In September 2022, a 3D mammogram revealed a small spot on Kate Wendt’s breast. Further tests revealed she had stage 1 breast cancer. The diagnosis was a shock. “I’m athletic, I eat right, there’s not a family history. I do everything you’re supposed to do,” she said. “And I got breast cancer.”
Kate had a lumpectomy followed by 16 sessions of radiation therapy. Her continuing treatment includes daily hormone therapy. The lumpectomy was the first surgery Kate had ever had. “There was a lot of swelling and pain,” she said.
Kate was surprised by how affected her muscles were after the lumpectomy. Just raising her arms was difficult. “They cut through your breast, and I underestimated how much of a toll that would take on my muscles and strength,” she said.
A dancer since her youth, Kate has practiced Pilates and yoga for many years. As she embarked on treatment, she embraced the yoga teachings she’s learned to get through the difficult days. “Not only has yoga helped keep me physically fit, but also mentally,” she said.
The breath work Kate learned through yoga was especially helpful. “Yoga is truly a mind-body connection with the breath. When you have to breathe consciously while doing yoga, it changes your brain, it calms you down.”
Slowly but surely, Kate is rebuilding the strength she lost while undergoing treatment. “It’s a scary thing to be diagnosed with breast cancer, and it’s important to find the things that will help you,” she said. “When I was first diagnosed, my head was going to the worst-case scenarios, so I found doing yoga, even when I couldn’t do full poses, and being in my body and doing the breath work made it easier for me to calm down my brain.”
Kate’s children and grandchildren live in California. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, whenever Kate visited them, she’d attend classes at YogaWorks with her daughter or daughter-in-law. During the pandemic, she switched to taking classes online. “The instructors are amazing. Their training is very thorough and they’re very good at it,” she said. “And YogaWorks now offers special classes for people with breast cancer, which is amazing.”
