Bobbie

Bobbie is a 65-year-old African American woman, who lives in the suburbs of an Eastern/mid-Atlantic city. She retired from being a personnel assistant in a federal agency about 7 years ago. She has lived in the mid-Atlantic since 1971, but still considers “home” to be in the south, where many of her family still live. Bobbie is single and does not have children, but comes from a very large family with a considerable history of cancer.

Bobbie was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) breast cancer in 2016, and underwent genetic testing soon after her lumpectomy. Her testing revealed that she is positive for a BRCA1 gene mutation. She attributes “catching the cancer early” to her regular 6-monthly mammograms. Bobbie has told “every last one” of her many brothers and sisters about her genetic testing, and suggested that they also get tested. As far as she is aware, only one of her siblings has been tested, and they did not have a BRCA1 mutation. Bobbie described being glad that she had genetic testing because she feels that if you know something then you can do something about it. Bobbie is concerned about her higher risk for pancreatic cancer on the basis of her genetic profile, particularly given that she has a cousin who died from this disease.

In addition to the lumpectomy, Bobbie is currently on hormonal medication for five years. She recently changed medication because she felt that the medication prescribed was impacting her memory. In addition to cancer, she has long struggled with back issues, and has high blood pressure. Bobbie has been working hard to lose weight since before her cancer diagnosis and genetic testing. She does water classes and tries to watch what she eats. Her doctor routinely asks her about her weight and possible weight loss strategies.

Bobbie is a woman of great faith, and finds enormous support in her relationship with God, as well as through her strong church community. She firmly believes that there is nothing that God cannot do. “God got me, and I know he's got me.” Bobbie described how just having a friend or family member with her in her oncology visits was helpful – even if she didn’t need them to actually do anything. “Just knowing you … got somebody there supporting you. It really makes a difference.” When asked what she would like to communicate to the medical community she expressed that being treated with kindness is so very important when you are going through something like cancer treatment or genetic testing.