You can

do it girl!
Teacher nds fun
ways to motivate
herself through
cancer treatment
Eastern Idaho Regional
Medical Center presents
The Pink Pages
Sunday, Oct. 20, 2013
2 Sunday, Oct. 20, 2013 Breast Cancer Awareness Post Register
To schedule an appointment
at the EIRMC Imaging Center
Call 227-2612
By Casey Archibald
carchibald@postregister.com
A
mie Croft recently battled can-
cer for several months but she
does not consider herself a
cancer patient.
What does that make her?
Amie Crof is a school teacher, a wife,
and the mother of two beautiful daugh-
ters. Her experience with cancer does not
defne who she is as an individual, nor did
she let it control her life.
Amies husband Jason Crof said this of
his wife, She didnt see herself as [a can-
cer patient] and she didnt act like one. She
was so strong and she has just been a rock
in our family. She is quite honestly the
strongest woman I have ever met and I am
happy to be married to her.
Amies fght with cancer began when
she was grading papers at 2 a.m. on Nov.
14 of last year for one of her junior high
school American history classes. She had
an itch and when she scratched it she felt
something strange on one of her breasts.
Afer a few moments she realized that
something wasnt right. Her husband
woke up when she crawled into bed and
she told him that something was wrong.
Afer a several examinations and a bi-
opsy, the Crof family lef on a trip to Port-
land to visit family for Tanksgiving. Tey
had it planned for a while and they didnt
want to cancel the trip and disappoint
their 14- and 11-year-old daughters.
On Monday, Amie called her phy-
sician, Molly Phillip, but she wasnt in
the of ce. Te next day she called again
and Phillip asked Amie if she was sitting
down. Immediately Amie knew what
her doctor was going to say.
All Amie heard on the line was I
am sorry to tell you this, but you have
cancer. Afer that, the shock of the bad
news caused her to tune out and she
couldnt even remember what kind of
breast cancer it was so she could tell her
husband and brother-in-law.
For the majority of the trip, Amie
just tried to enjoy her family and ignore
the reality that she had breast cancer
for a few days. When she fnally had a
moment to let things sink in, she went
into her Aunt Sues garage to have some
privacy and think. She only sat there for
a few minutes when suddenly the door
locked from the inside. She thought,
Really? Tis too? She knocked, but at
frst no one answered. She thought she
would have to sleep in the garage.
I knocked again and my Aunt Sues
arms were just out to give me a hug,
said Amie. Tat was really a special
time because it was the beginning of me
recognizing that people would be there
for me and I am not alone.
Amie said she remembers talking to
her Aunt Sue about the diagnosis and
feeling an eerie question of What if?
Her family members asked questions
like What if your hair falls out? and
What if you have to have your breast
removed?
Te response? I dont care as long as
I can live to see my daughters grow up.
Tats all that matters to me.
Amie described the next few weeks as
a whirlwind of doctors appointments.
Despite the whirlwind, she was able
to continue on with her life as best as she
could as if she had never been diagnosed.
Tough she took some days of for
surgery and some half days for her che-
motherapy, she hardly ever missed a day
of work at Taylorview Middle School.
Taking time of work was never an
option for me as long as I was able, said
Amie. I would never do anything to
jeopardize [my students] education, but
it made things so much easier to be able
to go in and be with my kids. Tey are
my kids, I wanted to be there.
Her students were an essential part of
Amie not letting the cancer defne her.
Part of that was because of how open
she was with them. She told them exact-
ly what was going on, that she would be
losing her hair and that every Friday she
might come in with a bright pink face
because of the chemotherapy. Her stu-
dents called it her Chemo Glow.
Being open with my kids took the
