For every eight women in the United States one will be diagnosed with breast cancer. These women and their families face difficult decisions about treatment, surgery and recovery. A common misconception is that all breast cancer is the same, but that cannot be further from the truth. Doctor Yanjun Ma and Doctor Lindsay Keith work each day to provide care personalized for each specific case. Each of these doctors are not only providing lifesaving care to the women of Murfreesboro, but also the hope of survival.
Dr. Yanjun Ma of Tennessee Oncology moved to Murfreesboro in 2011 when her husband accepted a job as a Neurooncologist at Vanderbilt. As a female herself, the struggle that her patients go through with their breast cancer diagnosis and treatment feels very personal to Dr. Ma. However, as a former research scientist she has seen firsthand the amazing progress that has been made in breast cancer research. While Dr. Ma has a difficult and demanding role the relief and happiness on the faces of her patients post treatment make it all worthwhile.
She works tirelessly each day to see the benefit of newer generation breast cancer treatment that provides patients with more effective and less toxic treatment. Dr. Lindsay Keith, of Saint Thomas Medical Partners- Murfreesboro Surgical Specialists, is a fellowship trained Breast Surgeon meaning that she has completed over 5 years of training in General Surgery and elected to train an additional year focusing on the management of benign breast issues and breast cancer. This has led her to be an expert in breast health, and breast cancer. While not every cancer is curable, witnessing “the incredible fight inside cancer patients, and their willingness to listen, understand and battle their diagnosis, either to cure or death was awe inspiring” to Dr. Keith. After completing her fellowship in Breast Oncology Surgery there was no question that Dr. Keith would return to Tennessee so that her children could grow up near their cousins and her husband, Eric’s, family.
While both Dr. Keith and Dr. Ma specialize in the treatment of breast cancer, they both recognize that the first step is prevention. From diagnosis to treatment, it is a curable cancer if caught early enough. Through supporting the Power of Pink and Wine Around the Square hundreds of women are provided with lifesaving preventive breast health in the form of an annual mammogram. Middle Tennessee is lucky to have two doctors dedicated to taking patients from a period of vulnerability and fear at diagnosis, along their journey to survivorship.