'Just be there' -- Being a caregiver in the fight against breast cancer
MIAMI - October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month according to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, there are more than 4 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States.
That's more than any other group of cancer survivors.
Standing by survivors' sides are caregivers.
One of those is Carlos Arguelles. His wife Scarlet will be ten years cancer-free this December. It's a milestone she and her husband don't take for granted. That's in part because *he first felt her lump by chance. That's not the only time… he likely saved her life.
Carlos Arguelles says, "Being a partner being there with her through all the moments, I think is very important." So, when Scarlet was diagnosed with breast cancer, it was he who first felt it almost by accident. It happened as he was handing his wife their infant daughter.
He recounts the story, with Scarlet. "I just brushed up against you and I felt maybe the side of your rib and she said that's weird I'm not that skinny and then she started to feel herself and she felt an actual lump in her breast and at that moment I felt her whole demeanor change."
Scarlet was no stranger to breast cancer. She lost her mom to the disease when she was just twenty years old. To win her fight, she knew she'd need help. "It's extremely important to have that caretaker be there for you. To help push you through it all because you need that."
For every doctor's appointment, every chemo treatment, every radiation treatment Carlos, was right there. "I am that type of guy who says what is the strategy to fix this."
Carlos says chemo treatments were the worst. "I make sure that she knows I'm there when she wakes up, and when she goes to sleep."
The couple also involved their young family. See when Scarlet was diagnosed their daughter was just 7 months old. Their son, 13. Carlos says it was their son who led a hair-shaving party. "We had a hair-shaving party where our son is the one who shaved. It was emotional and we kind of turned it into a positive."
Those moments of positivity would prove to be pivotal as Scarlet says her fight to beat breast cancer faced her with the toughest day of her life. "It's probably the first time in my life, that I realized how much I wanted to give up in life. And I want to say one time, I felt like that. And it was while I was taking a shower. And he came in and he's like, you can't give up. We have a child. We have kids. You have me."
It's those words… 'you can't give up' that carried them through treatment and the many years since.
Carlos says his best advice for other caregivers is to just be there.
The Susan G. Komen website has a lot of helpful information for patients and caregivers.
For more information, click here.
CBS Miami is an official sponsor of the 2023 Komen Miami/Ft. Lauderdale More Than Pink Walk.
To register for the race, click here.
