Enjoying Time With Her Dog After Preventative Surgery
- Country singer-songwriter Morgan Wade, 29, is living it up on the road with the company of an adorable French bulldog named Chop, just one year after undergoing a preventative double mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery.
- We’re happy to see Wade doing what she loves and continuing to make music after recovering from her surgeries, and doing so with a new fuzzy friend.
- Wade is a carrier of the BRCA gene mutation, which increases your risk of getting breast and ovarian cancer. BRCA comprises two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are tumor suppressors. When either of these genes is altered, damaged DNA cannot be adequately repaired, leading to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
- Sometimes, women choose to get a preventative (also called prophylactic) mastectomy, which is a procedure that removes breast tissue to prevent cancer from developing in the future.
- It’s important to remember that life doesn’t slow down for a cancer diagnosis, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, our experts say that prioritizing your overall well-being and continuing to do the things you love, like spending time with animals, can be very beneficial.
Wade— who underwent surgery just one year ago, after learning she had a higher genetic risk of getting breast cancer—started sharing photos of her adorable spotted dog in September, when she announcing she was “back on the road” and touring across the U.S. again.
Read MoreIn a followup post, a selfie featuring her blue-eyed Frenchie wearing a green shirt and being held in Wade’s arms, the singer wrote, “Back on the road … trying to eat in peace.”View this post on Instagram
The last video clip in the Instagram carousel post, showed Chop to be staring at Wade while she was eating, with her asking, “What are you doing? You cannot have my dinner.”
Fans were quick to praise Wade’s dog on it’s cuteness, with one writing, “Just when I thought Chop couldn’t get any more adorable,” while another wrote, “Every bite you take, every crunch you make. I’ll be watching you!”
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In another Instagram post, captioned, “Life on the road with a French Bulldog,” Wade shared footage of her dog sitting next to a mess of miscellaneous items that Chop seemingly broke into.
As Chop was seen sitting innocently, while wearing a burgundy sweater, Wade is heard asking, “I wonder who did this?”
View this post on Instagram
Although it’s unclear whether Wade’s dog is a therapy dog or just a fun-loving pup to make life more fun, it’s clear she adores the little dog and she spends most of her time with Chop.
In her most recent post from this week, Wade shared a cute photo of her dog looking at her pen while she was working on some song lyrics for a song titled, “Take Me Away.”
“Getting started on these lyric sheets and Chop is inspecting. Limited amount left and ordering ends tonight!” she captioned the post. “Go to shopmorganwade.com to place your order!”
View this post on Instagram
In an earlier interview with The Travel Addict, which took place in August, Wade offered some more insight into her dog Chop.
She told the news outlet, “I’m obsessed with the little dog sitting over here across from me, Chop. We’ve had him for almost two weeks.
“He’s a little French bulldog. We got him up in Baltimore. We have him out here on the road and he’s doing great.”
Wade continued, “He’s been so good. He’s my new little snuggle buddy. I think everybody’s obsessed with him and the whole team is absolutely obsessed with him.”
As for how Wade feels about writing on the road, she explained, “I can definitely write on the road. If I’m going through something, if I have a good day and I’m out walking or whatever, things pop into my head.
“Some days you don’t come up with anything and that’s totally fine. Other days you write three songs.”
View this post on Instagram
The Power of Therapy Dogs
Therapy dogs are trained to help people with, with or without cancer, feel better emotionally and physically. A cancer therapy dog helps a person going through cancer treatment by reducing anxiety and lifting a person’s mood. These types of dogs mainly provide comfort and support through cancer.
Studies have shown that spending time with dogs lowers a person’s blood pressure and the stress hormone, cortisol. Therapy dogs may help with pain management, too, as time with dogs can trigger a release of endorphins which mitigate pain and discomfort.
It’s easy to see how Wade’s adorable frenchie can make a stressful life on the road a little less hectic. Especially in some of the videos Wade posts on Instagram. One cute video showed her dog running with random items in it’s mouth, like a plastic knife and a a clothes hanger. Both which Wade ultimately retrieved from her puppy.
“Sigh. Just some touching moments with Chop,” she wrote alongside the post.
View this post on Instagram
How Can Dogs Help?
Anecdotal evidence from SurvivorNet’s experts says that having a positive mood through cancer can benefit treatment. Also, scientific evidence around depression and cancer shows that treating depression positively impacts cancer treatment. This is where help from cancer therapy dogs can play a tremendous role. However, for more severe cases of anxiety and depression, speak to a psychologist before pursuing treatment or support from a furry friend.
Jane Kopelman, a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and owner of All About Dogs, said during a previous interview that the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Caring Canine Program was hoping to get more pups involved in the program because patients request them so often.
