Aimmommannommenl

To Life!

imummammummiummormi

Health

Fighting Cancer

Patient hopes for new procedure to prevent
hair loss during treatment.

ROBIN SCHWARTZ

Special to the Jewish News

I

n the blink of an eye, life
changed dramatically for 35-
year-old Robyn Tink of
Birmingham.
"I felt a lump. It was hard, like a
marble, and very close to the sur-
face," Tink said.
The outgoing, active member of
Detroit's Jewish social scene says she
immediately knew something was
seriously wrong.
At first, doctors thought the small,
1.8-centimeter mass in her breast was
a cyst, but an ultrasound confirmed it
was a tumor. A biopsy came back a
few days later with even more fright-
ening news — the tumor was cancer-
ous.
"Cancer — it just sneaks up on
you — there are no signs, no symp-
toms," Tink said.
Still, she insists, she's prepared to
fight. Breast cancer runs in Tink's
family. Both her maternal grand-
mother and great-grandmother had
the potentially deadly disease. Her
mother, Linda Tink of Farmington
Hills, had been urging Robyn to get a

mammogram. But, as it turns out,
the family says the test would not
have detected the tumor. The lump
was not visible in a mammogram
done after doctors knew it was there.
"It showed up in an ultrasound,
but most people don't get ultra-
sounds," Tink said.
She's now urging her friends and
anyone who will listen to be vigilant
about getting checkups. "I'm encour-
aging everyone to get exams, give
yourself exams, go get checked out,
request ultrasounds," she said.
In the month or so since her diag-
nosis, Tink says life has been a whirl-
wind filled with ups and downs, deci-
sions, doctor visits and some oppor-
tunities to reflect.
"Without my friends and family's
support and the community's sup-
port, I wouldn't be able to get
through this," Tink said. "It definite-
ly puts priorities in place, and I just
feel loved."
She's also received a great deal of
encouragement from co-workers at
WCS Lending in Southfield, where
she is a mortgage loan officer. Two
surgeries have been performed to
remove the tumor, but Tink still faces

Keeping Her Cool

Cancer patient tries experimental
caps to help prevent hair loss.

lia

ileen Bradley of Farmington Hills suc-
ceeded in retaining her hair after seven
rounds of zhemotherapy last December
by using the Penguin Cold Cap.
She went directly to the developer in London
and has been working with him to bring the
experimental caps — and hope — across the
Atlantic to cancer patients in Michigan.
She used the cap system again this month as
she finished the last of her chemotherapy treat-
ments July 22 for a second cancer that appeared.
There's a 20-day waiting period after the
chemotherapy to see how effective the treatment
has been to prevent hair loss this time.
The three-pound insulated caps, designed to
fit any head size and shape, are filled with a spe-
cially formulated Crylon gel that helps them
retain the cold. The cap fits snugly, yet comfort-

IN

7/28

2005

16

"Cancer — it just
sneaks up on you
there are no signs,
no symptoms.

radiation and chemotherapy treat-
ments — an aggressive plan doctors
say is warranted because of her age.
"The fortunate thing is that she
found it at a young age, but the
problem is cancer is much more
aggressive at a younger age," said
her sister-in-law, Jocelyn Tink of
Birmingham.
One bit of good news is that
Tink found the tumor before the
cancer spread.

Spreading The Word

Looking for a way to lend support,
some of her closest family members
and friends wrote a letter and e-
mailed it to a small group of people.
"We have been wondering what we
can do to continue to help her

Robyn Tink

through the coming months, which
we know will be quite difficult for
her both physically and emotionally,"
the e-mail read.
The message went on to say Tink
has expressed interest in an experi-
mental procedure being used to help
prevent hair loss for patients going
through chemotherapy, and money is

ably, on the head and transfers the cold to a per- She says they already are popular in Europe and
son's hair follicles, which aids in cutting the tox-
in California.
icity of the drugs to the scalp. Bradley says the
"I would like to see it in every hospital here,"
caps are worn prior to, during and after treat-
she said. "I get phone calls from all over from
ment. They must be changed every 35 minutes
people wanting to know about it. It's motivated
for a fresh one from a freezer.
me, and I want people to benefit from this."
"It's very cold, but
Robyn Tink of
an even cold; you
Birmingham (see
can endure it," she
accompanying story)
said. She has a total
was one who called
of 14 caps because
Bradley to learn more.
some of her treat-
Bradley plans to
ments involved high
work with her oncolo-
doses of drugs and
gist to have them
longer time periods.
available for rent in
Bradley has been
his office, where a
negotiating with
special freezer can be
Frank Fronda, who
kept to keep the caps
developed the
super-cold. The
Penguin Cold Cap in
hypoallergenic caps
1992, to bring to
can be cleaned with
caps to Michigan,
an alcohol wipe and
where she says she's
re-used. El
the first to use them.
Eileen Bradley without and with the Penguin Cold Cap