Farr's frightening foe LPGA learns realities of breast cancer…
players ask why.

Jerry Potter / USA Today 7nov91

COVER STORY

DISEASE KNOWS KNOWS NO BOUNDS: Heather Farr was the first of four in the LPGA to be diagnosed with breast cancer 1989. Recovering, she hopes to return to the tour in 1993

After being diagnosed with breast cancer last spring, Suzanne Jackson had a nightmare that wouldn't go away.

"In my dream, a doctor was telling me. 'You have cancer.' " Jackson says. my friends were standing In the background, and I kept saying, "Come on, now. This is a joke. Tell me it's a joke."

Jackson, tournament director rector for the Ladies Professional Golf Association and the tour's unofficial jester, would awaken to the reality that she was one of 175,000 U.S. women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. She also fit into a smaller class. She was the third of four women in the LPGA to be diagnosed with breast cancer in two years.

The first vas Heather Farr in July 1989. Kathy Ahern was next and the latest was Shelley Hamlin last July.

Farr has had several types of surgery and a bone marrow transplant. She is recovering slowly in Phoenix and hopes to play the tour again in 1993.

Hamlin had a mastectomy in July. Because the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes, she recovered and returned to the tour in September.

Jackson had iridium implants and chemotherapy and is recovering at her home near Palm Springs, California. She hopes to resume her duties with the tour in January

Ahern discovered a lump between her breasts in the spring. She had it removed and had radiation treatment and returned to the tour in the fall. She played in nine events. Their experiences have had a sobering effect on other members of the tour. Some players are frightened. More took advantage ot mammography’s that were given twice this season — in May at the Sara Lee Classic and in July at the U.S. Women's Open.

"I think it's natural for us to he concerned," says Judy Dickinson, a player and president of the LPGA. "We've had four people stricken in two years and players are asking 'Why now? Am I next? I don't know. Maybe it's a coincidence."

Four cases in a group of approximately 200 women is well under the national average of one in nine women. That average is based on a lifetime, so some players might be detected later in life.

"When I first visited my doctor," says Farr, 26, "I explained to him what I do for a living. He asked, "How many other women in your profession have breast cancer?' I said 'None.' He said 'Your a very lucky group or ladies. On the average, you should have 15 to 20."'

Luck might be the best explanation, but Dickinson says she and others are concerned about the environment in which they work. "We’re beginning to wonder," says Dickinson, "because we've played among these chemicals all these years"

Golf courses are constantly sprayed with chemicals, everything from fertilizer to pesticides. Most pro golfers have played the game since they were 8 or IO years old and have been exposed to chemicals for decades.

According to Dr. Melvin Reuber ot the Washington, D.C based National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, 10 pesticides used on turf are known carcinogens.

He says lab studies showed female rats that ingested the herbicide 2,4-D developed breast cancer.

Because of those studies, certain pesticides must be considered "potential carcinogens in humans, and more specifically in women," Reuber says.

Farr says no one has mentioned chemicals as a factor in her case, adding "I think the law of averages finally caught up with us"

Dr. Edward Wolin, an oncologist with Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angels says female golfers face greater risks than exposure to chemicals

s Female athletes often take hormones and birth control pills to manipulate their menstrual cycles. s They often delay childbirth, which hinders the cleansing process created by lactation

Heredity can double the risk. If a woman has a close relative who had breast cancer— especially if she got it in both breasts at an early age—the risk level is much higher than the one-in-nine rate.

"There is definately some genetic factor," says Wolin, who treats Farr. "But unfortunately there are plenty of times when we have no good reason.”

According to the National Cancer institute, 60% of women who get breast cancer have no known risk factors.

SUZANNE JACKSON:

Got treatment immediately.

Farr was in U at 60%. At the time she was diagnosed she was 24, 11 years shy of the critical age range of 35-55. She seldom drank, never smoked, exercised frequently and ate a low-fat diet. Last July, Farr sued two doctors who treated her in February and April 1989. The suit charges they miss Diagnosed her as having a benign, fibrous tumor. In July 1989, a biopsy revealed cancer. There's no real mystery in Heather's case," says her attorney, Charles Brewer, "Early detection is the key." Jackson reacted quickly once she discovered a lump in her breast last March. If I hadn't been aware ot Heather’s situation, I might have procrastinated a little.

"The frightening part for me is, who else is put there with a time bomb in her chest, and she doesn't even know it? I didn’t have a due that I was ill. I felt like a million bucks." This year, LPGA players donated earnings from weekly pro-ams to a fund for Farr, who has no insurance. Farr used part of the money, and Dickinson says some or it might be used to educate players about the disease.

"We're thinking about bringing in some expert at the beginning of next season to talk with us about it," says Dickinson. We’re concerned about insurance coverage" Farr and Jackson have had a few telephone conversations comparing problems of coping with their treatment, which can cause hair loss.

"I ask Heather how many different ways you could tie a scarf so that it would look like you have hair," says Jackson. "She answered a lot of questions that no one else can answer."

Jackson plans to ease into her duties as tournament director when the tour starts early next year. It’s a stressful job, which she says might have led to her illness. She controls the tournament, applying the rules and determining when play is stopped in inclement weather. She works 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week for a month at a time. "The buck stops with me," she says "When it comes to difficult decisions, the ultimate responsibility is mine." Aside from the stress, she knows no other reason for her getting breast cancer. “I liked to have a cocktail with friends," she says, "but I did everything in moderation." Although Jackson considers herself cured ("In my mind I don't have cancer. I had cancer")—she still asks that nagging question: Why me?

"I don't know what caused it," she says. “ The bottom line is ... sometimes you're just darn unlucky."