elephant out of the room and made ev-
erything more bearable, she said.
Because of her hair loss from the che-
motherapy, Amie wore a variety of dif-
ferent wigs to school. One day she would
wear her blonde wig, the next day she
would wear her red one and so on.
At school one day, one of her stu-
dents was sitting at his desk before class
had started. Te curious boy looked at
her hair and said Wow, Mrs. Crof, you
changed your hair again?
I am wearing a wig, Amie whispered.
Huh?
Its a wig, she said again.
What?
Im bald.
Te boys eyes got wide and he got up
from his desk. I have to go to the bath-
room now.
Amie said she hopes he didnt scare
him too bad. She also said she loved ex-
periences like this one because it helped
her deal with the cancer and feel like
things were normal.
Te whole time thats what I had to
do was fnd the fun in it, said Amie. Its
okay to joke about being bald. I would try
to make a joke about it and try to fnd the
positive. You cant just let it ruin your life.
One such experience occurred when
Amie began to lose her eyelashes. As they
became more sparse she began counting
how many she had lef. When she was
down to three on each eye her 11-year-old
daughter piped up and said SpongeBob
has three eyelashes on each eye!
Te Crofs were able to laugh about
the experience and Jason said he
couldnt believe his daughter compared
her mother to SpongeBob.
Te last day of chemo was May 30th
of this year. Amie wore all pink clothes
and a bright pink wig to her appoint-
ment. To her, it was a celebration. She
even wore the outft to her daughters
soccer game later that night.
A week later she took a trip to Wash-
ington D.C., Philadelphia and New York
with some of her eighth graders. She
said looking forward to that trip was
part of what go her through the weeks of
chemotherapy.
Amies students supported her in a va-
riety of ways. Tey would ask questions,
which Amie would happily answer, they
would help her count down her chemo-
therapy and radiation appointments and
they all wore pink clothes or breast can-
cer ribbons on her last day of radiation.
Amies support didnt stop with her
students. Many of her friends wrote
cards and letters, brought her meals,
made her hats, decorated her house in
pink and donated money for her to pur-
chase some wigs. One day, one of her
fellow teachers that was on a teaching
team with Amie, approached her and
said that some people, who wished to
remain anonymous, wanted to put some
money in to buy Amie a wig because
they knew how important her long hair
was to her before she lost it.
Even though Amie was hesitant to
accept the offer, they were insistent.
From what she could gather, Amie
guessed that it was two women that
donated the money but she doesnt
know for sure. She calls them her an-
gels. They contributed $800 for her to
purchase a wig.
Te wig and a few care supplies came
to less than $400. Amie tried to give the
money back to her angels so they could
help someone else who might need a
wig, but they asked their messenger to
tell Amie to keep the money and use it
on her daughters because they deserved
to feel as beautiful as their mother does
in her new wig.
Amie was able to write a card to thank
her angels. She said the experience
humbled her and makes her more con-
scious of the people around her because
you never know who is helping you. I
want to be just like them, she said.
See Crof, page 3
Photos by Casey Archibald/carchibald@postregister.com
Amie Croft sits in her classroom at Taylorview Middle School. Cover: Amie
Croft shows off her pink wig she wore during her cancer treatment.
Teacher nds fun
ways to motivate
herself through
cancer treatment
Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center Breast Cancer Awareness Sunday, Oct. 20, 2013 3
The ins and outs of mammography:
Straight from the Imaging Center Experts
EIRMC Imaging Center
1670 John Adams Pkwy,
Idaho Falls, ID 83404
Call 535.4556 to book your
mammogram today!
Mammo Mondays!
Girls Day Out for Education and Early Detection.
October 7, 14, 21, 28

