Julie Rudman: “We are better together!”

Communities are the key to survival in the animal kingdom and some creatures have deep and long-lasting social norms built into their groups. For instance, elephants, dolphins, gorillas and lions display intense societal structures and behaviors that help ensure their success in a world that is brutal and unforgiving.
The animal at the top of this kingdom is humankind given its complex communication abilities, emotional ties, intelligence, physical endurance and more that allow the species to care for others and live in cooperative societies. Social connections are imperative for human existence, positively impacting health and wellbeing. People with compassionate communities are more likely to make healthy choices for solid mental and physical results.

“As social creatures, we are happiest and healthiest when we are living in a state of interdependence. Many studies show that cancer patients who feel supported and connected—that is to say, in a state of community—have less pain and fewer side effects from cancer treatment, and their cancers are less likely to spread or return,” said Julie Rudman, founder and executive director, The Breast Cancer Club. “Further, people who offer support to others have better self-esteem, lower rates of depression and dementia and lower risk of heart disease and cancer. We are better together.”

She Certainly Knows
Julie understands the importance of community in dealing with cancer. In 2023, the Leawood, Kansas, wife and mother of three was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma. This cancer begins growing in the milk-producing glands of the breast called lobules. The most common type of breast cancer begins in the breast ducts. The term invasive means these cancer cells have moved out of the lobule and into the breast tissue, and they can move to the lymph nodes and other parts of the body. Invasive lobular carcinoma makes up a small portion of all breast cancers and is difficult to diagnose. However, Julie’s cancer was spotted with a routine mammogram.

“Last year, Dr. Michael Farber at Diagnostic Imaging Centers noticed an irregularity at my annual screening, a slight distortion that turned out to be invasive lobular carcinoma. Invasive lobular carcinoma accounts for about 10 percent of invasive breast cancers. It spreads in a unique pattern that may not show up on imaging tests, so it is very hard to see in a mammogram and even in an ultrasound. It is usually not discovered until it is late stage, at which point the survival rate is quite low,” she shared. “But Dr. Farber found my invasive lobular in Stage 1, which is unheard of. I say he had a good night’s sleep and hearty breakfast. Well, I’m joking. But it was a very good catch and I’m forever grateful.”

As she moved through her treatment strategy, Julie was disappointed in the lack of support or community groups focused on breast cancer. “The importance of support cannot be overstated,” she said. “I looked for support and was shocked that I could not find what I needed.”

Creating What Was Missing
Through her personal community, she connected with Shannon Schmidt, who is a breast cancer survivor. The pair spent hours discussing the possibilities of what could lie ahead for Julie during her breast cancer journey. “She greeted me with a bouquet of flowers and gift bag and sat with me for three hours. She answered my questions and shared her experiences,” she recalled. “I asked what I could do to thank her and she said, ‘Pay it forward.’”

With that encouragement, Julie considered how she could pay it forward and the possibility of creating an organization through which people could share their experiences and knowledge came to mind. The Breast Cancer Club was beginning to take shape.

Julie decided that the name should be non-gender and not associated with females such as a sorority or sisterhood. She believed the word “club” was inclusive to all the groups that can experience breast cancer, including men. “Cancer doesn’t discriminate and neither do we. Anyone with breast tissue can get breast cancer, and all humans have breast tissue,” she said. “Our community welcomes all adults in the Greater Kansas City area of any gender and gender identification impacted in any way by breast cancer, including those who care about someone with breast cancer or who are at high risk of developing breast cancer.”

For many people, communities are well defined and individuals can call upon a list of resources for help. But for others, the process is not so clear or layered. “There can be so many barriers to access that are leaving people behind. Sometimes it’s transportation, or being able to speak and understand English or being available during business hours,” Julie noted. “Sometimes it’s having the courage to place a phone call or simply to speak in public. In the beginning, I could not say the words ‘breast cancer.’ Neither could my husband and he’s a physician. I didn’t know what to say or what to ask. Breast cancer is completely overwhelming.”

It’s a Large Network
According to Julie, the guiding force at The Breast Cancer Club, which was formed in June 2024, is “everyone impacted by breast cancer deserves to feel supported and connected. Cancer is hard enough. Getting support for it should be easy. The Breast Cancer Club is a one-stop shop for free support, resources and time-saving tools for the Kansas City breast cancer community. The site is AA-accessibility rated and translatable into over 100 languages so that everyone can have support, wherever and whenever.” Open forums for discussion, which can be broken into specific groups to enhance conversations, are supported on the website.

The threat of developing breast cancer does affect us all, but not equally. As noted on The Breast Cancer Club website, “White people are the most likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer. But Black and Brown people are much more likely to die from it. There are additional health-justice-impacted communities for whom a discrepancy exists but the data does not because it is not collected. For example, the LGBTQIA+ community and members of certain religious groups bear a disproportionate breast cancer burden. The Breast Cancer Club believes everyone should have the opportunity to reach their maximum health potential and has woven the pursuit of health equity into its fabric.”

Reduce Shame, Stigma
Additionally, some communities have shame and stigma around breast cancer. The way to combat that shame and stigma is to encourage communication about breast cancer inside and outside of their communities. “In communities where they don’t talk about breast cancer, you are mainly going to know when someone dies from it. But there are many who are walking around as survivors. If they’re not talking about breast cancer, they don’t understand how pervasive it is but also how curable it is.”
According to the Susan G. Komen organization, when breast cancer is “local,” meaning cancer cells have not spread beyond the breast, there’s a 99.6 percent chance of survivability. Women who have localized breast cancer are 99 percent as likely to live five years beyond diagnosis as women in the general population. For cancers that are regional in the body, because cancer cells have spread beyond the breast but are limited to nearby lymph nodes, an 86.7 percent rate of survivability is carried. If it is distant, when cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body or metastasized, survivability is only 31.9 percent.

Julie comprehends the importance of community for The Breast Cancer Club as she continues to build out her volunteers for many different roles. She also appreciates the opportunity to learn from leaders in the community. Rita Cortés, executive director of Menorah Heritage Foundation, shared insights with her during the beginning stages as The Breast Cancer Club was developing. Rita employed the word “knowable” to guide Julie in creating this community for breast cancer patients, survivors and families.
“Rita gave me the confidence to proceed by assuring me that what I didn’t know yet was knowable, or capable of being known. If something is knowable, then I shouldn’t let it stop me,” Julie said. “With that mindset, it doesn’t matter how many times I run into something I don’t know—one, ten or a hundred. Anything times zero is zero.”