Cricket DeWalch: From breast cancer survivor to patient advocate

In October 2018, Cricket DeWalch, an Inner Loop mother of two, was told she had breast cancer. Twenty days later, she had a double mastectomy. Doctors then found the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, so she endured a lymph node dissection and six months of chemotherapy. After that came 12 weeks of radiation.

Now, seven years later, she is cancer-free. As a certified registered nurse anesthetist for U.S. Anesthesia Partners at Houston Methodist Hospital, she has been a patient advocate for scores of women going through treatment for breast cancer.

Since it began in 1985, October has been designated as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The observance is designed to raise awareness, promote education and fund research for breast cancer. The National Breast Cancer Foundation reports that breast cancer death rates in the U.S. have fallen by 44 percent since 1989.

DeWalch knows that her profession as a nurse helped her navigate the frequently confusing and frustrating healthcare system, an advantage most cancer patients do not enjoy. That was when she decided to take on patient advocacy in addition to her full-time job.

"If you can't do it, you're going to give me a call and I'm going to help you do it," she tells her patients.

In addition to personal counseling, DeWalch advocates for physicians seeking grants to research breast cancer.

The American Cancer Society frequently calls upon DeWalch to speak publicly about her experience with other patients and advocates, and to stress the importance of early detection and regular examinations.

Her advice to women facing a breast cancer diagnosis? "It sounds simple, but ask for help. You want to do it all by yourself, but it's hard. So ask for help."