Tears come to the eyes of Julie Dallman, of Shawano, as she recounts getting the news six years ago that she had breast cancer.
“I freaked out,” she said.
She had a mammogram in April 2008 after forgetting about it the year before. Previously she had been getting mammograms every year.
“They told me there was a suspicious spot,” she said.
She had a biopsy and on May 7, 2008, it was confirmed as breast cancer. It was a small lump that was caught early.
“It’s just scary,” said Dallman, 55.
On May 19, 2008, Dr. Colette Salm-Schmid performed surgery on Dallman at Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay. They removed tissue and two lymph nodes. Dallman went home the same day but got a call a few days later telling her they didn’t take enough tissue.
On June 9, 2008, Dallman had a second surgery, which was followed by six weeks of radiation, Monday through Friday. For five years following her treatment, Dallman went to Green Bay twice a year to the radiologist to participate in a program that monitored patients.
She makes sure she gets a mammogram every year.
“I’m a nervous wreck when I go,” she said.
There has been cancer in Dallman’s family for a long time. Her father’s sister, Norma Voelz, died of breast cancer at 36. Dallman’s sister, Lorie, is a breast cancer survivor. Another sister, Marsha, died of a different form of cancer.
Every year Dallman and her sister have a team in the Relay for Life in March.
Dallman, who is a dietary aide at Maple Lane Health Care, and her husband, Mike, who is a distributor for Dean’s Morning Glory and works part time at Adams’ Meats, have been married 25 years and live in Shawano. Between them they have two sons, two grandsons and one granddaughter.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease.
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