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BY ERIKA ANDERSON
Staff Writer
ATLANTA--For the first time in 10 years, Monica Kaufman did not run in the
Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Instead, while the race was held Oct. 24,
Kaufman was recovering from her own surgery to remove breast cancer.
The WSB-TV anchor, who celebrated her 51st birthday Oct. 20, always
schedules her annual mammogram during her birth month, which happens to
coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness month. Her test Oct. 1 detected the
development of cancerous cells that had not yet formed a lump in her left
breast.
“No one will believe me, but there was not one hint of fear, I never
got nervous and I never got scared,” Kaufman said. “I firmly believe
that that comes from my religious beliefs.”
A parishioner of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Atlanta, Kaufman said while
others commented on her bravery, she insisted that she just had faith that
everything was in God’s hands.
“My prayer was never, ‘Lord, take this away from me,’”
she said. “My prayer was, ‘Thy will be done, O Lord, not mine.’
If you are really strong in your faith, then you don’t worry about the
outcome.”
When a biopsy confirmed the cancer, Kaufman’s reaction was simply,
“Okay, let’s get it out.” She even went into work that day.
“They sent me home, which really bothered me because I wanted to
work,” she said.
Kaufman’s main concern was for her husband of 10 years, Clarence Lott,
who she said became “very quiet” when he heard the news. Her daughter
Claire, 18, was initially upset, until her mother calmed her down.
“I told her that there was no need to cry, that everything would be
okay one way or the other,” Kaufman said. “On the day of my surgery,
she was fine.”
Dr. Grant Carlson, associate chief of surgical oncology at Emory University
Hospital, performed the lumpectomy to remove the cancerous cells on Oct. 9, the
day Kaufman refers to as her “rebirth.” Though she will be required
to have a mammogram every six months for the next five years, the prognosis is
excellent.
“There’s no guarantee that what I had won’t come back a year
from now and there is no guarantee that it won’t kill me down the road,
but I can’t worry about it,” she said. “It’s all in
God’s hands.”
Kaufman received hundreds of letters and gifts and prayers from viewers as
well as from her parish and other religious communities. Archbishop John F.
Donoghue also wrote Kaufman a letter to let her know she was in his prayers.
“It was really sweet of him to write me a note,” she said. “I
have received some of the sweetest calls and letters. I have also heard from
other religions who have had prayers over me. It just touches you so.”
Kaufman believes that everything happens for a reason and that “every
trial is a way of God sharpening you.” She has canceled all public
appearances until January in order to stay healthy. Kaufman’s family is
not predisposed to breast cancer and she hopes to prevent its recurrence by
losing weight and eating right.
“By the time I go in for my next mammogram, I want to have eaten right
and to have half of the weight that I’m trying to lose off,” she
said. “I’m going to do everything humanly possible to do what I can
to be healthy.”
“Your body is like a car,” she continued. “Things go wrong,
you get them fixed and you go on. The better you take care of it the longer it
will run. I’m just going to make some lifestyle changes that will keep me
purring a little better.”
Kaufman refers to her experiences as her “cancer glitch.”
“I refuse to dwell on sickness,” she said. “This is just a
bump in the road. This whole thing has just been amazing and it has taught me
to slow down.”
Kaufman also said she has learned a lot from her reaction to cancer.
“If I could have such inner peace about the breast cancer, then I
should be able to have that same peace about my schedule,” she said.
“I have found that since my surgery, I am applying that peace in my day to
day activities. It’s all about letting go.”
In a letter written to editors of Atlanta newspapers, she thanked viewers
and friends for their support, urged women over 40 to have an annual mammogram
and asked people to run in the Race for the Cure, a cause now even closer to
her heart.
Kaufman began running the race 10 years ago in honor of her friend and WSB
station publicist Anna Ornduff, who was dying of breast cancer. After her
death, Kaufman began running the race in memory of her. She believes that her
own experience with cancer was made easier by the women she has met through the
race.
“I’ve seen these women who had breast cancer 20 and 30 years ago
who are survivors and are doing great things,” she said. “They are
the ones who really paved the way for me and made me realize that this does not
have to be a death sentence.”
WSB, where Kaufman has worked for 23 years, sent a group of 20 people to the
race, which raised over $500,000 for breast cancer research. Kaufman said she
looks forward to next year when she will register in the survivors’ tent.
Firm in her belief that she is a survivor because of her strong faith in
God, Kaufman knows she has to live one day at a time.
“Whatever comes your way, you handle it and you handle it with
faith,” she said. “That’s the only way.”
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