4 local women battle breast cancer
BY JORDAN TROUTMAN jtroutman@cassville-democrat.com
In 2024, Power of Pink gave out $13,360.73 to four women undergoing breast cancer treatment.
Janice McCracken founder and organizer of Power of Pink said 2024, its 14th year, has been the biggest yet.
A total of $53,442.90 was raised and donated in 2024, bringing the 14-year total to $415,265.51 and 54 women.
Meet the 2024 Power of Pink recipients and follow the Cassville Democrat throughout the month of October as they share their breast cancer journeys.
Karen Waltrip
Waltrip is a 39-year-old woman with two adult daughters and two grandsons, she is engaged to her fiancé and looks forward to their life together with his two young daughters.
She was 37 years old when she first felt a lump on her right breast. She went to her doctor who determined it was an enlarged fibroid. When the lump came back in 2023, she made an appointment with her doctor who decided a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound should be scheduled.
She went in for those procedures on Oct. 18, 2023. A biopsy was done on Oct. 31, 2023, and on Nov. 2, she was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.
Waltrip underwent a total mastectomy in December and began chemotherapy in January 2024.
Waltrip said she is grateful that the cancer was caught before it spread, and she is thankful to be a part of the Power of pink with women who have fought the same battle.
Manna Koopman
Koopman is a 39-year-old mother of two young girls.
In September 2022, she felt a lump on her left breast; when she went to her doctor they told her it was fibroadenoma.
By March 2023, the lump had grown significantly, but her doctor was not concerned. In July 2023, she knew something was wrong when she felt the lump in her armpit.
A biopsy was done, and on July 26, 2023, she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, stage 3.
This is a very aggressive breast cancer, and Koopman felt like she was in the dark as to what it meant exactly, so she got home from the doctor and researched.
Koopman said she felt overwhelmed and as if she was just handed a death sentence, so she and her husband sat together and cried.
She has always leaned toward the holistic side of medicine and through research found a doctor in Fayetteville that she felt was her best chance for survival.
She underwent chemotherapy, along with multiple injections, therapies, natural supplements and a strict diet, followed by a double mastectomy.
She is thankful to the Power of Pink and the people who work tirelessly to help others.
Most importantly, she refuses to let her young children live a day without her — they need her.
Twyla McInturff
McInturff has been married to her high school sweetheart for 52 years and has four children and 12 grandchildren.
In 2010 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a bilateral mastectomy, followed by hormone blockers for 10 years.
She was one of the first Power of Pink recipients and was given $1,000.
In 2018, she found a lump on her scar line, almost exactly where she felt the lump the first time.
Her doctors believed it was scar tissue and nothing to worry about. Although she received an ultrasound and an MRI every year, she was given the same response, “Its scar tissue, nothing to worry about.”
She persisted in asking every year why they would just do a biopsy and remove it. Once it started to grow, she was given the same answers.
Her oncologist dismissed her concerns and told her to let the doctors do their jobs.
Once she finally got confirmation that it was in fact cancer again, her “ex” oncologist said if it had been taken care of the first time she went in with complaints about the lump, five years ago, she would not have cancer now.
McInturff now has a different oncologist.
She underwent surgery and radiation, and when her onco score came back showing a high chance of recurrence, she was told she needed chemotherapy.
McInturff is chemical sensitive and decided to go a different route, now on medication that has significant side effects. However, McInturff said she is making it.
She said she is honored to be chosen as a Power of Pink recent in 2024.
Marsha Williams
Williams is a 63-year-old mother of three and grandmother of six, raising two of her grandsons after her oldest son passed away in 2016.
She and her husband have been married for 44 years.
Williams went in for her annual mammogram in Monett, they she received a call telling her she would need to go to Springfield for another mammogram. This wasn’t a surprise for her as it had happened many times.
But after the mammogram in Springfield they told her she would need an ultrasound as well. She began to feel nervous when her doctor began circling areas on her scans.
They told her they had found something.
Williams said she doesn’t think anyone is ever prepared to hear the word Cancer, and her first thought was of her grandsons and who would raise them.
She has undergone several procedures, as well as radiation.
Williams said God has been with her every step of the way, and her family and friends have been supportive.
She is honored to be a Power of Pink recipient and to represent the ladies who are battling breast cancer.
