In Memory of Angela Sullivan Junkin

Once a month, I want to try and profile someone who has battled breast cancer.  This month I am profiling Angela Junkin, the aunt of my good friend Robin M.  Here is what I learned from talking with Robin.

Me: What would you say was your aunt's "thing" that she was known for? What characteristic?

Robin: I would say that she was known for being fun. She was always having fun and making sure others were having fun.  Someone was always laughing when she was around.

Me: So, what is your favorite memory of her?

Robin: I didn't appreciate this at the time, but now it's pretty funny. For my first football game in the band, my whole family was saying they were going to do something--make big signs or something.  When we started marching out to the field, everyone was asking, "Who's the crazy lady hanging over the fence in the hat?" I honestly did not see her. But later on, I looked up and saw my aunt hanging over the fence with a hat that said "BooBoo's Aunt" with Billy Bob teeth in. I was so embarrassed since I was in 8th grade at the time. Now, looking back on it, though, it's pretty funny.

Me: It sounds like your aunt was a trip!

Robin: She was!

Me: When was she first diagnosed with breast cancer?

Robin: The first time she was diagnosed it was in 2004. At that time she had a masectomy and underwent chemotherapy. The second time she was diagnosed it was in 2007.  At that point, the doctors had to remove a rib, and my aunt did radiation. The final time she was diagnosed was in July of 2008. At that point, the doctors said there was nothing else she could do.

Me: Did your aunt change after she was diagnosed the first time? 

Robin: Yeah. She was different because she was tired and worn out and never did feel good because of the chemo.  She also became serious about her lists.

Me: So, did she start making lists after she was diagnosed with cancer, or did she always make lists?

Robin: She always made lists about places she wanted to go or to events she wanted to see, but she became more serious about them after she found out she had cancer. She had lists of things she wanted to do, and she was going to do them.  After the second time she was diagnosed, my aunt became more depressed. She just accepted this was how she was going to die. It was really hard to see her like that, because she had always been the fun one.

Me: How did her cancer affect her family?

Robin: Her daughter was only 14 or 15 the first time she was diagnosed, and she didn't really seem to be affected too much.  My uncle was real hard to read during that time.  The second time, though, you could tell my uncle was scared, mainly because my aunt kept talking about the cancer. She went from being upbeat to depressed. My cousin also changed after the second bout of cancer, and, when my aunt died, she became really depressed.

Me: What do you think your aunt would want people to remember her for?

Robin: I think she would want to be remembered as the planner, the person who would do something and not just talk about doing something. At the time of her death, she was planning a family trip out to the Grand Canyon. She told my dad, "If you go to the Grand Canyon without me, I'll haunt your ass!" 

Me: (Laughing) And she would have done it too! 

Robin: Oh yeah she would have!

Me: What did you learn from your aunt?

Robin: Probably how to take care of people. I saw how she treated her two step-sons whom you would have never known weren't her biological sons. She was the person I'd go to for advice first, and she was my "back up" person, the person I knew would check on me and support me.

Me: Is there anything else you would want to say about your aunt?

Robin: Just that her mother is a breast cancer survivor, and that she was really worried for her daughter. My aunt made us promise that we would make her daughter get screened, even if we had to take her kicking and screaming.  My aunt ended up having two different kinds of breast cancer. The doctors thought, when she was diagnosed the second time, that they had not gotten all of the cancer the first time around. They later discovered it was a different type of breast cancer. So, not only was my aunt worried for her daughter because of the strong family history of the disease, she was also worried because of the different type of breast cancers that have been in her family.

March 23, 1958 - August 26, 2008