Going for the cure

Glenna Gasper has spent much of the last decade supporting people through their cancer journeys. She and her husband, Andrew Gasper, who served in the Marine Corps, started a support group for military servicemembers after finding so many struggling with the cancer experience — one Glenna knows far too well.

Glenna first felt a lump in her breast in 2014, but after a few days, she could not find it again. She still felt uneasy about her discovery and mentioned it at her next routine mammogram. At that appointment, the doctor discovered the lump had not gone away, and Glenna was taken for a biopsy.

“I kind of had a gut feeling,” Glenna recalls thinking. “I knew cancer was a possibility at that point.”

Unfortunately, Glenna was right. She was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer, which meant a tumor had grown and spread into her lymph nodes.

Glenna was referred to Dr. Jennifer Fisher, a Sharp Community Medical Group oncologist affiliated with Sharp Memorial Hospital who specializes in breast cancer.

Waiting for surgery

Glenna remembers the period between the diagnosis and surgery as challenging. She struggled to deal with the unknowns in front of her. However, she quickly learned she could lean on the members of the oncology navigator team who were assigned to see her through the process.

“I’m not sure I would have made it through the first weekend without having that available,” Glenna says. “Nurse Navigator Maureen Wallace called me. She listened. She understood my fears because she, too, was a breast cancer survivor. She just laid out what I was experiencing and helped me understand it.”

According to Dr. Fisher, she and the others on the oncology team take a personalized approach. “As with all my patients, I needed to get to know Glenna to understand her concerns so I could help her make the best decisions to get the best possible outcomes for her,” she says.

Glenna appreciated Dr. Fisher’s method. “She has the mannerisms to be very matter-of-fact, which I appreciated, yet so incredibly comforting at the same time,” Glenna says. “I remember asking her whether my cancer could be cured or if it was something that could only be treated. I’ll never forget it — Dr. Fisher said, ‘Girlfriend, we’re going for the cure.’”

Sharing what she’s learned

The surgery to remove Glenna’s tumor was successful. And though the process of going through cancer was difficult, Glenna says she would not trade the experience.

She began sharing her story with friends and family in similar circumstances, then went a step further. In 2016, she and her husband started the support group for military servicemembers, hosting a monthly luncheon for those experiencing various forms of cancer and their families.

“A big lesson I try to pass on is that attitude is huge,” Glenna says. "I had a healthy attitude and remained positive. But I’m also so glad that I ended up with Dr. Fisher and the team at Sharp Memorial who made me feel cared for like I was part of a family.”

Through the group for servicemembers, Glenna now feels she can help deliver similar emotional support to the kind that helped guide her through her own cancer journey. “I’d always felt a purpose,” she says, “but breast cancer showed me an avenue to really serve others.”

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