Banita Bailey, RN, a Nurse Care Coordinator for the Mayfield Clinic and a 14-year survivor of breast cancer, will never forget the moment. She was 29 years old and had just completed her 30th and final radiation treatment following her diagnosis and subsequent surgery for stage 2 breast cancer. As she stood near the door, preparing to leave, she was suddenly overwhelmed by uncertainty. The treatments had focused her on getting well. Now that they were over, what would come next? How would she direct her thoughts as a survivor? Frozen in place, Ms. Bailey burst into tears.It would be the last time Ms. Bailey was stymied by a feeling of helplessness. In the years since, she has developed a proactive, big-picture approach to breast health while emerging as an advocate for those with breast cancer and a passionate volunteer for breast-cancer-related causes. If she has a day off or is on vacation, the odds are 50-50 that she’ll be devoting that time to a local event, an out-of-town conference, a clinical research project or her most recent endeavor, a new “Coffee Talk” series for survivors.
Earlier this year Ms. Bailey, 43, was awarded the Cancer Family Care’s 2012 Joslin Haggart Yeiser Unsung Hero Award in the adult patient category. Her nominators were Tami Boehmer, a friend and fellow breast cancer survivor; Marian Miller, PhD, a professor in the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Environmental Health; and Frank Biro, MD, Director of Adolescent Medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The nominators praised Ms. Bailey for her compassionate support of survivors and those living with breast cancer, her remarkable contributions to Pink Ribbon Girls, and her dedication as a volunteer for two important research initiatives:
1. Windows of Susceptibility, a seven-center study funded by National Institute of Environmental Health and the National Institutes of Health that seeks to determine the stages (in utero, puberty, pregnancy) when women are most vulnerable to endocrine-disrupting chemicals; and
2. Growing up Female, an epidemiological effort by researchers from the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program (BCERP) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to examine the timing of puberty and the role played by genetic-level markers and social, environmental, and lifestyle factors.
Ms. Bailey has chosen to use her experience to make a difference in the lives of others. “My philosophy in life is that you don’t always get to choose your path,” she says. “But you choose how you walk it. You don’t always get to make the plan; but you have control of how you handle it. In my work with Pink Ribbon Girls and other groups I try to help other survivors process what is happening or has happened. Not that I have words of wisdom, but I do have words of experience. And I think I can share what I’ve learned through my journey.”
In her rich and varied life, Ms. Bailey is at once wife and mother, advocate and volunteer, and the voice of compassion who speaks with 20 to 25 patients a day as a Nurse Care Coordinator with the Mayfield Clinic. Ms. Bailey’s role is to speak with patients who have been referred to Mayfield and are either preparing for surgery or being referred for physical therapy or another community program for chronic pain.
“When I’m on the phone with a patient, they have my whole undivided attention,” Ms. Bailey says. “I will take hand-written notes, but I don’t try to type. I listen. What I’ve learned is that people want to be heard.”
To ensure that patients feel supported and that they understand the next steps in their treatment, Ms. Bailey will spend as much time with them as necessary. She strives to help patients understand what they can do for their own health and how they can become engaged in their healthcare. To process and manage pain, for example, she advises them to improve their fitness, reduce stress levels, get enough sleep, and set realistic goals. “Maybe the goal isn’t being pain-free, but the goal is to continue to function and do the things you want to do day-to-day,” she says. Some phone conversations can last up to 45 minutes.
Eight years ago, six years after experiencing her first malignancy, Ms. Bailey “had an epiphany” and decided to adopt a more assertive approach toward her own breast health. One month after a routine mammogram showed no abnormalities, she had prophylactic mastectomy of both breasts. A pathology exam revealed a second primary cancer site. “It shows that in some respects, you just have to trust your gut,” she says.
That ordeal, as difficult as it was, pales in comparison to losing friends to breast cancer. “With each loss, my conviction gets stronger,” Ms. Bailey says. “So that they have not died in vain, I feel it is my duty to keep going in my volunteer efforts and to do everything I can to make a difference.”
— Cindy Starr