Five women in ag discussed their experiences with Farms.com in 2023
Though Breast Cancer Awareness Month isn’t until October, Farms.com is putting out an early call to women in ag who have experienced breast cancer and want to share their stories.
“I think when people are going through difficult times in their lives, it’s helpful to know they aren’t alone,” said Denise Faguy, Farms.com’s director of marketing & operations. “We’re grateful for the women who we’ve spoken to in the past and hope those stories will lead to others wanting to share their own.”
Breast cancer is among the most common cancers women in the U.S. and Canada will face.
Cancer organizations in both countries estimate one in every eight women will develop breast cancer over their lifetime.
Farms.com has spoken with multiple survivors in recent years.
In 2023, five women in ag from the U.S and Canada recounted their experiences with breast cancer.
Britt Fisk, a rancher from Clayton, N.M., for example, received her diagnosis in June 2020 during her eighth pregnancy.
What she thought was a knot in her chest turned out to be triple-positive breast cancer in Stage 2B. Her journey included four months of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy without reconstruction, additional chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
An Ontario producer Farms.com spoke with last year channeled her athletic mindset during breast cancer treatments.
Sara Wood, a cash crop and broiler chicken farmer from Mitchell, Ont., compared her eight rounds of chemotherapy to stages of a 400m swim race.
“I broke it down so that one treatment was 50m of each (swimming) stroke,” Wood told Farms.com. “I know that in the 400 individual medley, things get tough around 300m. So, I knew that’s six treatments and that I could get through those six and be fine, and two might be tough.”
In 2022, Farms.com spoke with Karin Bright, a cash crop producer from Athens, Ohio, who beat breast cancer twice – once in 1999 and again in 2005.
Her body is a constant reminder to keep pushing during hard times.
“I see a survivor and I see someone who’s going to keep living their life,” she said.
Wendy Schatz Leeds, an agronomist from Saskatchewan, also shared her story in 2022.
Her journey started in January 2021 during the pandemic, with hospital systems under stress.
Receiving her diagnosis at 49-years-old was shocking.
“I was hit with my own mortality at a young age as a healthy lady with a family,” she said. “I had mental health challenges that were worse than going through the physical treatments.”
Any breast cancer survivor in ag who would like to share their story can contact Farms.com reporter Diego Flammini by email or at 1-888-248-4893, ext. 208.