GREEN, Ohio — After missing more than eight weeks of work, Julie McMahan returned to her job recently as the communication and community outreach coordinator for Green Local Schools.
Typically, she loves to tout the positive stories happening with students and faculty in the district, but on this day, she shared a deeply personal story about her battle with breast cancer.
"You hear so much every October, and you see pink, and you hear about breast cancer awareness," McMahan said. "It doesn't really hit home until it hits home, and it hit home for me in a big way, and I'm just so passionate now about telling women you need to get a mammogram. It's about hope. It gives me hope for the future."
McMahan's life was turned upside down earlier this year when she got her first mammogram at the age of 60. Before then, she felt she didn't need to get one.
"I have no symptoms. My mom did not have breast cancer. I didn't have sisters," she said.
However, after losing both of her parents last year and with retirement getting closer, McMahan's husband, Dana, insisted she get a series of health checks, including that first mammogram.
"That mammogram saved my life," McMahan told News 5.
Despite having no symptoms or worries, it turned out McMahan had an aggressive form of breast cancer. A frank comment made by a doctor to Dana McMahan after the diagnosis stressed the seriousness of the situation.
"If your wife had waited to have this mammogram at a time when she thought something was wrong... we would be talking about keeping her comfortable and getting your finances in order. That's how quick things can change," Julie McMahan recalled.
In August, McMahan had a double mastectomy. She has not needed radiation, but she's currently on hormone blockers and chemotherapy medications. She's planning to have breast reconstructive surgery by the end of the year.
As she recovers, McMahan continues to receive tremendous support from her co-workers, who have decorated her office, designed pink T-shirts with the word "hope" on them, sent multiple cards and texts and created a meal train.
"We just wanted to do what we could to support her, to help her through a difficult time," said Wrenn Nicodemo, the head librarian at Green High School.
Jennifer Robinson, a family support specialist at the high school and middle school, said it was McMahan who lobbied for her position in the district.
"Julie is a dear, dear person. I would not have my position if it was not for Julie McMahan. She advocated strongly for family support specialists to be in the school," Robinson said. "I'd be devastated without her."
McMahan is hoping others will learn from her story and urging women to get mammograms earlier and more regularly than she did.
"We need to make this a reminder every month. Every time you talk to your doctor, say. 'you know what, can I just get this mammogram? What do I need to do?' Because breast cancer is no joke," she said.
According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 300,000 cases of breast cancer in women will be diagnosed by the end of this year in the U.S. and more than 43,000 women will die from the disease.
Dr. Chirag Shah, a breast radiation oncologist with Cleveland Clinic, said those numbers underscore the importance of mammograms and early detection.
"Mammography allows for the earlier detection of breast cancer, and therefore, the earlier intervention and what we know is when we diagnose cancers earlier, outcomes are much better. This means, regardless of the situation, if we can diagnose the cancers earlier, we're really able to begin treatment right away and get a patient's cancer journey started," Shah said.
