by Joyce Good Henderson

Created on: January 11, 2009

Breast Cancer: One Woman's Heroic Story:

At the age of forty-four, Nabby Smith noticed a dimple on her left breast. She went about her busy life as a wife and mother of three and tried not to worry about it. Nor did she mention it to anyone else. A year later, she felt a lump. She was an intelligent, well-educated woman who knew about breast cancer, but procrastination and denial took over. Two more years passed before she saw a doctor who diagnosed her breast cancer. Then, she sought the best medical advice and was scheduled for a mastectomy, surgery to remove the breast.

Her mother, husband and daughter accompanied her to the doctor's residence early the morning of her operation. Being a modest woman, Nabby only removed the left sleeve of her dress. She took a seat in a wooden reclining chair. The doctor's assistant secured her to the chair with a belt around her waist, and ties across her feet, legs and right arm. The attendant would hold her free left arm.

With her family members standing nearby to offer moral support, the surgeon began the operation. Prior to the advent of anesthesia for surgeries, operations were the method of last resort. Sterilization of instruments had also not yet become a routine practice. Antibiotics were more than 100 years away from their introduction. The surgeon readied his tools, the most important one other than a knife was a metal spatula to cauterize the wound. He heated it over a wound fire.

The cancer was large and had already invaded her axillary (armpit) lymph glands. The surgeon worked quickly to amputate the breast. Within twenty-five minutes, the left breast and lymph nodes were removed, the wound cauterized, sewn closed, and dressings applied.

Her mother and sister helped her put on her dress. Supported by her husband, Nabby walked from the room to go home. Recovery took a long and often painful seven months, but she wasn't cured.

Within the year, her cancer returned, spreading to the bones of her spine and shoulder. Her husband could no longer bear to be with her, and helped her move to her parent's home. At the sight of such suffering, Nabby's mother fell into a deep depression. Her loving father took over her care.

Two years after her mastectomy, Nabby Smith died and John Adams, our second president, and Abigail, his wife lost their only daughter. The year was 1812, more than 100 years before routine mammograms, safe surgical options, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. But the message of Nabby Smith's life and death speaks across almost two centuries to remind all women of the importance of early detection and treatment in the fight against breast cancer.

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