Hannah Powell-Auslam, barely 13, is too young for the pink ribbon tattoo that marks her parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles like a family crest.
But the Orange County girl wasn't too young for breast cancer.
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Race for the Cure details
What: 20th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Orange County
When: Sept. 25.
Where: Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach
Including: Breast Cancer Survivor Parade, one-mile and 5K runs and walks, appearance by Dr. Oz
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When Hannah was 10, she underwent a mastectomy of a breast she had yet to develop. Doctors around the country speculated that she was the youngest known breast cancer patient.
After the scars of four surgeries and chemotherapy, those who know Hannah consider her the bravest survivor.
?She is truly one of the strongest people I've ever met,? said Beth Green, the grandma Hannah calls Nana. ?The kid's a fighter. Nothing gets her down.?
A year after her diagnosis, Hannah was recognized at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Newport Beach. The 20th annual race takes place Sept. 25 at Fashion Island.
While Hannah always wears a breast cancer awareness wristband, these days she's focused less on a dreaded disease of womanhood and more on living like a normal teen girl.
?It was kind of hard, but eventually I got used to it,? Hannah said. ?Most of the time, I look on the bright side of things. I'm a very positive person.?
THE LUMP
One evening in March 2009, Hannah came home from a softball game complaining of a persistent itch on her chest. Her mom, Carrie Auslam, pulled her inside the bathroom of their home in unincorporated La Mirada. Carrie saw Hannah's red scratch marks and felt a hard lump the size of a golf ball under her skin.
The next day Carrie, 32, took Hannah, who was in fifth grade, to the pediatrician. Her doctor sent her for an ultrasound.
?She had begun to develop at that point, but she was still a little girl,? Carrie said. ?I never thought cancer.?
At first, Hannah's parents were told the lump was a cyst that needed to be drained. So in early April, a surgeon removed what he thought was a benign tumor. Soon after, he summoned Carrie and her husband, Jeremy, into his office. He closed the door and told them their daughter had breast cancer.
?It was pretty much a blur after that,? Jeremy recalled.
?My heart just fell to my feet,? Carrie said. ?How do you tell a 10-year-old, ?You have cancer'??
They waited a few days to compose themselves before telling her.
?I was just in shock,? Hannah said. ?I didn't even really know what cancer was.?
Hannah cried and immediately asked if she was going to die.
?We cried with her,? Carrie said. ?We told her no.?
Jeremy Auslam, 33, began researching as much as he could. He remembers posting an entry on a breast cancer forum that he titled ?Please help a 10-year-old with breast cancer.?
When readers thought he was joking, he attached the pathology report with her date of birth.
Each year, roughly 10,000 children under age 15 are diagnosed with cancer, most commonly leukemia and brain tumors, according to the National Cancer Institute. Meanwhile, about 207,000 women find out they have breast cancer, at a median age of 61.
Children and young adults face unique physical and emotional challenges from the disease, including fertility, body image and socialization, says Hannah's oncologist Dr. Leonard Sender.
?They're a misunderstood group of patients,? Sender said. ?They sometimes have adult diseases, and they are in a pediatric world. Sometimes they have pediatric diseases and they're young adults.?
While adults undergoing mastectomies often grieve a symbolic piece of their womanhood, Hannah experienced a different kind of pain.
On the morning of her surgery, she screamed at the top of her lungs while receiving injections of dye that would go through her lymph nodes. After the bandages came off, she cried again when she saw the scar carved from the middle of her left armpit to the center of her chest.
?Even all the surgeries and pain, it wasn't as worse as knowing I had a disease,? Hannah said as tears shimmered in her brown eyes. ?It was so hard for me to know something was wrong with me.?
When Hannah started chemotherapy at Children's Hospital of Orange County, she shaved her head. Her dad, grandpa and little brother JJ buzzed their hair, too. Her heart broke for the even younger children stricken with cancer. During sixth grade, Hannah had another surgery to remove more lymph nodes.
?God chose me because he knew, no matter how much I had to go through, I would be strong enough,? she said.
FINDING HOPE
Her Nana gave Hannah that explanation.
?I'm not a religious person,? said Green, 54, her maternal grandmother. ?I was baptized Catholic, and that was as far as it went. When Hannah came to me and said, ?Nana, why is this happening to me?' instead of saying, ?I don't know,' I wanted to give her a reason. I told her God did this to you because he knows you're strong. You're going to survive, and this is going to pave a path for other children that get breast cancer.?
Not long after she turned 11, a cheerful Hannah appeared on ?Good Morning America? with her mom. The show also arranged for her and a friend to attend a Jonas Brothers concert in Los Angeles. In her bedroom, she has a signed photo of John Travolta and a quilt sewn by breast cancer survivors from around the country whom she has never met.
Hannah's classmates have been overwhelmingly kind and supportive. Last year, a student a grade ahead of her asked Hannah if she could write a report about her cancer. Hannah didn't mind answering her questions.
Hannah used to safety-pin a pad into the left cup of her bra. Earlier this year, she underwent another surgery for placement of a tissue expander, which will be replaced with an implant once she stops growing. She visits her plastic surgeon for periodic adjustments so the expander matches her right breast.
?She wants to feel normal,? Auslam said. ?She has to change in gym class. She was having to stuff her bra.?
Hannah, now in eighth grade, is outgoing and quick to smile. She loves riding her bike and roller coasters at Knott's Berry Farm. She's never without her phone for talking or texting. She wore Converse sneakers with a dress to her winter formal.
?Hannah's looking really good,? said Sender, who practices in Orange at CHOC and UCI Medical Center. ?She appears to have no evidence of disease at this time. She's developing well. Mentally, I think she's doing a really good job of adjusting, which is really nice.?
Sender said Hannah's fertility should be unaffected because she received a low dose of chemo before beginning menstruation. He said eventual reconstructive surgery will remove most, if not all, of her scar.
She'll have that surgery around her 18th birthday. Once she's an adult, Hannah plans to join the rest of her immediate family in getting inked in pink. Carrie's tattoo has flowers along with the pink ribbon. Jeremy's includes Hannah's name in cursive script. Green's is on the inside of her wrist.
Hannah wants hers to include the date of her diagnosis and her nickname, ?Sweet Pea.?
Race for the Cure essays, from women in their own words
Contact the writer: 714-796-3686 or cperkes@ocregister.com
Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hannah-317453-cancer-breast.html
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