Bring you and your friends for complimentary:

Enter to win a $500 giftcard to East Falls Plastic Surgery.


Education and
information about
breast cancer and
self-exams
Lip waxing
Skin care and
make-up consults

Giveaways
f
i
g
h
t
f
o
r
a
Proceeds to beneft
American Cancer Societys
Reach to Recovery program
3310 Valencia Dr.
Idaho Falls, ID
(Half block east of EIRMC;
next door to Sunnyside Gardens)
OCTOBER 26, 2013
10:00 AM TO 4:00 PM
A Breast Cancer Beneft
Join us to support this great cause!
For information, call
208.681.8926
Submitted by EIRMC
Some women believe that hav-
ing a mammogram is a very time
consuming process, but actually
it is simple. A routine screening
mammography examination
consists of taking two radiograph-
ic images of each breast, typically
averaging 7-10 minutes for each
patient.
Many women think that since
their mother, grandmother, or sis-
ters do not have breast cancer they
will not ever get it either. Actually,
the American Cancer Society cites
that 80-85 percent of women diag-
nosed with breast cancer have NO
family history of the disease.
Not just senior women are di-
agnosed with breast cancer. Twenty
fve percent of women diagnosed
with breast cancer are younger
than 50.
Some women may be concerned
about the radiation dose received
during a mammography examina-
tion. According to the National Can-
cer Institute, mammograms require
very small doses of radiation. In fact,
the radiation dose received during
a routine screening mammography
examination is 0.7mSV (the same
approximate dose as 3 months of
comparable natural background
radiation exposure).
Women who have breast
augmentation (implants) still need
to have annual mammography
examinations. Te implants are not
ruptured during this process. A
few additional radiographic images
will be taken to adequately view the
entire breast.
Wendy Mickelsen,
MHE, RT(R)(M)
EIRMC Imaging Center Mickelsen
Submitted by EIRMC
Cancer robs women of enough their en-
ergy, their strength, and appetite. But, thanks
to the Look Good Feel Better Program at
EIRMCs Cancer Center, it doesnt have to take
away self-confdence.
This program teaches women beauty
techniques to help them combat the appear-
ance-related side effects of cancer treat-
ment. Trained volunteer cosmetologists
teach women how to cope with skin changes
and hair loss using cosmetics and skin care
products donated by the cosmetic industry.
For example, since most people lose their hair
during chemotherapy, including eyebrows and
eyelashes, women learn to draw in eyebrows
and apply make-up to best suit their skin
tone. Look Good Feel Better also provides
scarves, hats and a free wig as a way to help
cope with hair loss.
The best part? This is all free to wom-
en undergoing cancer treatment. This is a
national program in collaboration with the
American Cancer Society, the Personal Care
Products Council Foundation, and the Profes-
sional Beauty Association/ National Cosme-
tology Association.
If youd like to learn more about Look
Good Feel Better, including how you can do-
nate funds, please call Jeanna at 529-8302.
Program helps women
Look Good ... Feel Better
EIRMC photo
Continued from page 2
Besides fnding
enough energy to get
through her days at work,
Amie also continued to
be healthy and active in
every way she could. One
of her frst questions for
oncologist Doctor Chris-
tian Shull, was when can
I start exercising?
Shull explained that
she could do as much
as her body would al-
low. Troughout her
treatments, not only did
she ride her bike along-
side her husband as he
trained for his mara-
thons, but she rode her
bike several miles to and
from almost all of her
radiation appointments.
Troughout her battle
with breast cancer, there
were two phrases that
Amie said kept her go-
ing. When she was feel-
ing down or in pain, she
would whisper to herself,
I can do hard things,
and You can do it girl.
Te latter phrase was one
she saw written on the
sidewalk while she was
on a run by the greenbelt.
Jason said he is so
proud of his wife for
being strong during her
hard times.
She thinks of oth-
ers more than herself
with everything. There
isnt anything she does
where she doesnt think
of others firstexcept
maybe chocolate, he
joked.
Amie of cially fn-
ished her radiation on
August 6 of this year.
She said when she was
fnally cancer-free it was
an emotional time for
her for a while because
she was used to seeing
all the great doctors and
nurses who helped her
through.
Tey dont tell you
how emotional it will be
leaving those people who
have become a part of
your family. Te best peo-
ple are part of this whole
process the nurses at
chemo, the people at ra-
diation. I would do any-
thing for them. You fall in
love with them and think
that they are your family.
Croft
Community
Cancer Screenings
Free screenings for
breast, skin, ora, anJ
coon cancer.
Risk factor anaysis for
cervica, ovarian anJ
otber gynecoogica
cancers.
ReJuceJ-cost PSA for
prostate cancer.
ReJuceJ-cost
mammogram voucber.
The best hope for treating and
beating cancer starts bere,
with early detection.
Take advantage of our FREE
and reduced-cost cancer
screenings.
D
ate:
Saturday, O
ctober 26
Tim
e:
10:00 a.m
. - 2:00 p.m
.
Place:
EIRM
C Cancer Center
Last Cbance!
Registration coses
TbursJay.
Ca 535-ICAN
32+5 Clannin, Way lJalo lalls