Look Good...Feel Better | Press

Kathleen J. Nelson

When Kathleen J. Nelson was diagnosed with breast cancer the day after her 33rd birthday, she took charge of her diagnosis and became her best advocate.

"Every breast cancer is a fingerprint. It’s about you. My breast cancer isn’t going to be like the next person’s. It’s very unique to me; for example, I did dose-dense chemotherapy, which was every two weeks. I still went to the gym. I still dated. I still came into the office except for treatment days. I maintained my life throughout all of my treatment. The Hollywood version of cancer is very different from reality," Kathleen says.

She credits her optimism, winning attitude, and a dynamic support network for helping her cope with her disease and land on her feet nearly a year later.

"I am an information seeker in terms of the medical decisions that I had to make. I sought out opinions from the best hospitals I could find, I did research on-line, I talked to people at Georgetown Hospital's Lombardi Cancer Center, I talked to my family, and got second opinions from area hospitals. I decided that the most important thing to me was getting the best treatment locally because it was where I had my amazing support system: family, friends, co-workers, colleagues, and neighbors," she says.

Months after her diagnosis, Kathleen's social worker at Georgetown’s Lombardi Cancer Center, Tara Heery, encouraged her to go to Look Good…Feel Better. She attended the session and says that it helped her deal with the most difficult side effects of breast cancer treatment—losing her hair and the changes in her complexion.

"It was incredible. I was starting to lose my eyelashes and eyebrows so I needed the makeup tips to make it appear that I had them," she recalls. "Look Good…Feel Better was a wonderful class. I felt like that was a bit of a support group as well because there were two other women there who had not yet undergone their cancer treatment or weren’t as far along with it as I was. I felt like I could help them."

"Throughout my experience with cancer—I had to give my blood, I had to give my veins. I had to give myself. Look Good…Feel Better was giving back to me and it's great," says Kathleen.

Kathleen J. Nelson is a lobbyist for the International Dairy Foods Association in Washington, DC and resides on Capitol Hill. She was born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She holds a Masters degree in Management Communications and Public Relations from Emerson College in Boston and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Ms. Nelson also spent the summer abroad at Trinity College, Oxford University in England where she studied Shakespeare and modern British fiction. Her favorite pastimes include working on her home, fine dining, antiquing, and traveling.

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