Campaign Interrupted: Governor Christine Gregoire’s Battle Against Breast Cancer

By RaeJean Spencer Hasenoehrl

The cancer was silent. Its victim was not.

In 2003, Christine Gregoire was serving her third term as Washington State’s attorney general and in the midst of her campaign to win the democratic gubernatorial nomination for our state.

She was also the recipient of heart-stopping news: she had breast cancer.

The 56-year-old had no evident symptoms, no nagging premonitions that anything was wrong. It was a few months shy of her annual physical exam and mammogram, but with a demanding campaign on the horizon, she wanted to assure the public she was in good health and ready to become governor. She made the appointment with her doctor.

Her checkup was fine. No lumps in the breast. No swollen lymph nodes. But that mammogram. That mammogram.

The doctor called her in. He insisted her husband Mike come too.

“He showed me the film and the results of the sample, then named the kind of cancer,” Gregoire said. “I tuned out. I remember just standing there seeing the doctor’s mouth move but not hearing a word.”

Comprehension inched through the room.

Her next words: “Wait a minute, please stop. Are you saying that this is breast cancer?”

The doctor’s answer was affirmative. Her reaction was denial.

Gregoire was sure it was a mix up. She paced. She puzzled. She sat down. She cried. 
  

The doctor asked, “What are you thinking of right now?”

“What have I done to my daughters?” was her reply.

As reality set in, the Gregoires learned the name of the opponent they were to battle: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the most common form of noninvasive breast cancer.

DCIS generally has no signs or symptoms. Because a noticeable lump is rare, it usually cannot be felt during a physical exam and is generally detected using mammography. 
  

In Gregoire, the cancer looked like calcium deposits. The cancer was aggressive, potentially deadly, but confined; thus, no lymph nodes had been touched by it.

The characteristics of the disease were important to learn, but Gregoire’s thoughts kept returning to her daughters. Would genetics someday turn each of them into carriers of breast cancer? Would she be there for her daughters’ college graduations and marriages and birthday parties? Would these beautiful young ladies still have a mom?

Back at home, Gregoire sat down with daughters Courtney, a college student in Salem, OR, and Michelle, a soon-to-be high school graduate, to share the news.

“Just trying to get the words out — with a lump in my throat but in a way that didn’t make them worry — that was tough,” Gregoire said. “I think that for my daughters it was the first time the thought had ever crossed their minds that I could get sick, that I could get cancer, that mortality was limited. It was a very scary time.”

Gregoire also needed to make a decision about her campaign to become governor. At the doctor’s office, her impulse decision was to drop out of the governor’s race. The doctor reassured her to wait on making a decision.

With fears and thoughts and decisions whirring about, the Gregoires yearned to keep this battle with cancer from the public eye, but ultimately decided to share their story.

“I finally said to myself, if I can help one person by sharing my own experience, then something good will have come from this disease,” Gregoire said.

Within two weeks of the diagnosis, a mastectomy of one breast followed by reconstructive surgery was performed at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia.

Because the cancer was detected early, chemotherapy and radiation were not needed.

While Gregoire recuperated at home, Mike, Courtney and Michelle became her greatest strength.

“My husband was supportive and both of those girls were at my bedside,” she said. “The girls would sleep on the floor at the foot of my bed and wake me up in time for pain pills. These bright, young women became the ultimate caregivers.”

As Gregoire healed, she was overwhelmed by the notes of well wishes she received from all around the country.

“The outpouring was the most heartwarming thing I can relate,” she said. “People I didn’t know and will never meet were cheering me on.”

Though the encouragement buoyed her up, she still faced the challenge of looking at the dramatic change to her body.

“All the way along, Mike was completely understanding and supportive of the mastectomy, but I had to get past it and realize that the change didn’t mean anything different to him. It was a real adjustment for me,” she said.

In time, acceptance and adjustments mingled favorably with diligence and gratitude. Gregoire shook the soul of what could have been her silent killer into an impassioned campaign to bring breast cancer awareness to communities throughout the State of Washington.  

She has walked with ladies in pink caps during the Komen 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk. She has shared her experiences with women’s groups, healthcare groups and classrooms of students.

As governor, she signed the Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) Awareness proclamation in 2006, making Washington State the first state in the country to create an awareness month focused on IBC.

Like the type of cancer Gregoire faced, IBC doesn’t present itself as a lump or mass in the breast. Instead, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the breast typically becomes red, swollen and warm. The breast skin can look like the skin of an orange and enlarged lymph nodes may be found under the arm or above the collar bone on the affected side.

Because the appearance of the breast is similar to other inflammatory conditions such as cellulitis or mastitis, IBC is sometimes misdiagnosed.

Gregoire has also raised awareness of all forms of breast cancer through programs available throughout the state.

“We’ve worked hard in our state in making preventive care available to those who otherwise wouldn’t have access to affordable care,” she said. “I hope that people will understand that cancer can happen to everybody. Whether for yourself or a loved one, take advantage of the preventive opportunities in your communities to save your own life and your own family’s lives.”

She added, “Without preventive care, it could have been a totally different outcome for me.”

SIDE NOTE: In May, 2012, Gregoire’s husband Mike was diagnosed with colon cancer. “We thought he was going in for a regular colonoscopy, but within an hour of getting the results, he was in the hospital for surgery,” Gregoire said. Prior to the screening, Mike showed no symptoms and was never in pain. “Interestingly enough that form of colon cancer usually isn’t detectable until a very late stage, so thank goodness he had this colonoscopy and the doctors found the cancer early,” she said.

Originally published October, 2012 (Everett) Daily Herald, Think Pink Edition