Diagnosed with breast cancer in her first-ever mammogram, LOWVELO rider encourages others to get screened

She was at work when she got the call. And “You have cancer” were the words Kristie Rasheed heard, her phone pressed to her ear in the middle of a busy day at The Dewberry Hotel, where she is the managing director.

“It’s just every emotion that goes through your body,” said Rasheed. “What does this mean to me? What am I going to do? Your brain just starts to reel, and you wonder, 'What’s my life going to look like going forward?'”

Not long before that call, Rasheed had gotten her first mammogram – admittedly a few years late. But the week of her birthday, she had decided to make it a priority. It’s a decision she’s so thankful she made and one that she now encourages for everyone.

“As a healthy young person, you don’t worry about a normal screening too much, but that’s where it was found – in the first screening I ever had,” she said. “Whether you’re busy with work, busy with life, make the time for yourself. Being a parent and working in a busy job, I just didn’t make the time for myself.”

Rasheed had no indication prior to that mammogram that anything was wrong. She hadn’t felt a lump. She didn’t feel sick. Looking back, the only symptom she thinks may have been related was that she felt tired. She had brushed it off, thinking that it was just due to her busy schedule.

As the initial shock wore off, Rasheed quickly turned her mindset from one of wondering “why” to one of “What am I going to do about this?” As is the case with many people who get a diagnosis, she wasn’t sure where to begin or even what kind of doctors she needed. Having had her biopsy at MUSC, she was set up with MUSC Hollings Cancer Center breast cancer nurse navigator Denise Kepecs, R.N.

“She literally called me back that afternoon and said ‘This is the process. These are the appointments we’re going to set up and we’re going to have them set up for you in the next week,’” Rasheed remembered, noting how much better that made her feel.

 

A week later, Rasheed went to Hollings for back-to-back appointments with her entire team: surgical oncologist Andrea Abbott, M.D.; oncologist Abi Siva, M.D.; reconstructive surgeon Kevin O’Neill Delaney M.D.; and radiation oncologist Jennifer Harper, M.D. A plan of action was determined. Rasheed had a double mastectomy in March and has had one more reconstructive surgery since then. Her last surgery will happen in December. Because she got screened when she did and found the cancer early, she didn’t end up needing chemotherapy or radiation.

“Not that surgery is not difficult, but I think having to go through chemo is maybe a little more emotional. So, I have been very fortunate,” she said.

Since her diagnosis, Rasheed has realized that she needs to make more time for herself and for her health. She and her husband, Charlie, and 11-year-old daughter, Stella, have added a walk to their evening routine at least five nights a week, and they spent a lot more family time together when her sons Ian and Isaac were home from college over the summer. She’s focused on creating more of a work-life balance, has been making healthier choices in her diet and looks for ways to relieve stress – the kind of stress many people experience from busy jobs and a family.

 

Another takeaway from her diagnosis: Rasheed found it very important to be completely open and honest with her daughter about what she was going through.

“And it’s funny because when I told her I had cancer, she said, ‘I had a feeling that’s what you were going to say,’” Rasheed remembered. Stella had seen it before. Two of Rasheed’s close friends had also had cancer.

“I think just growing up in the world she’s in, she’s like, ‘Well, it’s pretty common now and you’ll be OK.’ She was so positive and said, ‘Well, at least your favorite color is pink and breast cancer is pink.’ She’s been such a trouper the whole time.”

Realizing how desensitized Stella is to cancer now, Rasheed knows how important it is to work toward a future where cancer isn’t so prevalent. That is part of what caught her attention when she heard about LOWVELO. MUSC Hollings Cancer Center’s annual bike ride is a way for her to give back to a cause she now has a very personal connection with and a way for her to share her story.

She and some of her friends, who are all survivors, have created team “Ride or Dies for Research” to celebrate their 25-year “ride or die” friendship and help to raise funds for cancer research at Hollings. They will be joined by at least a dozen friends and family members as they take on the 20-mile Island Ride.

Aside from her role at The Dewberry, Rasheed serves as the president of the Lowcountry Hospitality Association and on the advisory board for the hospitality school at the College of Charleston. Because she never had chemo or felt terribly sick, many people in her work life still don’t know what she has gone through in the last year. She hopes her participation in the ride will change that and help to bring awareness to the lifesaving cancer research happening at Hollings.

“Once you are in it, you realize how many people are in it with you,” said Rasheed. “And I think Hollings is just doing so much cool stuff. I think to make an impact, they have to continue to have the funds. There would be no treatments if there weren’t the research behind it. So, I think it’s just important that we continue to fight and find a cure.”

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