Voices of cancer survivors and experts highlight Office of Global Studies Southern Roots Symposium

The Southern Roots event was the brainchild of Nicole Schiegg, an Auburn alumna and global health superstar, who passed away after a courageous battle with colon cancer at the age of 45. As part of her legacy, the Nicole Schiegg Quasi Endowed Fund for Excellence in the College of Human Sciences was established for the Southern Roots event and send students to global health events all around the world.

Amber Lawson-Boothby, who is in her ninth year of living with metastatic breast cancer, attended the Southern Roots event and spoke of her own experiences with breast cancer and what improvements could be made to the healthcare system.

“Any diagnosis of any kind is not just centered on the patient and there are so many people affected by it who are part of that woman,” said Lawson-Boothby. “For me, where I have seen the downfall in the system itself, is that my husband and children are ignored in all of it and their healing very much affects mine and it really hurts my heart to see some of the stuff they go through. So yes, a women’s centered approach is great but there needs to be something out there for the family as well.”

For CEO and Founder of the Nightbirde Foundation Mitch Marczewski, who established the nonprofit to carry forward the legacy of his sister, Jane “Nightbirde” Marczweski, he spoke of the challenges his sister faced when battling breast cancer.

“It’s crucial we’re listening to them when they’re talking about something that’s going on in their body,” said Marczewski. “With my sister Jane’s experience, she was 26 years old and went into the doctor after finding a lump. The doctor said, ‘oh you’re young don’t worry about it.’ But Jane just knew in her body that something was off. She was confident enough to push back and turns out it was stage two breast cancer. So, listening to women earlier on in the process is a huge piece of it.”

Caroline Abi-Khattar who is a survivor, attorney and patient advocate joined the panel to speak on the importance of seeing women as caretakers.

“When I think about women in general, what comes to mind is that women are usually the caretakers themselves and the organizers, managing their families whether they have children or parents to take care of,” said Abi-Khattar. “Structuring a system that recognizes that women are the ones often caretaking other people is an important first step. Now they are in the position where they need the care, and the system needs to be structured in a way for that to actually happen.”

College of Human Sciences Assistant Professor in Apparel Dr. Dawn Michaelson attended and participated in the panel discussion for her research working on her post mastectomy bra design.

“People don’t really realize how much apparel impacts us psychologically,” said Michaelson. “While I was working with an oncologist for designs I knew I needed to hear more voices like what are other surgeons saying and what are the women out there saying? It took 18 months to get to 250 women, but we had finally gotten to that point, and we looked at some other ways how we can make women feel more comfortable with this experience. We try to find ways to make things more comfortable and make them feel less like a patient. We’ve found out some great ways to prevent additional injuries, infections and things like that so I’m hoping this will lead to better products for women to have when they have to go through this recovery period.”

Additionally, Dr. Peggy Howland, a two-time HDFS alumna who runs a survivorship group at the Spencer Cancer Center in Auburn, was also a panelist and reiterated the importance of healthcare providers when it comes to taking women’s medical concerns and questions seriously and listening intently.