2x Great Grandmothers share diagnosis

Born thirteen years and worlds apart, my 2x great grandmothers had something in common.  Breast cancer.

Emeline Evelyn Palmer Cole was born 13 January 1861 in Delaware County, New York to Francis "Frank" Palmer and Hannah Washburn Palmer.  Emeline married Stephen Walter Cole about 1877.  She died of breast cancer on 3 December 1923 in Walton, Delaware County, New York.

Anna Catharina Margaretha Lewerenz Schnack  was born 16 Feb 1874 in Seth, Segeberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany to Johann Hinrich Lewerenz and Anna Maschmann Lewerenz.  Anna married Eduard Schnack on 10 November 1895 in Stellingen, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.  She died of breast cancer on 10 January 1925 in Oppenheim, Fulton County, New York.

Anna Lewerenz Schnack 1924

Cancer of any kind is a fearful diagnosis.   Until the 19th century, this cancer was not common.  Women simply didn't live long enough to develop breast cancer.  Families were large; women had early and frequent pregnancies and nursed their babies, which may have kept cancer rates low.

Generally, radical mastectomies were the standard course of treatment until the 1970s.  A radical mastectomy involved removing both breasts, lymph nodes, and much of the underlying chest muscles.  The results of these surgeries were often long-term pain and disability.

I don't know what treatments my great grandmothers went through.  I have only their death records to learn their cause of death.  Anna was first diagnosed about two years before her death; Emeline, about a year and a half.  Emeline's death record indicated that she had had an operation about a year before she died.

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989.  She underwent a single breast mastectomy followed by years of pharmacological treatment.   I myself was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007.  I underwent a lumpectomy followed by radiation therapy followed by years of pharmacological treatment.

Visit Emeline at http://bit.ly/1aphO9U and leave her a flower if you do :-)

Visit Anna at  http://bit.ly/15I6LdB and leave her a flower if you do :-)

Visit Irene at http://bit.ly/19PPn89 and leave her a flower if you do :-)