By Amanda Mlekush
After her husband reminded her several times, Andrea Anderson scheduled her first mammogram with the mobile unit that comes to the Boone campus of App State. Through a partnership with Novant Health, App State’s Health Promotion for Faculty and Staff coordinates with the health system to offer convenient monthly on-campus mammograms for employees.
Anderson said she was unprepared when the routine screening detected breast cancer, not long after she celebrated her 40th birthday.
“I didn’t have a family history of breast cancer, and, like many women, I was busy juggling priorities with work, and my family. I never imagined that the mammogram would detect cancer,” said Anderson, who is the director of the Lucy Brock Child Development Lab which is part of the Reich College of Education.
After having a second, diagnostic mammogram followed by an ultrasound and a breast biopsy, Anderson learned she had Stage 1 breast cancer, and underwent a lumpectomy followed by 36 radiation treatments at UNC Health Appalachian in Boone.
She said the hardest part of her cancer journey might have been sharing the news with her then eight-year-old son, Jackson. “I can remember what I was wearing and what he was wearing when I told him, and how we were sitting on the couch together,” she said. “When I told him about the diagnosis, he was scared I was going to die. I explained to him what was going to happen, and that our lives were going to be different.”
Sharing the news with Jackson also gave Anderson an opportunity to encourage and mentor her son when he faced obstacles of his own.
“I wanted him to know that you can do hard things. Life is going to throw you some curveballs, and you’ve got to take action and put some feet to it,” she said. “I wanted him to see that, and to be honest with him about what I was going to be going through.”
Cancer Diagnosis Sparks Desire To Emphasize Healthy Habits
The battle with cancer sparked the beginning of Anderson’s desire to reclaim her health through a regimen of regular exercise and a modified diet.
During her radiation treatments, she said she began visiting the employee fitness area in Varsity Gym and participating in personal training and other exercises offered by Health Promotion for Faculty and Staff.
“At lunch, I would go and get on the elliptical, listen to The White Stripes while I tried to sweat out the toxins from radiation,” she said. “In addition to helping my physical health, I began to realize that it was also helping my mental health too.” -- Andrea Anderson (shown during one of her mid-day workouts at App State's Health Promotion for Faculty and Staff in Varsity Gym.)
Working out mid-day at the Boone campus facilities has been a habit that Anderson has continued, even 11 years later as she celebrates her milestone ‘cancer-versary’ in October.
“Through this experience, I have learned that I have to prioritize my health and there is nothing anyone else–even my husband or my son–can do. It’s on me to try and be as healthy as I can be, and to take time to exercise and practice self-care,” she said.
When Anderson visits Health Promotion for Faculty and Staff’s Varsity Gym location, she often encounters some of her biggest health and wellness cheering section.
“It’s nice to work in a place where people care about your health and want you to be well,” she said. “Steff and the other staff at Health Promotion share in your triumphs, and they encourage you when you’re struggling, and help you see the progress you’re making.”
In addition to making her health a priority, Anderson has also continued to excel professionally, earning her doctorate in Educational Leadership from App State in 2020. In 2023, she was recognized as a Women of Action honoree by the Boone Chamber of Commerce, and received the Reich College of Education’s Outstanding Leadership Award in 2022.
App State Offers Employees Convenience In Prioritizing Health
Making mammograms–and other preventive health screenings–convenient for faculty, staff and retirees of the university is one of the core principles for Health Promotion for Faculty and Staff, said Director Steff McDaniel.
“Our mission is to help university employees manage–and even improve their health–by reducing some of the barriers to preventive screenings and offering exercise facilities that can be used before, during or after their work day,” said Steff McDaniel, director of Health Promotion for Faculty and Staff. “The on-site mobile mammograms that Andrea was able to utilize began as a collaboration 20 years ago with Novant Health’s Breast Center. Our mobile mammography outreach has grown over the years as more employees have begun utilizing the service, which allows us to offer more dates for the screening.”
McDaniel shared that on average, about 175 of App State’s employees schedule a mammogram during a calendar year. In 2023, 20 of the participants who had a screening mammogram needed additional testing based on the screening.
For App State employees interested in scheduling an on-campus mammogram for one of the three remaining dates in 2024, visit https://employeewellness.appstate.edu/hpfs/screenings/mammograms
Woman smiles as she stands next to an elliptical machine
Andrea Anderson is an 11-year breast cancer survivor