carriers choose to have prophylactic double mastectomies, rather than wait to see if cancer develops in the other breast, Weber said.
Severns said she and her physicians would discuss that later.
Breast cancer need not end a politician’s career, as public figures who battled the second most common type of cancer in women will attest.
In fact, those who previously braved the physical, emotional and political pressures might have actually bolstered their public images, becoming heroic figures to their constituents.
The list includes Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Chicago Ald. Ginger Rugai (19th) and several current congresswomen.
U.S. Rep. Barbara Vucanovich (R-Nev.), for example, was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago.
“I ended up being a role model for women who had gone through it and were terrified,” said Vucanovich, who was 62 years old at the time.
Elected merely three months before discovering her tumor, Vucanovich spent six days in the hospital undergoing a modified radical mastectomy. On the seventh day, she was making speeches on the House floor.
“The situation doesn’t have to be that bad,” said Vucanovich, now 73, who opted for total breast removal instead of radiation and chemotherapy. “I am fine today, and I had the chance to give some other women hope.”
Rep. Marilyn Lloyd (D-Tenn.) also battled breast cancer at age 62, but she struggled through surgery (lumpectomy), radiation and chemotherapy. Undaunted, she launched a successful re-election campaign one year later.
But side effects from common breast cancer treatments-fatigue, nausea, weakness-may be even more exhausting when added to the grueling demands of the campaign trail-a fact that doesn’t seem to bother Netsch.
“This campaign will do whatever is necessary to accommodate Penny,” Netsch said Monday. She predicted that Severns’ treatment would have only a “limited impact on the campaign.”
Based on her personal experiences, Vucanovich agreed.
“She (Severns) could go through a campaign,” Vucanovich said, “as long as she paces herself.”