Lisselot Troconis leads People Helping People’s work on the ground in El Salvador. She stresses the importance of early detection when it comes to fighting breast cancer. In fact, early detection may very well have saved her own life.
Inspirational survivor Lisselot Troconis leads early breast cancer detection efforts in El Salvador
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — When People Helping People delivered an ultrasonography machine to its local leaders in El Salvador to aid their fight against breast cancer, Lisselot Troconis knew it would be a critical tool for early detection.
However, she never imagined how important a role the new machine would play in her own life. And it happened almost immediately after the machine arrived in November of 2010.
“I remember I was with a friend who told me, ‘The machine has arrived, and you and I have to be the first ones to try it out,’” Troconis recalled. “I said OK, but I wasn’t really paying attention. But when we were in the office the next month, my friend told the doctor, ‘Lisselot is the only one who hasn’t done the test.’ The doctor put her robe on and made me go into the room.”
While performing the ultrasonography, the doctor asked, “What’s this?” Troconis explained that she had recently fallen and injured her shoulder. “No, no, this is something else, and I want to see what it is,” the doctor said. “We need to do a biopsy.”
People Helping People (Gente Ayudando Gente) has become a leader in early detection of breast cancer in El Salvador.
Troconis was not overly alarmed and felt she was too busy to get an immediate biopsy. Her daughter, though, was concerned and made her get the biopsy that very afternoon.
The biopsy results were negative for cancer — “I was so happy,” Troconis recalled — but the doctor wanted to re-check over each of the next three months to be on the safe side.
A couple of days before her January biopsy, Troconis had another ultrasonograph.
“It had grown like 50 percent,” Troconis said. “Then they did another biopsy, and it came out positive.”
It was not the news she hoped to hear, but she thought it might be divine intervention.
“I said, ‘God, if you’re giving me this so I will know how these ladies feel when they come in here, then I’ll take this,’” she said. Although, she gave God a little advice: “But don’t overdo it with me because I’m not that strong.
“Thank God it was very, very early,” she added. “I had a good treatment with no side effects from the chemo except that I lost my hair. But I had wigs.”
Lisselot Troconis (center) celebrates with others at the 2020 Breast Cancer Awareness Walk and Run. You can participate virtually in this year’s event, going step for step with others on site via video link. Click here to learn more about joining the event virtually.
She already had been extolling the importance of early detection, but women listen a little more closely hearing the advice come from a survivor.
A major step in educating women about the importance of early detection is the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Walk and Run in San Salvador. After missing last year because of Covid, the event returns on Sunday, March 13. Troconis and her team are expecting another large crowd for the sixth such event after the last Walk and Run drew more than 1,000 participants in 2020.
Clearly, awareness is growing, and their efforts are bolstered by financial support — with the majority of funds coming from friends in the United States. (If you would like to donate to the effort through People Helping People, click here.) Over the past decade, more than 8,600 women have been screened at no cost to them, and 106 cancers have been detected early. More than 2,000 counseling sessions have been provided, and 17 women have received reconstructive surgeries.
This year’s walk will have a superhero theme.
In addition to early detection, People Helping People and Troconis have been able to provide a crucial tool for early treatment — more than 500 ImmunoHistoChemistry kits. IHC is used to determine the exact type of cancer so that doctors can select the proper course of treatment and medicines.
“The ladies used to just start with a basic drug, do six months of chemotherapy, and then what happened?” Troconis said. “It came back. They need to know what kind of cancer it is so they know what kind of chemo they need. Otherwise, they just know it’s breast cancer. It was very sad to see some of the ladies who got there and they said they had no chemo there and they had to go home.”
Fortunately, the government has taken notice of the successful treatments made possible by the IHC kits.
“After we began providing kits, the government started getting their own,” Troconis said. “So we were able to make a start. Now the ladies have the ImmunoHistoChemistry kits and they’re able to know what kind of medicine they need and are not going back so often.”
Elizabeth (left photo) found out she had cancer and that she was pregnant with Jennifer on the same day six years ago. Carla (right) was helped by People Helping People in her breast cancer battle and graduated from PHP’s culinary school. She is now her family’s breadwinner as she cooks and sells food from her home. You can read more about their stories below.
Troconis noted that there is a disturbing trend being identified by the screenings.
“For some reason that doctors don’t know because there is no research here, most of patients that are screened and have positives are younger than 32,” she said. “That includes teenagers. The younger the girl, the more difficult it is because it’s very aggressive and often comes back.”
One of the younger women saved by a screening was Elizabeth, who was screened and diagnosed six years ago at the age of 32. The day she found out she had cancer, she also found out she was pregnant. Thanks to the early detection, doctors were able to effectively treat the cancer and ensure that her unborn baby remained safe. Today, Elizabeth is healthy with a beautiful 6-year-old daughter Jennifer.
“Her detection was so early that the doctor was able to do just a partial mastectomy,” Troconis said. “She was able to start chemo when she was seven months pregnant and was able to start radiation after she had the baby. Her life was saved by early detection, thank God.”
Carla, meanwhile, is just 26 years old and fighting breast cancer for the second time despite having had a double-mastectomy during her first battle. PHP provides her with her monthly cancer medication free of charge. Like many PHP initiatives, Carla’s life has been touched in more than one way by PHP’s holistic approach to helping people. She was sponsored to attend PHP’s culinary school on a scholarship and now supports her family by cooking and selling food from her home.
“She’s doing well,” Troconis said. “She lives with her 10-year-old daughter and her mother. Carla is the pillar of the house in every way. Being able to help her helps the whole family.”