Janesville cancer survivor happy to help out, give back
Published: June 26, 2005
Milton-Jo Quick was busy with work and family and didn’t schedule a yearly mammogram.
It wasn’t until the next year that the 52-year-old Janesville woman read an article about breast cancer in a newsletter at General Motors, where she works, that she remembered the missed appointment.
“I told the girl working with me that I was about a year late for a mammogram,” Quick said. “I thought I should go and get it done.”
And she did.
That was five years ago-the same length of time that Quick has been cancer-free.
As a cancer survivor, Quick will serve as an honorary co-chairwoman of the 2005 Relay for Life in Milton on Friday, July 8, and Saturday, July 9. The other co-chairwoman is Sharon Hawkins, who was diagnosed in 2001 with ovarian cancer.
The mammogram showed a questionable area in Quick’s left breast. A biopsy of the tissue revealed the shadow to be cancer cells.
“The doctor called me and said he had some bad news,” Quick said. “He also said he had some good news.”
The bad news was that she had cancer.
“When I heard that my heart just stopped,” Quick said. “My first reaction was to fall apart.”
The good news was that it was caught in an early stage.
“I was lucky,” Quick said. “It was just cells that hadn’t formed into a lump.”
If Quick hadn’t read the newsletter article, she wouldn’t have made an appointment for a mammogram until much later, she said.
Quick has no family history of breast cancer, she said.
The cancerous cells were surgically removed, and Quick received radiation therapy afterward.
Today, she can’t stress enough the importance of mammograms. She shudders to think what her prognosis would have been if she had postponed the test one more time.
While receiving radiation therapy, Quick received much support from her family, including two young granddaughters.
On the days that Quick had radiation treatments, the two girls wore pink ribbon cancer pins to show their support. The girls were 7 and 2 at that time, Quick said.
Even at 2, Meagan Hadley knew the pin was important, Quick said.
One day, while hurrying to go to a baby sitter, Meagan forgot to wear the pin for grandma. When she realized it was at home, Meagan wanted her mother to go get it, Quick said.
But her mother didn’t have time to spare.
“And Meagan threw a fit,” Quick said.
Her other granddaughter, Mariah Dorcey, assumed the role of mother hen.
Because the treatments burned Quick’s skin, her doctor cautioned against going swimming in the sun without a T-shirt on.
“If I walked outside without a T-shirt over my suit, Mariah yelled at me,” Quick said.
Although Quick doesn’t live in Milton, she walked with the Milton Curves team in last year’s relay.
“I’m involved because I don’t want anyone to ever have to hear they have cancer,” Quick said. “I can’t think of anything better to work for.”
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