One of the worst things a woman can hear is that a doctor has found a suspicious lump in her breast.
Las Cruces businesswoman Marci Dickerson learned in the fall of 2022 that she had a suspicious mass and from the moment she heard those words until she got a diagnosis of breast cancer through a biopsy, only 10 days transpired.
But as Dickerson went on her cancer journey, she learned that that’s not true for many women in Las Cruces. Because of what Dr. Rob Shoots, a breast health radiologist at Memorial Medical Center, called a “fragmented” health system, many women must wait up to three months between the time the suspicious mass is found and the results of a biopsy.
Shoots said that, from a clinical standpoint, limiting the amount of time it takes to identify cancer improves chances of survival. But there’s also the mental health aspect.
“Sitting at home wondering is one of the worst parts of having breast cancer. When you’re sitting at home, you’re never minimizing. It could seem worse than it probably is,” he said.
Initially, Dickerson responded to her own cancer journey by co-founding a nonprofit with a group of other breast cancer survivors called Cancer Warriors in the spring of 2023. Cancer Warriors provides care boxes to cancer patients for free. Dickerson said the surgery box, for instance, contains the correct wraps, correct ice packs, pads for seatbelts and shirts to go under normal clothing to hold the drains.
The new program is expected to reduce the amount of time it takes for a woman to learn whether a suspicious mass is cancerous or not. The goal is for a breast cancer patient to wait only 21 days, Dickerson said.
Dickerson said that Memorial Medical Center has found a way to “short-circuit” the timeline so that patients don’t have to wait for appointments for a biopsy.
Shoots said Memorial has set time slots aside to expedite the process. He said that one aspect of providing oncology care in Las Cruces is that Memorial Medical Center sees patients who often travel for an hour or more for care.
“They could go home and fall through the cracks. It’s important to keep the timeline short and well defined,” he said.
Shoots said Memorial Medical Center treats the majority of breast cancer patients in southern New Mexico. He said Memorial provides a multi-specialty breast tumor board to plan treatment from diagnosis through surgery and post-operative care.
“This is the same treatment you would get if you go to Yale or the Mayo Clinic. This is the best standard of care,” Shoots said.
Dickerson said that when the biopsy result comes in, the doctor can tell the patient if she has breast cancer but it could take an additional week for the patient to know what type of breast cancer she has.
“I am so honored to get to be part of something that truly changes the course of cancer care in our community,” Dickerson said.
