Ann Peart’s Survivor Spotlight
Cancer was just one battle this stay at home mom had to fight
By Katrina Daniel
2013 and 2014 was a bad time for Ann Peart. And that’s an understatement. She was divorced, no longer able to care for her two children, she had no job because she’d been a stay-at-home mom of her medically-fragile child for 10 years, she had no health insurance. And she was diagnosed with an advanced and aggressive form of breast cancer.
“It’s been…challenging,” Ann says now.
She was 39 in August 2013 when she felt a sharp pain in her armpit. That “led me to do a self- exam. I found a hard lump in my armpit and another in my breast, so naturally I panicked,” Ann recalls.
Her cancer spread quickly, going from one lump in her armpit to four, and six in her breast in about two weeks.
Her panic didn’t last long, however, as her natural resilience, curiosity and drive kicked into high gear.
“Not having insurance, or even a family doctor, I started to look online for options. South Carolina has free mammograms but only for women over 45, I was only 39 so I didn’t qualify,” she says. “I finally found the Susan G. Komen Foundation and called my local chapter (the SC Mountains to Midlands affiliate). Within a week I was at the Breast Health Clinic, and by that time had two more lumps in my breast that seemed to show up overnight. I felt that having the local Komen Chapter and being able to talk with someone was the most helpful.”
“I was scared, looking for answers and guidance, and they were able to produce results. A phone call to my local chapter was all it took. However, with it being so late in the year, the grant funds for my local hospital were already gone. But I persisted, knowing that I couldn’t travel out of state due to my kids. Luckily the local chapter gave me someone to talk with at the Breast Health Clinic who could help me. They took pity on me, heard the desperation in my voice and I was able to be seen with an emergency stash of Komen grant funds.”
Shortly thereafter, Ann underwent seven rounds of chemotherapy and five surgeries, including reconstruction.
Shortly thereafter, Ann underwent seven rounds of chemotherapy and five surgeries, including reconstruction.
At the same time, she was dealing with an acrimonious divorce and she had to give her husband temporary custody of their two children – a 10- year-old daughter and 8-year-old son –while she was undergoing chemotherapy and surgery.
“I have the best of situations, and I have the worst of situations,” Peart says. Her daughter has tested in the top intellectual tier of children in the country and goes to the School for the Talented and Gifted. Her younger son, however, is severely disabled and will never talk, walk, or graduate developmentally beyond the level of a 2- year old.
After she underwent several surgeries, she says she put her pride aside and asked for help.
“I applied for Medicaid for insurance, a hospital sponsorship to pay for surgeries and treatments, food stamps, and the SCHelp.org program that pays your mortgage while you have temporary hardships. I also had friends and family hold a fundraiser to help me get through all those months of treatment. I managed on $800.00 a month for two years.”
“One thing I’ve learned through experience is that nobody is the same when it comes to cancer. When you have cancer you get bombarded with advice, cancer stories, book suggestions, diet suggestions, alternative cures, and the list goes on. My best advice is to think for yourself. Figure out what works for you and you alone. This is a journey towards health, and it will take time and different strategies to get there.”
After she was forced to go to court to get her children back, Peart also needed to get a job.
“I remember standing at the Social Services office, waiting to get food stamps, with hair an inch long and scars still fresh on my body from breast surgery. I was going through the work training program with recent criminals by my side, and thinking to myself ‘How did I end up like this?’”
“And now, after clawing my way back up, I’m the sales director at a health care facility. I am able to provide for myself and my children. I’m able to leave the strife in the past and pay it forward to others. I don’t take any of it for granted.”
