Lori’s Story: A diagnosis, baseball and a race with Fox Chase
When an unexpected cancer diagnosis hit her immediate family, Lori Giampaolo knew it would be beneficial to do anything she could to prioritize her own health.
“I started running about 15 years ago,” she said, “oddly enough, when my brother was diagnosed with kidney cancer.”
Giampaolo, now 50, reflects on the investment in herself as highly prudent considering the imminent battle she was unaware would soon be heading her way.
“When he was diagnosed, I thought, I have to do what I can to reduce my risk factors, having no idea that just years later I’d be diagnosed with breast cancer,” she said.
Giampaolo recognizes the cruel irony in her diagnosis despite her continued efforts to keep her health at the forefront.
“I know … we’re just batting 1.000 here,” she added with a self-deprecating laugh.
A baseball pun fit for a Philadelphia-born mother of two who leads a self-proclaimed “huge Phillies household” — and one who, roughly six years from her diagnosis, celebrated being cancer free by participating in the Phillies Charities 5K presented by Fox Chase Cancer Center, the very treatment center she credits with saving her life in more ways than one.
The news came the week between Christmas and New Year’s in 2017: stage 3A breast cancer. Not exactly the gift Lori had been hoping Santa would leave under the tree.
“Merry Christmas, right?” She quipped sarcastically when walking through the story of her diagnosis.
Cancer certainly did not change her sense of humor, but her perspective on life was a whole different story.
Over five years out from countless infusions, rounds of chemo and radiation, targeted therapies and a double mastectomy, Giampaolo finds herself feeling nothing but immense gratitude.
“I am grateful for so much. I am beyond grateful for Fox Chase … it’s one thing for someone to say, ‘okay, this is your treatment plan. We’re going to do A, B, C and D.’ But it’s another thing to then provide a whole level of support, confidence, hope and belief that goes well beyond the treatment plan, and I am so grateful for that. It’s hard for me to put into words.”
She cites one story specifically that she believes aptly sums up the great lengths that Fox Chase went to personalize her care.
As her medical oncologist, Dr. Angela Jain, rattled off the laundry list of side effects she may experience through chemo, Giampaolo grew numb.
“The list goes on and on,” Giampaolo said, “and I’m sitting there thinking, okay, okay. I got this, no problem. I’ll get through it.”
Until Jain hit the last side effect. The one that sucked the air right out of the hospital room.
“She saved the best for last. She [Jain] says, ‘you’re guaranteed to lose your hair.’”
Aware of what comes with chemo, hair loss felt inevitable, but something about hearing it as a guarantee struck a chord Giampaolo was not expecting.
“I literally cried and cried and cried — harder than when I was diagnosed,” she said.
Dr. Jain offered a simple suggestion to mitigate the expected pain that would come with losing the long, red hair that fell at her mid back.
“She said, ‘here’s what I am going to offer you, why don’t you start getting it cut now? Get it cut up to your shoulders, and while that may not make sense to you now, it will slightly lessen the pain when it falls out, because there’s going to be less to fall out.’”
To Lori, a small gesture and suggestion like that meant everything.
“That may seem insignificant to someone who hasn’t been through this journey,” she said, “but to me, it meant the world. Just like the after-hours phone calls, it was the little things my team at Fox Chase provided that made all the difference.”
This year’s Phillies 5K was a soaker. The forecast called for a downpour and the rainfall remained heavy and steady throughout the race. But it didn’t deter Giampaolo. Over five years cancer free, she feels her proverbial parade is incapable of being rained on.
“The best thing my diagnosis taught me,” she said, “is to live my best life and not sweat the small stuff. At the end of the day, that stuff doesn’t matter. I want to look back and think of all the wonderful memories I’ve had and all the great things I’ve experienced, and I am going to do exactly that.”
-Beyond The Bell Contributor Missy Perez
