A rainbow in the storm: Erica Austin confronts cancer and inspires others along the way

"A state of shock."

That's how Erica Austin described her reaction to her diagnosis of breast cancer on June 12.

Yes, the 37-year-old deputy director in the office of external relations/behavioral health workforce center at SIU Medicine and School District 186 board of education member acknowledged a history of breast cancer in her family.

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Because of that, almost a decade ago Austin started a rotation of ultrasounds, mammograms and MRIs every six months. It was an MRI in May that led doctors to do a biopsy on a lump that returned the shivering news.

The most frustrating part? Austin, as a community advocate, was used to shepherding people to get health checkups. During the COVID pandemic especially, Austin was on the frontlines operating vaccine sites, including creating weekly mobile clinics to take services to underserved neighborhoods around the city.

"Meanwhile, I did my checkups. I did everything I was supposed to do, but here I am, the one who got breast cancer," she said. "Although it wasn't my fault, I still felt a sense of embarrassment."

Now after a successful partial mastectomy, or lumpectomy, and oncoplastic breast reduction, Austin is again strutting her stuff. Literally.

Last month, Austin became the third person sponsored by the medical school to walk the runway during New York Fashion Week. The fashion show was part of the Plastic Surgery Foundation’s annual Breast Reconstruction Awareness (BRA) Day.

On Wednesday, a 21-minute documentary produced by SIU Medicine's Maria Ansley, "Reconstruction to the Runway," chronicling Austin's cancer journey, debuted at an event that also highlighted Breast Cancer Awareness Month at CAP 1908.

A familiar and authoritative voice in the Black community and in the church community, Austin admitted she is coming to embrace that role as spokesperson for breast cancer, even as she finishes up radiation at the end of October.

"People in the Black community have been reaching out to me since I came forward, a lot, actually," Austin said. "(Someone) texted me and said, 'I had a scare last year. I didn't go back (to the doctor), but your story made me go back.'

"I didn't ask for (the cancer) to happen this way, but there's a reason why it happened, so I just have to trust the process."

Making the decision

"Comforted."

That's how Austin described going with a partial mastectomy and a breast reduction surgery after consulting with Dr. Rachael Ashcraft, a breast surgical oncologist, at Springfield Clinic.

Austin said she knew going into the meeting that she didn't want her breasts fully removed at such a young age or have implants.

The breast reduction side of it was something Austin hadn't considered.

"When Dr. Ashcraft said a breast reduction, how she said it was comforting, that it was going to be a preventative measure," Austin said. "People think of breast reduction (in terms) of cosmetics. Anything preventative, I wanted to do it."

Dr. Nicole Sommer, the director of the SIU Medicine Cosmetic Clinic, did the oncoplastic breast reduction surgery. It isn't a common type of reconstruction because a lot of women, Sommer said, don't know it's an option.

"Two, you would obviously have to be a large-breasted woman who was having problems with large breasts (back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain) and having (cancer) symptoms to have it done," Sommer said.

"I think (Erica) was hoping that there was a way of dealing with the cancer and also do the breast reduction at the same time."

By reducing the amount of tissue, there's also less tissue to get breast cancer, Sommer pointed out.

Sommer said she will see Austin a couple of weeks after radiation ends and then in about six months.

Austin admitted she is more tired than she used to be but isn't having any other side effects and continues to work.

Because lab scores from her biopsy came back higher than normal, Austin has to take a pill called Anastrazole daily for five years and has to have a monthly injection of Zoladex for five years instead of chemotherapy.

"This kind of cancer is invasive, and it likes to hide," she said. "It's about a little less than 50 percent chance it could recur because of the genetics. It's still a little intimidating, but I'm very hopeful that won't be my story."

'How to own it'

"Nervewracking."

That's how Austin described the day of her runway show during New York Fashion Week.

Everything was orchestrated by the designers Austin was working with, including Dana Donofree, a breast cancer survivor who came up with her own line of stylish and comfortable clothing, so Austin was surprised she was pulled aside by Donofree minutes before she was ready to go on the runway.

Noting a lack of energy in the room, Donofree "looked at me," Austin recalled, "and said, 'You go out there and tear this shit up.'

