A Gift From One Breast Cancer Survivor To Another

She says she got cancer, but cancer didn’t get her. Three years later a survivor is in her litter corner trying to make a difference.

By: Tina Tyus-Shaw | WSAV-TV
Published: December 03, 2009

(Savannah)"The sleeve starts up here and you wear it until here to your risk." 47-year old Nancy Cintron is smart, sassy, and classy.
"I got cancer. Cancer didn't get me." 3 years after a full mastectomy and losing her lymph nodes, Nancy wrestles with Lymphedema in her left arm.
"The fluid is very painful. So the moment you don't have the sleeve on I wouldn't be able to get this jacket on." Her relief - a compression arm sleeve.
"The only time I take it off is when I shower. Super super important for a lot of women we can get Elephantitis and that's where the arm would get super big bigger than the other parts of your body or get really heavy." Concerned for uninsured and underinsured survivors, Nancy muscled financial support from friends. Her goal - improve survivors' comfort with free compression garments. "If getting sleeves. If starting a fund here. If talking about everything makes cancer better for someone else my hope is that whatever I went through these 5 years someone else won't have to go through the next 5 years because our medical field will be expanded." Compression garments are not covered by Medicare or many insurance policies. Nancy just set up a fund and donated more than $2,100 to the Transformation Station at The Lewis Cancer Pavilion. The money was raised during a party and an auction. It will pay for 40 compression sleeves for people who otherwise would not be able to afford one.