Maybe it was fate that Linda Evans was diagnosed with breast cancer in October, the 31 days designated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“I can remember, the first day I came back to work (at First National Bank’s data and technology center in Hermitage) after I was diagnosed, there was a group of men getting off the elevator, and they all had pink ribbons on their lapels,” she said.

Pink ribbons symbolize support for breast cancer survivors and honor the memory of those who have died of the disease.

Mrs. Evans said that when her male co-workers learned of her diagnosis, they expressed their concern, and but also came to her with questions, such as what they should tell their wives about prevention, and what to if the women in their lives would be diagnosed.

“I said they need to get checked regularly and advocate for themselves, know what questions to ask and be very open about it,” she said.

“And you have got to be your own advocate.”

Mrs. Evans said that everyone who is diagnosed needs to do the research, ask questions, and know exactly what they are getting into.

“I also said they need to support other women who get breast cancer.”

Mrs. Evans said many of the people that came to her just wanted to share their experiences, or the experience of their wives or sisters.

“There were so many men that came in and said, I just want to tell you about my sister, or I just wanted to tell you about my my wife, or I just wanted to tell you about me,” she said. “There were so many people I didn’t realize had cancer (until I was diagnosed). It’s a support network.”

Mrs. Evans found a lump on one of her breasts on Oct. 13, 1998, during a self-examination.

“I was shocked when I found it,” she said. “I had a all the checkups eight weeks earlier, including a mammogram.

“I don’t have a history of cancer in my family at all,” she said.

Mrs. Evans and her husband own a ranch in West Middlesex and she frequently rides horses.

The doctor told her that it could have just been a bump she got while riding, but she decided she wanted to be absolutely sure.

“I insisted on a mammogram,” she said.

The mammogram was negative, but Mrs. Evans said she showed the doctor, who was female, the sore spot on her breast, and she was immediately scheduled for an ultra-sound, which revealed the the lump was a cancerous tumor.

The next day she had surgery to remove the tumor at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

“I found the lump on Wednesday, I had a mammogram the next day, and I had surgery on Friday,” Mrs. Evans said.

Surgery, however, is the only the first stage in breast cancer treatment, and for the next several months she underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy in Pittsburgh.

Both kill any cancerous cells that may remain after the surgery in hopes of preventing a recurrence.

Chemotherapy is the more intensive of the two, killing both cancerous and healthy cells and often causes patients’ hair to fall out.

“I had chemotherapy in December,” Mrs. Evans said.

She said she didn’t want her hair to fall out for Christmas, so she spoke with her doctor, who said she would schedule the chemo so she would still have her hair on Dec. 25.

“It fell out for New Year’s,” Mrs. Evans said.

She eventually had four rounds of chemo, even having a session before she went on vacation with her family.

“I was on the beach bald,” she said.

Mrs. Evans never wore a wig, and rarely wore a hat, and has pictures of herself with little or no hair.

“I never needed to wear a wig,” she said. “That just wasn’t me.”

Throughout the treatment, Mrs. Evans said she missed only four days of work.

There turned out to be what she could have called a blessing in disguise.

When she was diagnosed, Mrs. Evans sold her usual riding horse and began riding Imperial Bid, a horse she felt would be a little safer considering the circumstances.

“I ended up showing that horse, and we won a lot,” she said.