Laurie Johnson
Cancer Survivor
Champaign, IL
Biography
Laurie Johnson was diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer in 2007 when she was around 40 years old. Despite the late-stage diagnosis, she had excellent medical care and a supportive family that helped her through treatment. Laurie learned she carried the BRCA1 genetic mutation, which increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. This led her to undergo preventative surgeries, even though no cancer was found in her breasts. Throughout her treatment, Laurie felt relatively well, crediting her strong support system, especially her spouse, as crucial to her experience. Laurie's mother and grandfather had also survived cancer, giving her hope for the future. Laurie expresses faith in medical advancements and technology, She is now proud of her daughter Maaike, who is participating in a cross-country bike ride for cancer research and in awe of Maaike’s (a 2024 Bike America Team rider) bravery and commitment to confronting their family's genetic legacy.
Road to recovery
Even though this was in my lymph nodes, in part because of that robust family history, and that the treatment for it was so thorough - surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, the only treatment for the type of cancer I had - it was clear that I was almost certainly going to be fine. Because of this, a lot of people assumed I caught it early - the typical thing is you see a lump in your breast and have it removed, so often I didn’t want to say to people that it was in my lymph nodes because they would be worried. But overall, it hasn’t been a super difficult road. Like chemotherapy wasn’t fun, and I’m fully willing to believe I was lucky. All these treatments had no major complications, but now I have colonoscopies every 3 years, and that’s pretty much it though. I remember sometimes when I was doing chemo and didn’t have hair some people would look at me like “Oh my god.” I’ve also met other people who are like, “Oh, so you’re in remission.” Technically, that is the correct term, but remission feels to me like you’re in the waiting room, and it helps when people have a more encouraging approach.
BRCA1 genetic mutation
When my oncologist looked at my family tree and saw my mom had fairly early cancer at 36, they determined I should get the genetic test for the BRCA1 genetic mutation, which causes breast and ovarian cancer. It’s rare in the world as a whole but incredibly common in an area in Poland where my mother’s side is from. Someone in each generation of my family had cancer: I had an uncle who had stomach cancer and another testicular cancer; and my grandfather had colon cancer in his early 60s.
When they found out I had the mutation the smart course of action was double mastectomies, even though there was no cancer in the breast found, but I did that and had my ovaries removed. Fortunately, Maaike was already born, and we weren’t really planning on having more children.
Family
The mutation itself was no big curse to me, but it feels like a much bigger deal when it’s your child. Maaike (who is going on the ride) has one sibling, and they both were incredibly brave and decided to get tested. Maaike’s older sibling, Naomi, tested negative, which was an enormous relief. Maaike got tested a couple years later and does have the BRCA1 genetic mutation. I know Maaike is going to be fine, and is going to be under great medical advice, but I did at some point say to Maaike, “Are you mad at me?” And she said “Were you mad at Grandma?” And I was like, “No, of course not.” She gave me great advice, she said, “but cancer is also alive,” you know, and it's not something like a technological problem you can just fix. We can fix so many things, why can't we fix this? That day will at some point come.
One thing that made everything easier was having two small kids, who were awesome and still are now; it’s very meaningful to Carl and me that Maaike is doing this ride.
“Any support system is really helpful, whatever that is, but in my case my support system was mostly my incredibly supportive spouse, who also did all these things with the kids when I had to recover from surgery or whatever - he was just 100% my ride or die person.”