Newswise — At 58, Doris Dunkerley lives for her five young grandsons. She volunteers at their schools, babysits and dreams of watching them grow up.
That's why the Ennis grandmother " who is at risk for cancer " participated in the groundbreaking study of the breast cancer drug Tamoxifen® and the osteoporosis drug Raloxifene® by the National Institutes of Health and National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project.
The results of the study, released April 19, showed that the osteoporosis drug Raloxifene® is as effective as Tamoxifen® in the prevention of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women who have not developed the disease. The study also found that Raloxifene® has fewer side effects and has the added benefit of supporting bone density.
Raloxifene®, which is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a prevention agent, is likely to get FDA approval in the next year or so because of the study results, researchers believe.
The STAR study is important, researchers say, because if approved, Raloxifene® gives women such as Dunkerley a shot at preventing breast cancer.
"I got involved because I felt that I owed it to my children " and my grandchildren " to stay preventive about cancer," said Dunkerley. "If my doctor wants me to take it when it's approved, I will."
A retired nurse, Dunkerley also convinced her sister, Steavy Jakubik, to sign up for the study, which began in 1999 and ended last year. Jakubik, like her sister, fit the study criteria because she is older and at high risk for cancer.
Both women learned after the study was over that they had been taking Raloxifene® over the five-year period. Study protocols prevent participants in medical studies from knowing which drugs they are taking or, in some cases, if they are taking a placebo.
"I was really pleased when I learned I had been put on the Raloxifene® because our mother had osteoporosis," said Jakubik, 68. "It was a good feeling to know I may have been helping my bones and keeping it [potential cancer] in check."
Jakubik said she is eager for the FDA to approve Raloxifene® so she can " with doctor's orders, of course. An antiques and crystal shop owner, Jakubik doesn't want anything interfering with her biannual trips with her sister-in-law to Belgium, where she buys merchandise.
"My mother had a broken foot and broken ankle " her bones were just really bad," Jakubik recalled.
Growing up, the two sisters heard about " and saw " a lot of cancer. Esophageal cancer claimed their father's life at 85 and various forms of the disease killed four of their father's siblings. The two also watched as their older sister was diagnosed twice with breast cancer, surviving but losing both breasts.
"Our father was so afraid he would have cancer," remembered Jakubik. "Once he was diagnosed, he never uttered the word."
The two sisters say they also participated in the trial to help other women. Dunkerley, the retired nurse, said she hopes other high-risk, postmenopausal women learn about the STAR trial results.
"Women are often afraid of what they are going to find out and so they wait and do nothing," she said.
After a week of babysitting, driving across town to see a grandson read in church and volunteering at schools, Dunkerley said her motivation to stay healthy is strong as ever.
"So much can be done," she said. "People at risk really owe it to their families."
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