Cancer fight gets personal

ON A SUBWAY in Washington D.C., Judy Nixon was caught red-handed. Then she had to prove that she wasn’t crazy for pretending to rub the smooth scalp of the man seated in front of her. She just likes bald heads, she explained to him.

When the women in her breast cancer support group are upset about losing their hair, Nixon is the perfect person to encourage them.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ugly bald head,” Nixon said. “They’re very pretty.”

Every Monday for the past six years, Nixon has volunteered as co-facilitator for the support group at North Idaho Cancer Center. She also travels throughout the state training Reach to Recovery volunteers for the American Cancer Society and coordinates the local team, which pairs breast cancer survivors with newly diagnosed women. This year, Nixon took on the role of chairing Coeur d’Alene’s Komen Race for the Cure, a breast cancer fund-raiser.

Any one of these projects would be enough responsibility for an average volunteer. The fact that Nixon does them all, and all so well, earned her the Spirit of Idaho award from U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo this spring.

North Idaho Cancer Center outreach coordinator Cindy Shannon was asked to think of someone to nominate who had performed extraordinary service in the field of health.

“I immediately thought of Judy,” Shannon said. “It wasn’t even a question.”

Nixon was the one Shannon leaned on when she needed help putting together the lengthy application for the first Susan G. Komen race in Coeur d’Alene five years ago. Shannon credits the funds from the annual race for making it possible to offer any woman over 40 in the five northern counties a free mammogram if they can’t afford one.

Shannon marvels at Nixon’s ability to juggle so many roles for the cancer community and to do it all joyfully.

“What I really appreciate about her is that she not only has that professional image, but she can do all of that and still be wonderful fun,” Shannon said.

Nixon’s passion for stamping out breast cancer started after she received a whisper in her ear from an “angel” on her shoulder. A colleague of her husband shared with her that his wife was getting a mastectomy. That news was the nudge Nixon needed to schedule her own follow-up mammogram. Her prior exam showed a suspicious spot that the doctor told her they should watch and recheck in a few months. Nixon knows that those months might have stretched into a year if not for that reminder.

Her mammogram led to a biopsy, then a mastectomy. But Nixon says breast cancer wasn’t the worst thing that ever happened to her. She lost her adoptive parents when she was in her 20s, and that was much more devastating.

Many women ask, “Why me?” when they get a cancer diagnosis, but Nixon says she didn’t. She only asked, “Why now?”

“I was only 41, my son was in sixth grade,” she said. “I bargained and begged God to allow me to be around until he got out of school.”

The bargain was struck and her son is now an attorney in practice with his father, Bill, in their downtown Coeur d’Alene office. Nixon works full time as their office manager and has been cancer-free for 18 years.

She is now the whisper in the ear for any woman who will hear her message about early detection of breast cancer.

“The best thing we can do is be aware of our body and take care of our body,” she said. “I can’t stress enough how important self-examination, mammograms and physical exams are for breast cancer. If you find a lump, you need to get it checked.”

Nixon attends the county fair with Reach to Recovery volunteers, who hand out brochures, information, and a dose of support. She will be participating next week with a team at Relay For Life, the American Cancer Society’s community fund-raiser and celebration for those touched by cancer.

Nixon will be stationed in the “mission delivery” area with a goal of teaching about signs and symptoms of disease. Her approach is not subtle, she said, since she knows denial is cancer’s closest ally. If she has to wear a zany headpiece or get “a little crazy” to attract attention, that’s OK.

“You have to get out there, they don’t come to you,” she said. “They think ‘C’ stands for ‘Contagious’ and off they go.”

Her dedication to the cancer cause is made tangible by her collection of pink ribbon pins, the symbol for breast cancer awareness. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some have tiny rhinestones to attract the light. Nixon’s favorite has a pink ribbon wrapped around an American flag.

As an adopted child, she believes she was always searching for roots, and has found them in Idaho. She’s lived in Coeur d’Alene since 1969. She cherishes the flag that was presented to her by Crapo and flown in Washington, D.C., in recognition of her commitment to her state.

Nixon finds that her volunteer work keeps her close to her background in nursing. She worked in Kootenai Medical Center’s emergency department until 1980 and finds her skills invaluable when dealing with cancer patients. Most precious to her are the abilities to observe and listen. She believes that quality of life is directly related to monitoring your body and being willing to investigate the changes.

“Try not to be afraid,” she said. “If you stick your head in the sand, you know what part of your body will show. You have to pay attention.”