Correspondent photo / Susan Wojnar Angela Guerrieri was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998 at age 60. Now, at 87, she’s been cancer-free for almost 30 years.

Breast cancer survivor Angela Guerrieri, 87, had just settled into the Ohio State Buckeyes-Texas Longhorns game, the first game of the season, when I stopped at her house in Canfield to interview her.

“I’m a big football and baseball fan,” she said. “I always back OSU and all the Ohio teams. I also support teams from the states my three children live in. That would be Skyemarie West in Colorado, Christine Drake from Tennessee and in Michigan, Georgie Guerrieri.”

We settled in at her dining room table, surrounded by pictures of her children and grandchildren, to discuss her journey with breast cancer. Her story begins in November 1998.

While performing a self exam, she felt a lump in her left breast. Her family doctor did an ultrasound that showed the lump.

She was 60 years old at the time and working as a language arts and English teacher at Canfield Middle School. Her daughter Christine had survived breast cancer and had a mastectomy done five years previous, so she was well aware of what the lump could mean and what she might be in for.

She went to the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, where she was given a choice — have the lump removed or have a mastectomy.

Angie was afraid of the possibility of the cancer spreading and opted for the mastectomy.

After the surgery and receiving an implant, she had chemotherapy at the Blood and Cancer Center in Canfield. She doesn’t remember how often she had to go for treatments, but they lasted six months.

In the late ’90s, breast cancer was still viewed as a death sentence. Angie said she prayed a lot, but felt resigned to the fact that she might not have long to live.

“Doctors were not as encouraging as they are today,” she stated.

She decided to retire from teaching in the spring of 1999. She regularly went for blood tests at the Blood and Cancer Center. Her results kept coming back negative, but she continued to pray.

She had gone to Catholic school at Sacred Heart Church while she was growing up on Youngstown’s East Side.

“The church really took care of us, especially my mother,” Guerrieri said. “She and my father were both immigrants from Italy when they came to America to escape WWII. My father worked as a steel worker, but developed a horrible cough; we think from exposure to asbestos. He died six years after coming to America, leaving my mother alone with three children to raise. She did not speak English. The church got her a job at Ursuline as a cook. She didn’t have to speak. She was later given a job cleaning the chapel at St. Elizabeth’s, where language wasn’t a big issue.”

Angie’s children were in their late 30s and early 40s and lived many states away when she developed breast cancer. She had been divorced for many years and, so, fought her battle largely by herself.

She said she did have friends who were supportive and caring, and she was able to talk to her breast cancer survivor daughter at length about what she was going through. She noted other family members who had breast cancer — a sister, who passed away in 2020, and an aunt.

She tried to stay as active as she could during the early years.

After retiring from teaching, she signed up to be a volunteer docent at the Butler Institute of American Art. Her training lasted nine months. She had to learn everything about the paintings, sculptures and other art works in the museum and about the artists who created them.

She was then able to act as a museum guide and educator. She also did some volunteer teaching at St. Charles.

“Staying active really helped keep my mind off the cancer,” she remarked.

These days, it is her interest in sports and family that keep her going. True to her profession as an English teacher, she remains an avid reader, making two trips to the library each week.

Angie displayed a great calmness while reflecting on her breast cancer and, reflective perhaps of persons of her generation along with her personality, she was matter of fact and did not focus on her feelings or hardship regarding her journey. May her quiet strength continue.