Donna Wilbur

Breast cancer survivor, volunteer

By Julia K. Agresto

Five years ago, Donna Wilbur received a shocking diagnosis that changed her life indefinitely – and in more ways than she could have foreseen at the time.

Wilbur, 59, of Concord, went in for a routine mammogram. Several hours later, after many films were taken, a radiologist told Wilbur the test had detected something suspicious, and an ultrasound would need to be performed to investigate this further.

It was during the ultrasound, Wilbur said, that she became scared, especially when the doctor recommended she undergo a needle biopsy the following day. In the meantime, she was escorted by a nurse to the hospital’s Breast Cancer Center to meet with a surgeon. It was then that the doctor delivered the news that she felt sure Wilbur had breast cancer.

“I was alone, and in shock ... and cried,” Wilbur said. “I felt numb. I have never really been sick, and no one in my family has had breast cancer.”

The most difficult next step, Wilbur said, was finding the words to break the news to her five children, who she had always tried to protect from pain. Suddenly, that was no longer an option. In the end, however, Wilbur said her children and husband, Ron, were her greatest support and strength throughout her ordeal with cancer.

Over the course of four months, Wilbur underwent two surgeries, followed by eight rounds of chemotherapy and 34 radiation treatments, after the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. She finished treatments a little more than four years ago and is approaching five years since her initial diagnosis on Nov. 11, 2004.

“The after effects of chemo and the side effects of my medication have presented my greatest obstacles,” she said. “I find it somewhat amazing how fatigued I still feel after four years, and I still have those moments when I just cannot remember a word or a name or an event. It can be frustrating.”

Today, Wilbur donates her time as a cancer resource volunteer for the American Cancer Society at NH Oncology-Hematology in Hooksett. She works with newly diagnosed cancer patients to connect them with resources and provide a comforting presence.

She talks with patients in the waiting room or the infusion center and tries to provide information and emotional support, as well as assisting with day-to-day needs whenever possible.

In addition, Wilbur is captain of one of the largest teams for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer (Concord), is on the planning committee for the Relay for Life, as well as chair of the Survivorship Committee, and is involved in a breast cancer support group at Concord Hospital. In the past, she has also volunteered with the Reach for Recovery program.

“Over the last few years, three women have lost their battle,” she said of the support group at Concord Hospital. “The pain and sadness of this only increases my determination to continue fighting for a cure.”

Going through breast cancer has turned Wilbur – normally a shy and quiet introvert – into a woman of action, determined to ease the cancer journey for others.

“Somehow, this cancer has empowered me with a passion I have never experienced before,” she said. “I have a need to give back; to do what I can to help ease the cancer experience for those in the midst of treatments. To fight for a cure, so that breast cancer is never a terminal illness or better yet, so that it ceases to exist.”

Julia K. Agresto is a freelance writer who lives in Dunstable, Mass.