Breast Cancer Advocate | Claudia Luecke C’89
When Claudia Luecke talks to young women at Drew about breast cancer, she points out that although she wasn’t diagnosed with the disease until she was 31, the cancer had probably started growing while she was still in college. “That means that when I was at Drew, sitting in the same seats they’re sitting in, there was cancer growing in my body,” says Luecke, now 42. Luecke, who also talks about her battle with breast cancer at other New Jersey colleges, says she’s not trying to frighten the women, just raise their awareness. “I wish I had known a little more about breast cancer as a [student] so that I could have asked my doctor more questions,” she says.
After beating the disease back in 1998, Luecke began volunteering with the Young Survival Coalition, a national organization for young women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer; she eventually served on the coalition’s board. “When you’re diagnosed at that age, you suddenly have to think about things like wills and living wills,” says Luecke, who is an attorney for Citigroup. “The coalition provides a place for women to talk about those things and to get information about the latest research.”
Although Luecke was cancer-free for nine years, she is again receiving chemotherapy to halt the spread of new tumors. While she may need to be on chemo for the rest of her life, she plans to speak to young women for as long as she can. “Maybe someone can catch their cancer earlier than I did,” she says. “Catching it early really does make a difference.”
—Amy Vames