Colon Cancer Can’t Keep Her Down
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The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2008, 148,810 Americans would have been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Regina Igarashi, better known as Gina to those she quickly befriends, became one of them.
Two years ago, Gina began feeling uncharacteristically tired. She then began noticing blood in her stool. When she told her doctor, he shrugged off her worry, telling her it was probably a fissure.
Despite her symptoms reoccurring more and more, the ever-energetic Gina continued going to work every day as executive assistant to John Garibaldi at the Hawaii Superferry, not knowing that she was literally sitting on a ticking time bomb.
“April of 2008 I was at the Superferry office and I hemorrhaged from a place where you shouldn’t hemorrhage,” the 48-year-old Manoa resident remembers. “I called him [her doctor] and I said, ‘I just want to let you know I’m on my way to the ER and I’m hemorrhaging.‘He goes, ‘Really? Well, good luck.’”
Needless to say, she has since switched medical providers to The Queen’s Medical Center.
Gina was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer last June by Dr. Jared Acoba, a medical oncologist who is part of OnCare Hawaii at Queen’s as well as the Kuakini Health System.
“When Gina came to see me, her blood count was low. She was basically anemic,” Acoba confides. “When she told me about the blood in her stool, even though she was young, I was concerned that she would need a colonoscopy, a type of procedure to check the colon.”
While it is usually recommended people start screenings at age 50, because of the frequency in which Gina was finding the blood, her new doctor knew it was time to act. The procedure involved a small scope inserted up her, um, backside, to evaluate the whole colon. As unpleasant as it may sound, having a routine colonoscopy boosts the chance doctors will catch cancer in an early, more treatable stage.
“When we can catch a polyp early, it will be very unlikely the patient will get cancer,” explains Acoba, a graduate of UH Manoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine who recently took part in a groundbreaking study of how the body fights cancerous tumors. “We always stage cancers - stage I being the most curable, stage IV being the worst - and if we catch it really early, that can make a huge difference.”
Because Gina’s cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes, what immediately followed were five surgeries to remove her colon and to reduce the fluid buildup in her kidneys and bladder. She recently completed a series of chemotherapy treatments during which she would receive a high volume of anticancer drugs for three days every other week.
“I lost 30 pounds in two months. You know why? No appetite. Everything tastes horrible,” Gina laments. While she is starting to regain some weight, other nagging symptoms include numbness in her fingers, elevated blood pressure, memory lapses and a sudden loss in motor skills.
Through it all, the 1978 Merrie Monarch Festival’s Miss Aloha Hula remains determined to raise awareness about this third most-common form of cancer in both men (after prostate and lung cancers, respectively) and women (after breast and lung).
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“Colon cancer is cancer of the large intestine,” explains Acoba. “While we don’t know what causes colon cancer, we do know of some things that will put people at risk, family history being one. Genetic mutations are rare, but there is always a concern for people with a diet high in red meats and low in vegetables. The symptoms, unfortunately, are very nonspecific - constipation, bloating - but having blood in the stool is the one to look out for.”
And despite everything, Gina asserts she has much to be optimistic about. She and partner John Pascua have three healthy children: daughters Pua’ala, 19, a freshman at UH Hilo, and Hi’ilei, 9, who is in the fourth grade at Cathedral Catholic Academy, and their 7-year-old son Kanalu, a first-grader at Kamehameha Schools.
“My life, my joy and the way I move forward are my children,” says Gina. “That’s what keeps me going. I have young ones, you know, and you can’t give up.”
Her family also includes a handful of Merrie Monarch Festival standouts: Gina is one of five Miss Aloha Hulas all related by blood, and Miss Aloha Hula 2008, Kahimakuhilani Suganuma, is extended family, having been taught by Gina’s aunty Aloha Dalire.
“Hula, being a solo entertainer for Jim Nabors, Carole Kai, Kevin Ai, traveling when I was single, really contributed to my strength with colon cancer.”
She also credits her grandmother for raising her with strong values on which she still relies today.
“My grandmother was very old-fashioned - you know, hard exterior but soft inside - and she used to tell me, ‘One day you gonna thank me,’ and it’s so true. You share, you treat others as ohana, and they’ll never forget that experience of Hawaiian values and traditions, which are very important nowadays.”
Gina is also thankful for a large network of friends praying for her recovery.
“I first met Gina in 1972 when I began dancing hula with her grandmother, Aunty Mary Wong, at Keolalaulani Halau ‘Olapa O Laka Hula Studio in Kaneohe,” remembers Ka’ohu Cazinha. “When I first heard about the possibility of her being sick ... I called Gina right away and she confirmed it for me. I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, why her?’ I heard the strength in her voice and knew at that moment that if anyone would survive stage III cancer, it would be Gina.”
Her employers, who affectionately referred to as a second family, came together last November to form the Friends of Gina Makaikai Igarashi Foundation.
“There was a group of us who wanted to do something for her because she has always been the backbone of our office here,” says Allie Murai, marketing representative with the Superferry. “Going through something like this alone is difficult, and we wanted to be there to support her.”
They came up with the idea to hold a fundraiser/party, which they initially wanted to keep as a surprise. But, as Murai notes, because of the sensitivity of this health issue, they decided to get Gina involved with the details.
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“She really took the lead. Of course, through that she was able to get a lot of support and we got to know a little bit more of her family and her social circle.
“The other goal she had in mind for her fundraising event was to raise awareness for colon cancer,” Murai adds. During the festivities was a break for Acoba to give an informational speech about the importance of early detection, because even though colon cancer is the second deadliest form of cancer, it doesn’t have to be.
“If you look in the U.S. every year, there are 50,000 deaths from colon cancer alone. If everybody got screened starting at age 50, that would reduce the risk of death by 40 percent, saving 20,000 deaths per year,” he states.
“Certain things we know that can help prevent colon cancer are aspirin, calcium, exercise. There was a study done by the Women’s Health Initiative that found hormone replacement therapy worked really well (in lowering a woman’s risk of getting colorectal cancer).”
Acoba warns there can be adverse side effects involved with these treatments, but your doctor should be able to help you find a healthy balance.
“This is my motto: Nobody wants to talk about okole issues. And we all laugh, because it’s true - it’s kinda personal,” Gina quips of poking fun at an otherwise serious situation.
But she questions, “Who do you share that with when you first see (blood in your stool) and you don’t know what it is and you’re scared? Plus, where it’s coming from ...” Her eyebrows raise in that you-know expression.
“It’s important that you feel comfortable to approach someone who has a little bit of knowledge and ask the questions. Don’t be shame, ask!”
Murai attests that having someone like Gina has really helped underline, underscore, italicize and highlight the message of how random and life-altering something like colon cancer can be.
“You know the saying ‘It’s not gonna happen to me?’ Well, Gina was that type of person where you thought it would never happen to her. That’s why it was kind of an eye-opener for us. Everyone looked to her for support; now the tables are turned where we want to take care of her.”
“It’s been a journey. But you have to have a positive mind, otherwise you just spiral downwards,” advises Gina. “I’ve been so blessed in so many ways. This is my opportunity to be an advocate to our community and to give back. And it’s been working.”
Set aside time this month to learn more about colon cancer and ways not to become another statistic. Visit your doctor or the Colon Cancer Alliance website, www.ccalliance.org. Now in its 10th year, the CCA is a national organization dedicated to increasing colon cancer awareness and survivorship.
For more information about the Friends for Gina Foundation, or to order a T-shirt and send words of encouragement, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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