By Pam McGaffin

Crystal Sholin had one huge and hysterical cry shortly after learning she had breast cancer. Then, within an hour, she was fine, and she's been fine ever since.

"Everybody says how much strength I have," said Sholin, who's not sure herself where it comes from. But the 34-year-old mother of two insists that, for her, cancer is no big deal.

Of course, it helps to have a close and supportive family, particularly if you're commuting between Soldotna, Alaska, and Seattle every two weeks for treatment. That's an almost 1,600-mile, one-way journey, which included catching a tiny commuter flight to Anchorage, and then hopping on another plane for the three-hour trip to Seattle.

While family in Alaska held down the fort and helped take care of her two kids, family in Idaho - usually Sholin's mother, Susie Nagel - would make the long drive west to be with her daughter during treatments at Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center. They also hit the malls and restaurants, painted their fingernails and toenails and did "girlie stuff," Sholin said. "We'd just absolutely have a ball, my Mom and I."

Sholin's cancer has been very much a family affair from the beginning. It's "not something you go through yourself," she said. "Your whole family goes through it."
In fact, husband Steve noticed the indentation in her right breast not long after Sholin herself discovered it during a family vacation in Florida two years ago.

Two mammograms and a biopsy later, she was told she had cancer. Her treatment that first year consisted of a lumpectomy and natural supplements. She decided to forego chemotherapy and radiation.

Sholin admits she wasn't faithful to her treatment. When she started feeling good, she stopped taking her supplements and stopped doing quarterly mammograms.

Then in the spring of 2003, an ultrasound revealed two more lumps in the right breast. After a full-body scan turned up a third lump, Sholin decided to get a double mastectomy rather than risk the cancer spreading.

She also got serious about her care. A television commercial about a network of innovative cancer-treatment centers that combine traditional oncology with complementary and natural methods grabbed her attention. The marriage of traditional and natural care she could receive at Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center was the "clincher," she said.

The only problem: her chemotherapy at the Center would take six months. No way could she be gone from her family that long. Nor did she have the means to keep going back and forth between Alaska and Seattle.

Coming to her rescue was an aptly named non-profit organization called Angel Flight, which provides free air transportation to hospitals for patients and families in need. And, of course, her family rallied on both ends to fill in the gaps.

Because her husband works nights, Sholin's brother and sister-in-law would take in her 15-year-old son, Ryan. Eleven-year-old Kaili usually stayed with Sholin's dad and step mom.

Knowing her kids were in good hands, Sholin was able to complete her chemotherapy treatment in Seattle in January.

Because her breast cancer was considered "high risk," Sholin received three different chemotherapy drugs, alternating each every two weeks instead of the standard interval of every three weeks, said her oncologist, Dr. Nick Chen.

"Whenever cancer comes back, it becomes more aggressive, more widespread and is usually more difficult to cure," he said.

In addition to the three chemo drugs, Sholin was given a drug called Herceptin to target a protein in cancer cells that makes tumors grow more quickly. She is among the approximately 25 to 30 percent of breast-cancer patients whose cancer cells make too much of this protein, called HER-2.

Along with Dr. Chen, Sholin saw clinic naturopathic physician Mark Gignac, who designed an individualized diet, herb and supplement regimen to help counteract the side effects of the medical treatment and augment Crystal's immune system. She also received several rounds of acupuncture at the clinic.

Back home in Alaska, she underwent six and half weeks of radiation therapy and saw a Chinese herbalist and acupuncturist. Now she's on a maintenance program of Herceptin, Chen said.

Last December, another full-body scan found no evidence of cancer.

"I say it's gone, but there's always that small chance," Sholin said.

Still she's optimistic. So optimistic that she and Steve, high school sweethearts, went ahead and started building that lake-front dream house they had been talking about since they were teens. The house still isn't quite done, but they moved in last November.

"I told my husband I'm going to be fine," Sholin said. "I'm not going to let this stop us from getting what we wanted."

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