Photo By Staff Sgt. Kai Jensen | Sgt. 1st Class Dorothy Ruben, finance noncommissioned officer with the 76th...... read more read more
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SALT LAKE CITY — Wife, mother of two children, Soldier for 26 years and breast cancer survivor; Sgt. 1st Class Dorothy Ruben, finance noncommissioned officer with the 76th Operational Response Command, found out she had breast cancer September 2005 while going through a permanent change of station from Milwaukee to Boston.
“I didn't know how to react,” said the Chicago native and 53-year-old veteran. “I was puzzled and in disbelief, confused. I thought they were joking around and it couldn't happen to me.”
Ruben went in for a routine checkup in June of the same year but due to her PCS, didn't find out she had cancer until three months later in Boston.
“They called me and said ‘we did find something, its early stages but you need to come in.’” said Ruben. “When I started having different things done is when it really opened my eyes.”
She had to go back in for surgery where they made an incision and performed what they call a lumpectomy, where they take out only the certain part of where the lump is located. Following the surgery she had to go back in for 10 weeks of radiation and then start taking Tamoxifen, which is a chemotherapy pill.
In addition to the treatments and other hardships, she also had to deal with depression.
“I went through a small depression stage probably because I was still in denial,” she said. “There wasn’t much I could do because I wasn't working that much and I was always exhausted from the treatments. I always tried to do my radiation after lunch so that I could be off for the rest of the day.”
Ruben was fortunate enough to have an understanding Army Reserve unit that tried to help wherever they could.
“My unit helped me out a lot when they found out,” said Ruben. “They gave me whatever time I needed to do what I needed to do. My unit was outstanding.”
Supporting her through all of this was her family and husband, who made sure to drive here wherever she needed to be and support her however they could.
“My husband took it very well and he helped me a lot,” she said. “He was there to take me to the doctor and take me home, make sure I had something to eat and look out for me. He did everything, he was very supportive.”
Her daughter was there every step of the way as well and shared in her mother’s journey and struggles.
“My daughter was older at the time and she held her hand, she shared in my wife’s optimism,” said Harold Ruben, her husband of 20 years. “If my wife felt a little doubtful she was there to help motivate her.”
Now more than ten years later, and still in remission, Ruben stays active in her support of breast cancer awareness and regularly does at least one or two 5k races a year.
“I’m very proud of myself for being strong and committed to breast cancer because I think it is very important,” said Ruben. “I would tell anyone ‘go get tested, get screened. Make sure you’re taking those preventative measures because they mean a lot.”
For more information about breast cancer, and preventative measures you can take, visit www.cancer.org.
| Date Taken: | 10.18.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.18.2014 17:12 |
| Story ID: | 145416 |
| Location: | SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, US |
| Hometown: | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 248 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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