Published: October 30, 2009 09:44 am      

Three victims, one family: Mother, sisters share struggle

Two sisters and their mother share an even closer bond now through a common struggle — breast cancer.

The mother, Erika Gossett was diagnosed first, in late 2004.

Gertrude Sebert, Gossett’s mother, passed away at the age of 64 in 1984 from breast cancer, so the family was not unfamiliar with the disease.

“I started having little problems and thought it was an infection and finally went to the doctor,” she said.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer on Feb. 15, 2005, only a month after her husband had passed away.

Dr. Nance performed her mastectomy in April, and she underwent six rounds of chemotherapy.

“My daughters were great support,” Gossett said. “They stuck with me since the beginning.

“I didn’t want to tell anybody, but Sharon saw all my appointments on the calendar and said she was going with me.”



Like mother, like daughter

The oldest daughter, Sharon Siever, was diagnosed next. On May 5, 2008, she was told she had breast cancer.

“My lymph nodes had swelled, and they found a lump when I went to get checked out,” she said.

Siever had stage three cancer. She had six rounds of chemo and 30 radiation treatments.

She was surprised by the diagnosis because she had never missed a mammogram before and neither had her mother or sister.

“All of our mammograms were negative because of dense breast tissue, so I encourage anyone with dense breast tissue to get a MRI,” she said.

When Siever was diagnosed, she didn’t want to tell her mother who was still recovering from her struggle with breast cancer. She did find out and offered Siever great support.

Monica Breaux knew that once her sister was diagnosed, she needed to be examined.

“After she was diagnosed and didn’t trust mammograms, she urged me to do a MRI,” Breaux said. “They found a 1.5 centimeter lump in my right breast.”

Breaux was lucky it was caught early enough that she did not have to do chemo or radiation treatments.

She called her mother and sister right away to tell them, knowing it wasn’t possible to keep it from them.

Both daughters had mastectomies done by Dr. Jane Bussey.

“I couldn’t wait to get back to work because you want the normal part of your life back,” Breaux said.



Not alone in the fight

The women have participated in Johnson County Relay For Life every year since their mother was diagnosed. Next year they plan to have their own team.

None of them attended support groups, finding the support they needed from their family.

“It would’ve been nice if we had some support groups locally,” Siever said. “It’s too much when you’re going through that to drive to Fort Worth for one.”

Two brothers are in the family, who have not had any occurrences of cancer, and six grandchildren.

“Our genetic counselor told us it starts affecting younger and younger, so it’s kind of scary because they don’t like to start mammograms until you’re 40, and we worry about our children,” Siever said.

The women said others diagnosed who have been diagnosed with breast cancer should stay positive.

“It consumes your life,” Siever said. “It’s hard to do, but just stay positive. When you’re going through it, the side effects can be devastating.

“All the positive support you have, use it. Know that chemo is going to stop, and you will get better.”