CentraState - Healthy Directions

Fall 2014 Healthy Directions 4 Fall 2014 Healthy Directions T erri Hindes loves to sing. During her chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer in the late winter and spring of 2009, she was determined to remain active with the Liberty Oak Chorus, a Freehold-based barbershop a cappella group. She recalls dragging herself to every single rehearsal, even if she could only sit and watch. She remembers with great pride standing on stage for a competition that May, wearing a wig because of her hair loss and singing her heart out. No one in the audience could tell she was sick. Five years later, after completing her treatment regimen in May 2014, Terri wants to share her story to show others facing breast cancer how it's possible, with the right attitude and the right treatment, to emerge happier and stronger. "I feel really lucky to have gone through this and I know that sounds crazy," the 47-year-old Howell woman says. "I want to show other people that it's possible to come out on the other side with even more of an appreciation for your family, your friends, your life and your health." A LIFE-CHANGING LUMP Terri says her husband noticed a lump in her right breast in late 2008. She initially wasn't too concerned, as she had been diagnosed with benign lumps in her breast in her early 20s. However, a mammogram showed a suspicious lesion and she was quickly scheduled for a lumpectomy with Mark Lehman, MD, a board-certified surgeon on staff at CentraState Medical Center. "Before I woke up, they already had the answer that it was cancer," says Terri Hindes credits the support of her husband, Ted, and her stepchildren in helping her win her breast cancer fight. Celebrating

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