Hope For Cancer Patients

Alisa Gilbert always knew she was meant to help others. Surviving breast cancer showed her how.

Now in her mid-40s, Gilbert is the founder and executive director of the Office of Native Cancer Survivorship, a national nonprofit organization that provides support services to cancer patients.

At age 31, Gilbert was a cancer patient herself.

"I had a bilateral mastectomy when I was 31. I had chemotherapy and treatments and surgeries and such, and after that I ended up getting pregnant and having my first child, literally back to back with that treatment, and it was just an eye-opener. Everything that happened, all the people who came into my life at that time, really made such a difference and raised my awareness across the board to the issues that people face all over the country," Gilbert said.

The experience of surviving cancer led directly to her role as an activist and advocate for cancer patients and to the creation of ONCS.

"I've always been the kind of person that thought, 'I just know that I can make a difference.' It's not too hard to figure out what you need to do to actually make things change, so I've just been involved since then," Gilbert said.

Getting pregnant -- let alone getting pregnant so soon after being treated for cancer -- was a shock both to Gilbert and her doctors. Gilbert had gone through menopause during her cancer treatment; the doctors assumed she was incapable of getting pregnant and didn't supply her with birth control.

"I think my doctors were more terrified than anything because the hormones in your body can wreak all kinds of havoc and they weren't sure at the time if the pregnancy would bring on an occurrence of the disease, so they were really more concerned because they didn't think there would be any children," Gilbert said.

Gilbert said she was in "a kind of shock" at being pregnant.

"My husband and I hadn't planned it. My son was born on Christmas and it was pretty interesting; and not too long after that, our second child was born, too. We've got four children -- two from my husband's previous marriage and the two we've had. And after my second son was born, the doctors said, 'Absolutely not another one. This is too dangerous,'" Gilbert said.

Not very many studies have been done about breast cancer survivors having children, Gilbert said.

"There are so many survivor-related issues when you put all the data together; in my case, the fact of being 31, the fact of having an aggressive type of cancer and a tumor size that was humungous and had already metastasized, and they were treating me to shrink the tumor before surgery, which was pretty common back then but not practiced so much now. The bilateral mastectomy was not an option: that was the recommended therapy. If you put all that together and then the thought of getting pregnant not once but twice and the thought that re-occurrence could happen due to the hormone production rate during pregnancy. The last thing you want is to have somebody get pregnant and have cancer re-occur and they're not around long enough to see their children grow up," Gilbert said.

Against those odds, everything has turned out miraculously well for Gilbert and her family. She gave birth to two healthy children, has remained cancer-free and has dedicated her energy to helping others survive cancer and live healthy, productive lives.

"I've been doing great. My kids are healthy. We're very fortunate, we're very blessed," Gilbert said.