Woman walks for her 6 sisters with cancer
Bonsall, CA_9/30/2013_Marianne Masterson is leading a team in the Susan Komen breast cancer three-day walk in November. She's walking in honor of her sister, who died last year from breast cancer. Marianne, the youngest of seven sisters is the only one who hasn't been diagnosed with breast cancer. John Gastaldo/U-T San Diego/mandatory credit:John Gastaldo/UT SAN DIEGO/ZUMA PRESS - John Gastaldo— Blonde hair and sunny dispositions are hereditary traits shared by the seven Masterson sisters. But another, more sinister genetic marker has brought the Southern California-bred siblings both tragedy and a shared sense of purpose.
Six of the seven sisters were diagnosed with breast cancer in their early 50s, and one died from the disease last year. At 49, youngest sibling Marianne Masterson of Bonsall is the only one yet to be struck by the disease, but she knows it may be inevitable. Rather than live in fear, she has been inspired her to take action.
Over the past four years, Masterson has led a team in the annual Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk. Together they have raised more than $90,000 for breast cancer research.
"The walk is tough," Masterson said of the 60-mile trek through San Diego coming up Nov. 15-17. "But it's way better than chemo."
Born in Torrance, Masterson is the youngest of 11 children, born within a span of 16 years. There was no history of breast cancer in any branch of the family when second-eldest sister, Kathy Dunham, was diagnosed 14 years ago with an early-stage carcinoma. She was 52. Two years later, eldest sister Fran Dyer was diagnosed at 54. Over the next decade, sisters Nancy Usher, Sheila Presto, Linda Barron and Sue Kerby got the same unwelcome news. All were between the ages of 52 and 54.
Masterson said it was terrifying watching the disease spread like a slow fire through her family.
"By the time the fourth sister was diagnosed, we were all freaking out," she said.
Sisters Nancy Usher, left, Marianne Masterson, Sue Kerby, Fran Dyer, Sheila Presto, Kathy Dunham and Linda Barron. All of the sisters except Masterson have battled breast cancer. Presto died from the disease in 2012. CREDIT: Marianne MastersonDyer, who at 67 has been cancer-free for 12 years, said the toll cancer has taken on her family forced them all to re-evaluate their priorities.
"Our grandmothers lived to 90 and 95, so when we all got cancer, it was an eye-opener to each of us that we might not live forever and we needed to look at our lives and make sure we're living them to the fullest," said Dyer.
Three years after Dyer's cancer battle, she and her husband moved from Upland to Solana Beach, where they'd always planned to retire - they just accelerated the timetable by a decade. Barron, who was diagnosed at 54 and underwent chemotherapy to treat her stage 2 tumor, decided to retire early eight years ago and fulfill her lifelong dream of moving to Oregon.
"My sister Linda and I both know cancer is running around in our bodies and there's a timetable, so we have to do whatever we can to live our lives and keep ourselves watching for it so it doesn't come back a second time," Dyer said.
Masterson, who works as a business manager for Leidos Holdings (formerly SAIC) in San Diego, went to a gene-testing clinic seven years ago to get some answers, but they weren't what she wanted to hear.
"He said with our family history it isn't a matter of if I'll get breast cancer, it's when," she said. "I was shocked and taken aback. I was in my early 40s at the time and I wasn't ready for that."