KAILUA-KONA — After Robin O’Hara was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2016, she held off making the news public, saying she wanted to “wait until I knew what I was dealing with.”
She had discovered the lump a couple months earlier in April, just five weeks after an annual exam.
“And it felt huge,” she said at Friday night’s Beat Breast Cancer Bash. “It was like, ‘Oh my God I think it’s a golf ball — OK, maybe not, maybe it’s a grape. But it seemed huge.”
And after the diagnosis, she said, she didn’t really want to say anything until she knew exactly how bad it was.
But a little over a week before her surgery, a friend pushed her to post about it, suggesting she might need the support.
“And I just couldn’t do it,” she said in a later interview. “And then finally the night before surgery I was thinking ‘You know, she’s right. I really do need support.’”
When she woke up the next morning, she said, she “couldn’t believe it.”
“Like how many people really cared, that I was loved,” she said at the fundraiser. “They really were rooting for me. They didn’t want me to have to go through this.”
“I felt like at that point that I better share this with everyone and not feel ashamed that this is happening to me,” she added.
An estimated 1,120 cases of female breast cancer will be reported this year in Hawaii, according to the American Cancer Society’s annual report.
The Beat Breast Cancer Bash, held at Daylight Mind Coffee Co., raised proceeds for the American Cancer Society.
“The American Cancer Society’s sole purpose is to help people who are fighting cancer — with treatments, with emotional support, with a hand to hold, a voice to listen at 3 a.m. if you need to call someone because you’re going crazy,” Kaitlin Moore, community development manager for American Cancer Society for North and West Hawaii, said at Friday’s event.
O’Hara recognized some people in attendance at Friday night’s fundraiser who had formed part of that support circle for her, including one who came to cook her meals twice a week and another who was part of the Look Good, Feel Better program, which offers beauty services and tips for people undergoing cancer treatment.
Moore said the organization is trying to bring that program to Kona Hospital, and noted the other services the American Cancer Society offers, like free transportation to treatment and mentoring. It also provides support for caregivers.
“We care so much about what you’re going through,” she said. “And we want to be there to make sure that we can tell you like which doctor you should be going to, give you a ride there and just call you to see how you’re doing.”
O’Hara said later it was a humbling experience to see just how many people showed sincere concern for her progress.
“I felt so blessed, like, wow, I really have good people in my life. Thank God, you know?” she said. “And I feel like I do. I just have these amazing people in my life.”
Closing her talk Friday night, O’Hara encouraged those with questions — “even silly questions” — to come to her or share concerns, such as not knowing how to help family members.
“I just put it out there because I want people to feel comfortable and I want them to be able to ask, ‘How did you find it?’ ‘What do I need to do?’” she said Saturday afternoon. “I want them to ask that, because it’s so important to have that information. So I think the more we talk about it, the more we share, the more real it is.”
