Laurie Wright: The story of one Groton woman’s breast cancer journey

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is the most common cancer among women worldwide, affecting millions of lives each year. This is the story of Laurie Wright — one Groton woman who has been a survivor for 15 years.

Laurie grew up in Ithaca, graduated from Ithaca High School in 1971, and earned degrees in secretarial science from Tompkins Cortland Community College, but it was when she was learning to skeet shoot at the Groton Rod & Gun Club that she met her husband, Charlie, in January 1975.

Laurie and Charlie were married in May 1976 and have lived in Groton ever since, raising their children, Joe, Melissa, and Isaac, who are all adults now. They have also welcomed five grandchildren to the family. Family is important to Laurie, and she is very grateful that she can enjoy them.

The discovery

“It was Dec. 1, 2009 when Charlie was leaving to drive a relative to Florida, so I was hugging him goodbye,” Laurie said. “I suddenly felt a huge lump on my right breast, and it hurt! I actually had a history of lumps in the ’80s and ’90s that were biopsied and were all benign, but this seemed different.”

That was a difficult moment for the Wrights, but Charlie had agreed to take the trip and was relying on Laurie’s past history that it would be okay, so he departed. Laurie was not so sure, and she was worried.

“I had no health insurance at the time,” Laurie explained. “There I was, wondering what I was going to do, so I decided I wouldn’t do anything. I just assumed I would die.”

Laurie has been a member of Groton Assembly of Church since 1980, so she called Sharon Newman, one of the pastors there, who took her to Cortland Hospital, where she had a breast core biopsy. Five days later, the doctor called Laurie to tell her it was malignant.

“My world just collapsed,” Laurie said. “Now I had breast cancer. I remembered a lady in Cortland who helped me get free mammograms in the past. I decided to call her, and that turned out to be rather miraculous. She told me there was a program I would qualify for to get insurance for free for three reasons: I had no insurance; I was income-eligible because Charlie was retired and I was not working because I was homeschooling my youngest son; and I had one of the five cancers that were the only ones covered by the program: breast, cervical, uterine, ovarian and prostate.”

Laurie applied for and received the insurance, which she said ended up paying for everything, and that it was a lot!

The treatment journey

“Because it was December, it was not easy to get appointments, but I ended up going to Upstate Hospital in Syracuse, where I met my surgeon, Dr. Kara Kort,” Laurie said. “My greatest fear was that I would have a mastectomy and undergo chemotherapy, and of course the first words out of her mouth were that that’s what I would have.”

Laurie had numerous breast scans done, resulting in a diagnosis of triple negative highly aggressive breast cancer. A medical team, including Dr. Kort, was assembled for her care. Next, Laurie underwent a series of chemo infusions and injections to build her white blood count in January and February 2010, and a mastectomy was scheduled for March.

“They took me to a procedure room first to find and mark the cancerous mass,” Laurie explained. “I watched the whole thing on a screen. Because they did that first, they found that the chemo had shrunk the lump, so they did a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy. Then, the nurse called and said the lump was benign! How could that happen? The nurse said it was the chemo, but I knew it was prayer. Many people were praying for me, especially the Hearts of Gold dance group that met at my church weekly. Prayer was the bottom line. Why did God spare me? I don’t know, but He definitely healed me!”

In April and May, Laurie had to undergo two more rounds of chemo because it was the protocol, but she did not experience any ill effects from it. She had lost her hair from it in January, which she said was devastating.

The happy ending

“They said it was better to cut it than let it fall out, so I did,” Laurie said. “When it grew back, it was grey, but then my natural color came back. I had support from my family, which meant the world to me. In fact, Charlie came to every single appointment I had.”

For the final leg of Laurie’s journey, she had to undergo radiation treatments for more than six weeks in July and August — traveling to Syracuse Monday through Friday daily — but after the first few times, she felt well enough to drive herself there and back until it was over.

“I never felt ill throughout the whole process, except for the very first chemo treatment,” Laurie said. “My team cared for me, my family cared for me, and my church family cared for me. When I walked out of the radiation department Aug. 26, 2010, my cancer journey was over, but I still faithfully get a mammogram every year, and everyone should!”

Groton on the Inside appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Submit story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com or text or call Linda at 607-227-4922. 

In brief:

Outstanding CTE students

Congratulations to the following Groton students who were recognized as outstanding students of the month for September at the Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES Career and Technical Education Center:

Ethan Besler, Auto Technology; Lane Darling, Auto Body; Madison DeGraw, Welding; Madyson Kelly-Beeman, Culinary Arts; Aleah Myers, Cosmetology.

The outstanding students are chosen based on their character, leadership, citizenship, work ethic and attendance. They must also be compassionate, honest, trustworthy, responsible and positive role models.

Meatloaf dinner

McLean Community Church, 50 Church St., will offer a meatloaf dinner from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18. The $17 dinner includes old fashioned meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, vegetable medley, apple crisp and beverage. Take-out is available.

Free winter clothing 

McLean’s annual Share the Warmth event will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18. Free winter clothing is available for all, sponsored by McLean Community Council. Donations may be dropped off in a tied bag Oct. 13 through 16 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the marked box at the McLean fire station.