"I don't know what came over me," Austin added. "I swung my pink ponytail this way, and I turned around and I began to dance on New York Fashion Week. I followed my assignment."

Before that runway transformation, Austin said she felt hesitancy and skepticism. She half-jokingly asked Ansley, who had accompanied her to New York with Sommer, what Ansley "had gotten her into."

Part of that hesitancy, she said, was the intimacy of her surgical experience.

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"There were also internal issues, self-esteem issues," Austin added. "When you think of New York Fashion Week, you have this perception in your mind what a model looks like. Fashion Week showed me that wasn't the case.

"I accepted that I had cancer. Fashion Week showed me how to own it, how to make it my story and not be afraid of that."

Austin had the support of two other breast cancer survivors who had modeled in past shows for SIU Medicine: Susan Sullivan Danenberger of Danenberger Family Vineyards and Springfield Police Officer Tami Russell.

"That was a little bit different for me," said Russell, now president of Police Benevolent and Protective Association Unit 5, of her runway experience just prior to the COVID pandemic shutdown. "But I bit, and I went for it and I said, 'OK, it sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime thing.' My husband and brother went, so I had a huge support team when I walked. Everything about it was eye-opening, to hear all the different stories and all different paths that led different women where they were to walk."

Austin's flip of her ponytail and lifting of her arms in a reveling dance did more than lift the room.

It led to other offers to model, platforms where Austin thinks she can further tell her story.

"When I started this whole journey, I told Maria, 'Thank you for providing a rainbow in the storm,'" Austin recounted. "This experience has taught me that there's always a rainbow in every storm, but after my experience in New York, I realized I was the rainbow in that storm. It's me.

"It also came through me telling my story and not being afraid to tell my story. The pot of gold is right there."

Tables turned

"Supported."

That's how Austin described she felt when some family members, including her mother, Martha, and 10-year-old niece, Erika, for whom she serves as a guardian, and church members, plus some close friends and her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sisters formed a prayer circle in the Baylis Building the morning of her Aug. 2 surgery.

"It was incredible," Austin recalled. "My pastor (the Rev. Nathaniel Randall of Faith Temple AME Church) prayed. My cousin sang and after that, I felt at ease and at peace and I knew everything was going to be OK. My faith is a big part of me, if not the biggest part of me. I needed that to be at the forefront and they came through."

Several weeks after returning to work, about 35 students from the NAACP Back to School/Stay in School Program, where Austin teaches a weekly social/emotional learning class, surprised her at the Centrum Building with lunch, a cake, flowers and handmade signs.

"It shows impact, that they cared so much about me that they wanted to do that," Austin said. "They handwrote letters to me. Some of them were really touching. One of the messages was we know you'll get through this and you're strong because you're always strong for us.

"The NAACP students, my dance students, the 186 students, they genuinely are concerned. That keeps me going because I have a passion for youth, for young people. To know they're rooting for me, it means a lot. We're helping each other. I've been rooting for them and now the tables have turned, and they're like, we've got your back."

Austin's fellow school board members have been wearing pink in solidarity with her during meetings in October.

Buffy Lael-Wolf of Subdistrict 5 said it is the least they can do for Austin.

"To know Erica is to love her," Lael-Wolf said. "She has an infectious, fun-loving personality. She's passionate about what she does for the district. She's passionate about her community and about the kids she mentors.

"I'm grateful (the cancer) didn't change her personality and it didn't knock her down. I'm sure she stumbled."

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Austin said she would plow on with work and her outside activities. Closest at hand is defending her doctoral degree in the higher education administration program at Illinois State University this month.

While she is taking some things off her plate, Austin said she was contacted by Dr. Wendi El-Amin of the SIU Center for Family Medicine about starting a breast cancer support group specifically for the Black community.

"Dr. El-Amin actually started one in Virginia and it has flourished," Austin said. "We want to help and uplift minorities going through this.

"Because of this new platform, I see it becoming busier. It has taken me places I've never thought I'd be able to go. It's opened so many different doors."

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield District 186 board member Erica Austin fights breast cancer