She has breast cancer. She underwent chemotherapy for 18 months and was well until 1985. That summer she found a small lump in the incision line left by the mastectomy. The lump was biopsied, found to be malignant, and was removed. This time, her doctors chose radiation therapy as a way to kill any possible stray cancer cells not discovered during surgery.
Radiation therapy uses high-level beams of radiation to destroy cells.
Since it has the greatest effect on tissues that divide rapidly, the effect on cancer cells is devastating. They are left unable to divide and multiply, which causes the tumor to shrink. In the process of treating cancer cells, however, normal cells are also damaged. But most healthy cells begin to repair themselves within about two hours after radiation exposure. Besst had 15 treatments in three weeks in 1985 and remained tumor-free until last summer.