Pink Meet hits close to home

Second annual event to raise awareness of breast cancer means something special to Claire Pierce, whose mom is a survivor

By: Lindsay Schnell

Posted: 2/2/07

Claire Pierce didn't think her day could get much more hectic.

The junior, a member of the OSU gymnastics team, was in the middle of the youth camp the team hosts each summer, as kids of all ages scrambled around playing a game.

Then her cell phone rang.

On the other end of the line was Claire's mom, Bette, a spunky 53-year-old who went running five days a week and had never had serious health problems. Her news floored Claire: Bette had breast cancer.

"I wasn't expecting it," Claire said. "It kinda caught me off guard."

"I had to make several calls like that," Bette said. "So I waited until I had already had the biopsy. I knew she would be very worried."

So worried, in fact, that Claire called her dad, Tim, at work later that day to make sure Bette was telling the truth.

But there was also good news for the Pierce family - if there were any type of breast cancer to get, this was the best kind. From the beginning, Bette knew her chances at survival were high.

"I knew it wasn't going to be a life sentence," she said.

Nonetheless, the news took its toll on Claire, just 20 years old.

"I had to leave the group because I started crying and got pretty emotional," Claire said. "I think it was the idea of the breast cancer that really scared me."

Tonight, Claire will take the floor with Bette on her mind as the Beavers host Arizona State in their second annual Pink Meet, an event designed to raise awareness for breast and cervical cancer.

"It hits closer to home now," said OSU coach Tanya Chaplin. "Obviously when you have family members that are going through this and we can do something to support the cause, it makes a big difference."

According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 178,480 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the end of 2007. And many will not be as fortunate as Bette: Of that 178,480, more than 20 percent will succumb to the disease and die.

"I just think things like Pink Meets and the Relay for Life are so incredible, and I know personally how important they are," Bette said. "It's because of the money they make that there's all this progress."

It's because of that progress that Bette, now 54, is able to still watch her daughter compete.

Bette underwent a biopsy almost immediately and found she would not have to do chemotherapy treatments. Instead, she did just one week of radiation therapy, though most patients do six.

"I was asked to be part of a study, so because of that, I only had to take one week of radiation," she said.

Now, Bette takes estrogen blockers on a daily basis. She is slated to keep up this routine for the next five years and doctors expect her to remain cancer-free.

"They did a test and found that estrogen feeds the tumor, so they put me on estrogen blockers, and boy did those things shoot me into menopause," Bette said with a laugh.

If anything, Bette says, her diagnosis has only reinforced her belief of getting yearly mammograms. Breast cancer doesn't run in the Pierce family, so it came as a surprise when the examiner detected a lump in her right breast.

"They say that something like 75 percent of women who get it don't have a history of it in their families," Bette explained. "And you don't absolutely die. In most women, it's treatable now."

While the Pierces didn't experience breast cancer prior to Bette's diagnosis, the disease had hit their family before. Claire's cousin had died from colon cancer at just 17 years old, and since then, Claire and her family have participated in the Relay for Life. Coincidently, the OSU gymnastics team runs in the Corvallis Relay for Life every year as well.

Claire, a beam and floor specialist for the Beavers, won't get to see her mom tonight at the OSU Pink Meet. Bette and Tim are based in Northern California and can't travel to Gill for the meet, but Claire will still have Bette on her mind, thinking the whole time about how this meet means something more than landing a perfect routine.

"It's huge," she said. "Your whole life you go, 'It won't happen to me. It won't happen to my family.'"

"But when it really happens in your family, it means a lot more. It's always a huge cause, but when it's more personal, it makes it even bigger."

Claire will get a chance to celebrate her mom's win over breast cancer with her family before the season is over. Next week, OSU will travel to Stanford, where the Cardinal will be hosting a Pink Meet of its own. Bette plans to be there. But there's just one problem - she doesn't have anything pink to wear.

Is a shopping trip in order then?

Bette, who can now say she's survived one of the most common killers of women, liked the idea.

"You know, I just might have to do that."