Mattie Hanson: surviving cancer with family support
By CATHY LANNAE
(Second in a series focusing on courageous community friends dealing with cancer.)

Hair loss means the cancer drugs are working!

Mattie Hanson is that always smiling, friendly, and helpful lady who greets you at J & J Colonial Cleaners on West Robert Toombs Avenue. A native of Wilkes County, Mattie and her husband, Clifford, retired to Wilkes County in 1996. The Hansons spent their adult years living, working, and raising their three children in New York City. It was there that Mattie worked for AT&T for 14 years specializing in customer service.

Mattie took her present position with Nadine and Walter Jones at J& J in 1999. Working at the cleaners provides Mattie that customer service opportunity which she had missed after leaving AT&T.

"It is a perfect match for me," she says, "serving the public while enjoying daily interaction with people. I am seeing friends from my early years in Wilkes County as well as meeting new people."

In early May of last year Mattie discovered a small breast lump during a monthly self exam but decided to ignore it for a while. It did go away but then reappeared several months later, bigger in size than when initially discovered. Mattie saw her local physician who referred her to a surgeon at the Medical College of Georgia. A mammogram and a needle biopsy were scheduled immediately.

At left, Mattie Hanson is seen at her regular station welcoming customers at J&J Colonial Cleaners.

The diagnosis was cancer, and the physician moved quickly. Mattie had a mastectomy and the removal of three positive lymph nodes on May 23. (Note: a major concern with breast cancer is whether the lymph nodes are involved.) After recuperation from surgery, chemotherapy began July 10. A trip to Augusta once every three weeks for chemotherapy infusion and frequent lab work became Mattie's new routine.

This writer is a frequent customer at the dry cleaners. One day in September I heard someone ask Mattie if she was feeling better. I inquired and she responded that she had been undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. I was stunned. Never once during the past few months had I noticed any signs that she was anything but her usual, upbeat self. She took off her hat, and I surveyed her bald head, much like my own. I smiled a knowing smile. I admired Mattie's courage in never letting the trauma of her illness affect her ability to do her job. Mattie has had no serious side effects from her chemotherapy regimen.

Mattie attributes her positive experience with breast cancer to the amazing support of her husband, her three children, and her brother and four sisters. The entire family has assisted with transportation to and from Augusta for chemotherapy. Ultimately her faith, her church family, and her community have carried her through this cancer diagnosis ... the most challenging experience of her life.

Mattie shared that she has been so blessed by those people of this community who have sent cards, good wishes and continue to pray for her renewed health, people whom she does not know personally but people who, like so many Washington- Wilkes residents, just care about folks.

Treatments have concluded. Scans and lab tests look good. Mattie is checked every three weeks for signs of recurrence. Mattie will be walking in the Relay for Life Survivor's Lap, head held high. This phase is called recovery!

Research and development of three of Mattie's chemotherapy drugs, Tamoxifen (1974- 1978), Taxol (1986) and Herceptin (1998) were funded by the American Cancer Society. Supporting the Relay for Life in Wilkes County helps provide for the continuation of this essential research for the cure for cancer. Relay for Life is the premier fund-raising event of the American Cancer Society. The Washington- Wilkes Relay event is scheduled for May 4-5, 7 p.m.-7 a.m. at the Wilkes County Parks and Recreation Center.

(Cathy Lannae was diagnosed with cancer in 1998 and is currently in remission.)

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