By Amy Bertrand, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 11, 2007

When Elizabeth Edwards, author, lawyer and wife of presidential hopeful John Edwards, announced recently that she had a recurrence of breast cancer, Bridget Marzette-Bender felt for her.

She''s been there.

After fighting breast cancer with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy just two years ago, she''s fighting it again, in another breast.

But this time, she says, it''s different.

"I know what to expect," she says. "I know I''ve got this great support. I''ve got faith. I''ll be fine."

The first time

Marzette-Bender has always been vigilant about her own breast health; she watched her maternal aunt die in her 40s of breast cancer. Marzette-Bender started to undergo mammograms at age 35, but it was at a mammogram shortly after her 40th birthday, in 2005, that she got the news.

"It''s so strange," she says. "I didn''t think much of it. I told my co-workers that I was going to get my breast slammed in a garage door, be back in an hour. I had no idea."

When doctors read her mammogram that day, they noticed something wasn''t quite right and ordered an immediate ultrasound.

"The radiologist said he was pretty sure it was breast cancer, but he said I''d be OK because they caught it early," Marzette-Bender recalls. "My first thought was, ''How will I break the news to my family?''"

She came back the next day for a biopsy, telling only her best friend, who went with her.

"I just couldn''t put my mom through it again; it was her sister who died. And I didn''t want to tell my husband or kids until I knew for sure."

The results of the biopsy confirmed her worst fear: breast cancer.

That evening, she told her husband, Shawn Bender. "He said, ''I knew it. You didn''t say anything about your mammogram, and I just knew it.''"

The first treatment

After reviewing options with her doctors at Siteman Cancer Center, Marzette-Bender decided to go with a lumpectomy and breast reduction. By reducing the amount of breast tissue, she says, she hoped to reduce the chances for recurrence while still preserving her breast.

The type of breast cancer she had, HER2-positive, is an aggressive type of cancer that doesn''t respond well to traditional hormone treatments.

Her chemotherapy was aggressive. First, she underwent four treatments (every three weeks) of a concoction called "the red devil," then 12 weeks of Taxol and Herceptin, then 40 weeks of Herceptin.

"I was on chemo for over a year," she says.

She lost her hair — eyebrows, eyelashes and the hair on her head and body.

"I had no idea that meant all your hair," she says.

Her nailbeds turned dark, she experienced some tingling and numbness, and she suffered from some horrible headaches.

Then came six weeks of radiation.

"The radiation actually beat me down more than the chemo," she says. "I was just so tired." That was caused partly by the fact that she was anemic before the cancer; she even had to get an infusion of iron before the treatments.

Dealing with it

All the while, Marzette-Bender was trying to keep her family and job life running as smoothly as possible.

"It was rough," she says. "I never threw up, and I missed minimal work, but I was tired." She also had to keep her three children coming and going in the right directions — from visiting colleges to Scouts to sports.

"Doing all that kept me from thinking about what I was going through," she says. "We just tried to keep it business as usual."

That doesn''t mean she didn''t have or accept help. Her husband, parents, siblings and friends stepped in when needed.

"I was used to doing so much, but I had to realize I couldn''t do it all," she says. "I had to take my Superwoman cape off, hang it up in the closet. But I kept that closet door open, and I''d wave at it, and I said, ''I''ll put you back on in a year.''"

And her religious faith helped her through things, too.

"I say, ''If you have the faith of a mustard seed, that''s all you need.'' And a mustard seed is very small. … I look back now and think I really have been through a lot, but look how far I''ve come.

"You hear cancer, and my mind immediately went to my aunt and how sick she was, but the technology is so much different today."

She even noticed a change in the technology when she got diagnosed a second time, just two years later.

The second time

Having finished radiation and the Herceptin treatments at the end of last year, Marzette-Bender started to feel as if she had conquered something. But with HER2-positive cancer, she says, she always believed it could come back.

No one expected it would be just a few months later. In March, at a regularly scheduled mammogram, doctors noticed a small calcification in her left breast. It was a small, noninvasive carcinoma this time, but cancer nonetheless. "However, they told me it was the best news they could tell me," she says.

On March 20 she had surgery to remove the lump. It was the day after a friend of hers at work had died of breast cancer.

"It seems it''s all around sometimes," she says.

This time, instead of six weeks of radiation, she''s undergoing five days of treatment. She underwent surgery to have catheters with 18 wires put into her breast.

"I look like the bionic woman," she says.

The treatments last just 15 minutes twice a day for five days.

"It''s so much better than the last time," she says. "I can do five days."

She says cancer the second time around has been much easier on her and her family.

"This time we know what to expect," she says. "The kids aren''t wondering ''what if.''"

The race

In 2005, Marzette-Bender took part in her first Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. "Wig and all," she says.

Her husband, kids, parents, siblings and their families and friends joined her on the 5K walk.

"It''s emotional," she says. "You see people younger than I am, and then there are those in their 80s with pink shirts. A lot of people are surviving it, and that''s just amazing to see. You see all this pink, 60,000 people getting along, all there to celebrate someone. You don''t understand until you see it."

The future

Marzette-Bender is undergoing genetic testing to see whether she has a specific gene that makes her more susceptible to recurrences and to ovarian cancer. If she tests positive, she''ll probably undergo a bilateral mastectomy and have her ovaries removed.

She says she''ll teach her daughters Briana, 17, and Micah, 10, about self-exams and about their risks when they are older.

"I don''t want to scare them now," she says.

She calls her daughters and her son, Nicholas, 18, "great kids — and great support. They''ve been through a lot."

SUSAN G. KOMEN RACE FOR THE CURE

When: Saturday (Events begin at 6:30 a.m.; race starts at 8:45 a.m. for runners, 9 a.m. for walkers)

Where: Downtown St. Louis, across from City Hall

How much: $20 to $30

More info: www.komenstlouis.org