By KATE DANIEL
Whidbey News Group

For Clinton resident Lynae Slinden, the year 2000 was more than the beginning of a new millennium; it was the year she would celebrate her 50th birthday; it was the year she could finally — confidently — say she had survived breast cancer.

It was the beginning of a new and fearless adventure.

When Slinden was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, she was working as an ultrasound, mammogram and x-ray tech. A mammogram received two years earlier failed to reveal the already-present cancerous cells.

The disease was aggressively developing.

“You realize, as soon as (you are diagnosed) that it is a life-changing event,” she said. “And it was, for me and for the people who were sharing my life.”

Slinden said she was suddenly faced with “compromising decisions” such as whether she would keep her house, and considerations like whether she would be there to raise her 15-year-old daughter, whose stepmother was diagnosed with breast cancer soon afterward.

Amidst a whirlwind of uncertainty and physical and psychological pain, Slinden remained steadfast and fought the disease with every element of medical artillery: chemotherapy, surgery, radiation.

When she lost her job, she purchased a frame shop in Clinton and switched careers.

Throughout her battle, Slinden’s family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances rallied behind her.

“There wasn’t any one (person or helping factor). That’s part of the beauty of it,” she said, adding that since her own struggle, she has witnessed instances in which numerous individuals in a person’s network — from family members to strangers — will come to their side in a time of need. “It is a wonderful cultural (phenomenon),” she said.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer found in women, regardless of race or ethnicity.

In 2011, 220,097 women and 2,078 men in the United States were diagnosed with breast cancer; 40,931 women and 443 men in the United States died from breast cancer in 2011.

The five-year anniversary is generally accepted by the National Cancer Institute as the point in time at which a person may be granted a cancer-free diagnosis after battling the disease.

For many survivors, though, the effects of cancer remain for a lifetime.

“I don’t know if you ever beat it,” Slinden said.

For many survivors, reaching the five-year mark grants the opportunity for the individual and his or her family to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

For Slinden, who has now been without cancer for nearly 20 years, it was also the point at which she gained her second wind, proclaiming her resolute unwillingness to let another day slip by unfulfilled.

Within the year, Slinden embarked on the ancient 400-mile, month-long pilgrimage known as the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

She had come across the trek in a waiting room magazine during her treatment and revered the photographs of Spain’s majestic architecture and awing natural beauty as well as the pilgrimage’s centuries-old origins, dating prior to the year 1100.

“It seemed like a good way to start a new beginning, along the path that so many people had walked,” she said.

Although she arrived with limited Spanish vocabulary and no prior overseas experience, Slinden said she completed the journey feeling as though she had gained a broader understanding of the world and had become more connected with herself and with humanity.

“It is an elation. You feel like you have really made a major personal accomplishment,” she said. “It is empowering.”

Since 2000, Slinden has also been elected port commissioner, helping to build Clinton Beach and to preserve the Saratoga Woods, among other projects. She also obtained a master’s degree in 2009.

“Having cancer makes you free to do what you would naturally do,” she said. “It pushes you … things that I would have put off, it (became) time to do them.”

About two years ago, Slinden embarked on yet another international journey, this time to Novoukrainka, Ukraine.

Novoukrainka translates to “new Ukrainian woman,” a fitting title coinciding with Slinden’s personal growth within the borders of the small Eastern European town.

For decades, Slinden said, citizens of the developing Ukraine have struggled to distinguish themselves from Russia, to slip from behind the previously instated iron curtain and become visible as a country rich in culture and perseverance.

While in Ukraine, she worked to increase the standard of living and develop stronger communities.

“There were a lot of really negative things that happened in that country for a long time.

“People live amongst the ruins,” she said. In many areas, there’s no running water, electricity or sewers.

“I think surviving any illness or any challenging situation, you grow and become more resilient to things that challenge your abilities,” she said, adding that her experience taught her the ways in which individuals and their struggles are more similar than different. “After completing the treatments and surviving and becoming part of the world again, you have more self confidence to go out and meet challenges.”

About a year ago, Slinden began working as the South Whidbey Center Director at Senior Services of Island County, helping seniors to lead fulfilling lives.

“I am working with people who are in the phase of their life when they get to finally do something creative and fun,” she said, explaining that, in addition to care services such as Meals on Wheels, some of the activities available at the center include trips to Costa Rica and Ireland, art and reader’s theater classes and discussion groups.

“Those are the things that make life worthwhile,” Slinden said. “It’s not just survival, it’s actually participating in positive parts of life.”

Just last year, Slinden’s daughter’s stepmother died after being rediagnosed with breast cancer after several years.

“Those kinds of things remind you, even though (the threat of recurrence)  is not always at the front of your mind, that life is very precious. There are a lot of really wonderful things to do, so don’t waste your time waiting to do them,” she said.

“Open yourself to your own character.

“Get to know yourself and live your own life.”