Kathy Bates, 69, is hoping to raise awareness for lymphedema, a condition where part of the lymphatic system, which transmits white blood cells, gets blocked in the body. It can cause pain and swelling. In Kathy’s case she developed it after she had both breasts and 19 lymph nodes removed during surgery for stage II breast cancer in 2012. She gave an interview to WebMD to discuss lymphedema, which often affects cancer patients. Kathy was familiar with the condition before she developed it because her mother, another breast cancer survivor, also suffered from it post-surgical intervention. Kathy told WebMD that she cares deeply about this cause because it affects over 10 million people in the US and because doctors are woefully uneducated about it. As treatment she wears pneumatic sleeves, gets physical therapy, and is careful to stay healthy because lymphedema can decrease your body’s ability to fight infection. She also said she hasn’t had reconstructive surgery on her breasts and just wears prosthetic breasts when she requires them for a role. I really enjoyed reading this interview and how straightforward and committed she is to this cause.

Bates has found a new calling as an advocate for cancer survivors and others coping with a little-known condition called lymphedema. The body’s lymphatic system transports lymphatic fluid, which contains infection-fighting white blood cells, throughout the body. When this fluid doesn’t drain normally — most often, when lymph nodes are removed or damaged after cancer surgery — debilitating, disfiguring swelling can happen.

Bates began noticing the swelling shortly after her mastectomy, and she knew right away what it was. “My mother had had a radical mastectomy — they took everything — and her arm swelled terribly. She was always a very smart dresser and wore very nice clothes, and after the surgery, she couldn’t fit into them anymore,” she recalls. “It was a real slide into her feeling ‘less than.’ And so I remember getting hysterical when, even in the hospital, I noticed strange pains in my hands and then discovered that my arms were swelling.”

There’s no cure for lymphedema, but it can be treated with a complex program of physical therapy. “I had to have my arms put into these pneumatic sleeves that feel like a boa constrictor,” she says. “One arm at a time, two times a week. Now I’ve lost quite a bit of weight, and that has helped considerably, but I still have to be careful. I can’t have a lot of salt or alcohol, I have to stay out of the heat, and I’m not supposed to pick up heavy things.”

“Many doctors are not educated about this disease,” says Bates, who’s doing her best to change that as a national spokeswoman for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network (LE&RN), which funds promising research in the field, provides scholarships for lymphedema therapists, sponsors an international patient registry, and educates patients. “I’ve been told by doctors affiliated with LE&RN that in 4 years of medical school, future doctors spend a total of 15 to 30 minutes on the lymphatic system…”

Today, if Bates doesn’t have to wear her breast prostheses for a role, she doesn’t put them on. “I’ve joined the ranks of women who are going flat, as they say,” she says, laughing. “I don’t have breasts — so why do I have to pretend like I do? That stuff isn’t important. I’m just grateful to have been born at a time when the research made it possible for me to survive. I feel so incredibly lucky to be alive.”

[From WebMD via Daily Mail]

Also, Kathy said that she has a niece who had breast cancer, and an aunt who died from it, but surprisingly both Kathy and her niece both tested negative for the mutation in the BRCA gene which is associated with breast cancer. Kathy had ovarian cancer in 2003 and kept it quiet on the advice of her agent. When she heard that she had breast cancer she decided to go public, partially because she saw Melissa Etheridge be open about her cancer struggle.

As for Kathy not wanting to get a breast reconstruction I get it, especially when she was already dealing with lymphedema. Why bother getting more surgery when it’s just cosmetic and you’re dealing with pain from an associated condition? That’s no shade on any woman who makes that choice, it’s just that – a choice, and she made the one which felt right to her. I admire her so much and am glad she’s doing well now.

Photos credit: WENN.com