A ‘Plum’ Assignment: Therapy Dog From Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
“What most patients say, and studies have proven, is that the dogs reduce anxiety, reduce depression, and they give people a sense of hope they often motivate people,” Kopelman said. “Patients have said that they were so eager to have the dogs come that it motivated them to get up.”
The dogs can visit patients who are in the hospital after undergoing surgery and also visit outpatient locations where patients may be undergoing treatment like chemotherapy.
If you’re interested in pursuing a cancer therapy dog, speak with your doctor about the following steps, or an oncological social worker or organizations to connect with that train these types of dogs. Note that waiting lists for service dogs are often long and their training period is a lengthy process, as well, so time is of the essence if you wish to get a service dog.
Animals and Healing
It is often said that animals improve our quality of life, and that can especially be true for people battling cancer or for those who have a higher risk of cancer, like Wade.
What Are the Benefits of Pet Therapy?
We often need to keep going, and there have been studies showing the power of passion of positivity affecting the outcome of your disease. What still brings you joy? It’s important to do things to feed your emotional health just as much as your physical.
It’s important to remember that life doesn’t slow down for a cancer diagnosis, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, our experts say that prioritizing your overall wellbeing and continuing to do the things you love, like spending time with animals, can be very beneficial.
RELATED: Pet Therapy Can Really Help During Cancer Treatment: “It Takes Me Out of My World”
For those without dogs at home, more and more often we are seeing chemotherapy centers and hospitals bringing dogs in to meet with patients and to brighten their day with a wagging tail and a slobbery kiss.
For instance, at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Caring Canine teams make regularly scheduled bedside and lounge visits, even turning up on holidays, which can be the loneliest times for patients.
Separately, Alison Snow, who works in cancer support services at Mount Sinai, previously told SurvivorNet that there’s research to show that animal visits to hospitals can be extremely beneficial to people battling cancer, as well as other ailments.
“You can hear the excitement in the air when the dog is around and there is research to show that having animal-assisted visits is helpful to patients going through cancer in terms of lowering blood pressure, reducing anxiety, decreasing depression, and overall, helping patients feel less isolated,” said Snow.
Morgan Wade’s Decision To Have Her Breasts Removed
Last year, the country music artist underwent testing for the BRCA gene mutation, which increases a person’s risk for breast cancer. The BRCA mutation is inherited, as Morgan Wade’s mom also had it. This is why she decided to undergo a preventative double mastectomy, to reduce her chances of getting breast cancer in the future.
BRCA is comprised of two genes: BRCA1 and BRCA2. Both BRCA1 and BRCA2 contain proteins that work as tumor suppressors.
They help repair damaged DNA and ensure the stability of each cell’s genetic material.
When either of these genes is altered, that mutation can mean its protein product does not function properly. The result of a nonfunctioning protein means damaged DNA may not be repaired correctly.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 can increase the risk of female breast and ovarian cancers.
Several genetic tests are available to determine whether you have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation. Hereditary genetic testing is usually done with a blood or saliva test.
If you discover that you do have a mutation, there are options available to manage your cancer risk, which include:
- Enhanced screenings
- Prophylactic (risk-reducing) surgery, which involves removing as much of the “at-risk” tissue as possible
- Chemoprevention, or the use of medicines to reduce the risk of cancer
WATCH: What is a BRCA mutation?
Last fall, she underwent a preventative mastectomy to reduce her cancer risk.
A prophylactic, or preventative, mastectomy is an operation where the breast tissue is removed to prevent cancer from developing in the future.
“Risk-reducing mastectomies are an operation where we take women at, usually, very high risk for getting breast cancer for genetic mutation carriers, who are the ones at the highest risk; there’s unfortunately only one way to actually prevent breast cancer,” Dr. Elisa Port, Chief of Breast Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System, tells SurvivorNet.
“Women who are found to test positive for a genetic mutation really have two options,” Dr. Port explains. “One is what’s called high-risk surveillance, which means we check them every six months or so mammograms, MRIs with the hope that if God forbid, they develop breast cancer, we pick it up early. But that’s not prevention; that’s early detection.
“Early detection is a goal; it’s not a guarantee. For the woman who wants to be more proactive about actually preventing breast cancer, or as we say reducing her risk, unfortunately, the only way to do that is to remove the actual tissue at risk, and that is the breast tissue,” she adds.
Some women decide to have their breasts reconstructed and have implants put in right after the mastectomy, while others don’t have reconstruction at all.
The benefits of a prophylactic or preventative surgery are:
- Significant reduction in cancer risk (from 80-90% to 1-2%)
- Nipples can often be spared
- Women can get reconstruction at the same time
After the procedure, Wade said she felt fine but was upset that she couldn’t immediately exercise like usual. However, she has since returned to working out.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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