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Mia Tammaro doesn’t smoke cigarettes or visit a tanning bed. Averi Kaplowitch meditates daily and avoids red meat. Lindsey Coby doesn’t vape and refrains from drinking excessively.

All three Syracuse University students are affected by a common experience: the infestation of breast cancer in their families’ lives, whether it be their mother, grandmother or great-grandmother. Each woman said the illness has taught them to look at life in a different way, and they all said that their experiences made them realize that life is short and showed them the importance of taking preventative measures against cancer.

Tammaro was in fourth grade when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she was in sixth grade when her mother relapsed. As she grew older, Tammaro became anxious about the idea that one day she or her sister could develop the same disease, she said, as her great-grandmother had had breast cancer as well.

“I remember not being super worried or scared for my mom because I was just still too young to really understand the severity of the situation,” Tammaro said. “As I got older I became hyper aware of my mom’s experience. … It consumed me.”

Kaplowitch and Coby had similar anxieties and fears, after their grandmother and mother, respectively, each had breast cancer. They said they both became aware of the risks of mutated BRCA genes, which, if inherited, could increase their chances of getting breast cancer. Coby, an SU junior, said she recalled the sadness she felt when her mom — her best friend — was diagnosed on her 17th birthday.

“I’ve never felt so heartbroken in my entire life,” Coby said.

Kaplowitch, an SU senior, said that watching her grandmother battle cancer showed her the importance of family and cherishing each moment she had. She helped start a cancer awareness walk in her hometown called “Miles for Mary” to raise awareness about cancer.

Kaplowitch learned she’d tested positive for the mutated BRCA1 gene just before the onset of the pandemic in 2020, and she said she has a team of doctors back home in Boston. Kaplowitch, even at 21 years old, will soon start getting checkups and taking preventative measures, like getting regular mammograms.

She also said that when it comes to your health, knowledge is power. While it’s scary to find out you may be more at risk of having cancer, Kaplowitch said that knowing her risk enabled her to make simple lifestyle changes, and that it’s important for more people to be aware.

“Get tested (for the BRCA gene) just because it’s better to know and to be knowledgeable and have the facts and have the information,” she said. “That’s the only way you’re going to be able to protect yourself.

Breast cancer awareness is more than just wearing pink, Coby said. Dealing with her mother’s battle with cancer altered the SU junior’s perspective, she said. She realized that life is too short not to live in the moment and take chances. For Coby, that meant moving in with her roommates, who are now her best friends, and even quitting her summer internship to work at a nonprofit. But she also warned that while living in the moment, everyone should live a healthy lifestyle to stay safe and prevent cancer.

“A lot of kids have this mentality like, ‘We’re invincible, and nothing can touch us,’” Coby said. “We just don’t realize that things can change in an instant.”

To help prevent the risk of cancer, people can develop simple and healthy lifestyle changes, like avoiding tanning beds, smoking and drinking soda, Tammaro said. She also stressed the importance of getting regular checkups and mammograms, and she said that simple changes often go underlooked.

Tammaro also thinks it would be better for every woman, including those on SU’s campus, to get a comprehensive education about breast cancer, resources and preventative measures.

“People say, ‘You can’t let this control your life,” and “Everything causes cancer today,’” Tammaro said. “But saying something like that carries so much more weight for people that have had a loved one who has battled cancer.”

Tammaro said she knows many people at SU with stories like hers, people whose family has been affected by cancer or who have dealt with cancer personally.

“It’s an identity that a lot of people take up at this school,” Tammaro said. “They know a survivor, they are a survivor. It’s something that’s a part of you and that’s your story.”

Published on October 31, 2021 at 11:21 pm