“The years ahead of me are about living my life with meaning and purpose. God has given me a second chance at life, and now I know I have the strength to fight any battle.”
A breast cancer survivor and employee of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center tells her story.
Lisa Crapps, 58, has worked as a community relations manager for Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (NBI) for two decades. However, her connection to the hospital isn’t just professional—it’s deeply personal, too. A breast cancer survivor for almost five years, Lisa credits the hospital for both detecting and successfully treating her cancer.
In 2015, Lisa began noticing discharge coming from the nipple of her left breast, but she didn’t think much of it. Though she’d been faithfully getting annual mammograms, she missed her screening that year.
“That one year made a difference,” Lisa says. “I was doing self-exams, checking for lumps, but I had no idea discharge could be a sign of cancer.”
She went for her next mammogram in 2016 at NBI’s Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey Breast Health Center. Those results didn’t show anything unusual, but additional tests were ordered because of the nipple discharge.
A breast biopsy performed at the center revealed that Lisa indeed had cancer. “I had no family history. The news definitely made my head spin,” she recalls. “But I just asked my doctor what the next steps were and where we go from here.”
Moving Forward
A few weeks later, in September 2016, Lisa had a mastectomy performed on her left breast at NBI. At that point her cancer was at Stage 2B, and 12 weeks of aggressive chemotherapy followed. “I lost my hair, but chemo didn’t take me down,” she says. “I would go right from chemo to my desk and work the rest of the day.”
Lisa completed a second round of less aggressive chemotherapy in early 2017, and since then her cancer has not returned. Lisa continues to get her routine mammograms at the Breast Health Center.
“I’ve been blessed to have a great circle of family and close friends, and I have a stellar team of physicians,” she says. “The years ahead of me are about living my life with meaning and purpose. God has given me a second chance at life, and now I know I have the strength to fight any battle.”
To schedule a mammogram at the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey Breast Health Center, call 973-926-7466.