Ortal Shitrit and Hadas Alkalai are two breast cancer survivors whose lives were saved by early detection. "I decided to share my journey, all the way from the moment of diagnosis to recovery, in order to encourage other women to go get checked. I know that because of my sharing my story, there are women who have gone for diagnosis and early detection of the disease and have gotten treatment in time. And that's why I'm revealing my story. Go get checked is not just a slogan. It saves lives," says Ortal Shitrit.
Today, with their treatment behind them, Shitrit and Alkalai look to the future with optimism, and they have undertaken to share their experience in order to save other lives. Last March, in honor of International Women's Day, they took part in a fund-raising campaign for "One in 9". This organization is calling on every man and woman to donate 9 ILS in order to make a significant impact together, raising awareness of how early detection saves lives.
"I'm a girl who does what she's told, and when they tell me to go get checked once a year, I go and get checked once a year, like clockwork," Shitrit says. "The day before the test that was the start of my diagnosis, I checked myself and felt a lump. During the examination the doctor felt the lump herself and sent me to do an ultrasound. When the ultrasound was done they told me that it seemed to be a lump of breast milk, and it should disappear within three months, and they asked me to make an appointment for another ultrasound in three months. I had a strong intuition that I shouldn't wait that long, and I decided to make an appointment for a month later. I didn't follow their recommendation to wait three months, and it's a good thing I didn't. The early detection saved my life."
"Based on my experience, I'm calling on other women to take responsibility and go get checked," says Hadas Alkalai. "I got there at the last moment so please do whatever you can not to get into my situation. I was saved by the skin of my teeth, and it could have ended very differently," she says. "I put the mammography referral aside and I was in no hurry to do it. I only did the test half a year later. I was busy with all the pressures of life and motherhood and unfortunately I wasn't on top of it."
Alkalai says that during the test she was asked if she had come for a routine test because her condition was abnormal and the tumor was already large and widespread. "All the way along, and even today, I blame myself for not being on top of things, and because I was in no rush to go get checked, the tumor was already advanced. I found myself telling my friends not to help me because my condition was my own fault. I also directed a lot of blame at the environment, my husband, why didn't they remind me, why didn't they insist. I felt ashamed and guilty and I experienced a really big miracle."
"One in 9 is the only organization in Israel that deals solely with breast cancer," says Tali Rozin, the organization's CEO and a breast cancer survivor herself. "We address ourselves to two audiences: the healthy population -- in order to raise awareness of the importance of life-saving early diagnosis, and the population of those with breast cancer and their families, for whom we offer a rich array of tools."
"Our support and mentoring coordinators mentor women from the first moment, we subsidize emotional treatments on a national scale, making them accessible to anyone who needs them, we have support groups, and mainly cancer-survivor volunteers who have undergone training and mentor the cancer patients in practice, coming from the understanding that only someone who has been there herself can really understand what you're going through. Our attorney helps women actualize their rights, we have an extensive informational website -- and this entire important, powerful operation subsists on donations only.
"Usually October, which is International Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is our most active month, but since October 7 Israel has been flooded with requests for donations, and we have completely forgotten that black October was originally colored pink," says Rozin. "For this reason, on International Women's Day, we embarked on a fundraising campaign that continues until now. So that we can continue to do our important work, we invite you to donate nine shekels and save a life
For more information and to donate: One in 9
This article was written in cooperation with One in 9