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CARE PACKAGE.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

For women lucky enough to not need chemotherapy after a cancer diagnosis - meaning early detection of still-small tumors and no spread of cancer cells to nearby lymph nodes - treatment following surgery often is a relatively uncomplicated regimen of 33 or so zaps of carefully directed radiation.

But when the diagnosis is not that simple - whether because of previous cancer history, larger tumors or involvement of one or more lymph nodes - the picture changes dramatically.

Heavy-duty drugs are introduced to the body to kill off fast-growing cancer cells. But they damage healthy cells, too, leaving behind a host of unpleasant side effects - from skin damage to mouth sores to temperature spikes commonly known as hot flashes.

Eugene resident Karen Sharkey knows all about it. The 50-year-old has had cancer twice, first thyroid cancer and then breast cancer.

Now she's turned her experience into a small business to give other cancer patients a shortcut to finding relief that she had to ferret out for herself.

In a play on her name, Sharkey calls her fledgling...

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