Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Dr. Susan Kutner of Monte Sereno is chief of surgery at Kaiser Santa Teresa. Last summer, she participated in a climb to the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan.
Monte Sereno doctor reaches pinnacle
By Kara Chalmers
Last August, Dr. Susan Kutner, from Monte Sereno, took part in the largest event ever in Japan to draw attention to breast cancer--a climb of the 12,389-foot Mt. Fuji summit. Besides raising awareness of breast cancer, the climb's goal was to raise funding for research and programs in both Japan and the United States.
Kutner, a general surgeon and the chief of surgery at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Teresa medical facility in San Jose and the chair of the Northern California Regional Breast Cancer Task Force, was the only American physician who took part in the Mt. Fuji expedition.
The San Francisco-based Breast Cancer Fund--a national funding and advocacy nonprofit formed in 1992-- sponsored the Mt. Fuji climb. The fund's goals are to find safer, less toxic means of detection and treatment of breast cancer; to eliminate preventable environmental causes of the disease; and to ensure access to the best available care and information for everyone.
Kutner is not a breast cancer survivor, as many others who climbed Mt. Fuji, but she has concentrated her efforts on breast cancer care for years. She has always been interested in women's health issues and especially breast cancer--a cancer she said is unique because it effects so much more than a single body part.
"It's not just a physical removal of the tumor, it's a change in a woman's self-image, her sense of sexuality," Kutner said about breast cancer care.
She said that her work at Kaiser has allowed her to join advocacy groups, such as the Breast Cancer Fund, to empower women by involving them in making decisions about their treatment.
The Mt. Fuji climb was part of the Breast Cancer Fund's Climb Against the Odds, a program of mountain expeditions that began in 1995 when a group of 17 breast cancer survivors climbed Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina. Three years later, 12 women, five of whom were breast cancer survivors climbed Alaska's Mt. McKinley. Mt. Fuji was the third climb the fund underwrote, the goals of which were to draw attention to increasing rates of breast cancer in Japan and the United States, and to raise funds for cancer research, education, patient support and advocacy.
In the United States, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, according to the Breast Cancer Fund, and rates in certain areas of the country--such as the San Francisco Bay Area--rank among the highest in the world. In Japan, although overall rates are lower than in the United States, the incidence of breast cancer has increased 40 percent in the last decade, according to the fund.
From the United States, 78 breast cancer survivors, activists and supporters took part in the Mt Fuji climb. The youngest was 7 and the oldest was 70 years old. From the Japanese team, there were 400 cancer survivors and supporters; the youngest was 10 and the oldest was 70. The climb took two days and some climbers, due to altitude sickness, never made it to the top.
Each American team member carried colorful prayer flags with them on the trip, which were inscribed with the names of friends and loved ones that had faced breast cancer. At the summit, the group held a prayer flag ceremony, in the Tibetan tradition, at which climbers read the names aloud, along with the flags' prayer, "the wind carries our prayers of love, healing and remembrance. May we all be well." In all, more than 750 prayer flags were flown.
The climbers on all of the Breast Cancer Fund's mountain expeditions have engaged in this tradition to pay tribute to those who have dealt with breast cancer. Each flag is dedicated with a donation of $100, and later becomes part of a permanent collection that the fund exhibits at events.
The Mt. Fuji climb brought in a total of $800,000 in cash and $100,000 in in-kind gifts for the fund. Kutner, who went on the climb as a participant but also helped out with minor injuries and sicknesses on the trip, said she raised close to $10,000 for the fund.
Kutner, who has worked at Kaiser as a general surgeon since 1984, said she is in a line of work that never gets easy. A short workweek for her totals 60 hours, and she has had surgeries that have lasted as long as 12 hours at a stretch. The sheer number of patients she sees is high and the stress is never-ending, she said. With cancer, there are always recurrences and surgical complications, and she has learned that even what should be the most routine surgery can never be taken for granted.
But according to Kutner, the rewards are immeasurable.
"You live in Silicon Valley, and a lot of people in this community do very well and they make a lot of products that are interesting and are helping us move into a different world," she said. "But they don't have the advantage that I do, of being able to truly have that direct knowledge that you have been of service to someone, or some community, and made an impact in a life. And that's a very special thing."
For Kutner, the best part of her work is seeing patients.
"It's the day to day, one-on-one interaction with people and being able to effect their lives in such a direct way," she said. "And it's not only during the surgery. Sometimes it's just talking to them about the options of their care, or answering their questions, or just telling them that I understand what they're going through, those are the most important interactions I have."
Kutner tries to lead a healthy lifestyle consisting of physical exercise, such as hiking, skiing and climbing, and a low-fat diet--two factors that contribute to decreasing the risk of breast cancer. She said she also must keep her endurance up for work as a surgeon, which is physically and mentally challenging. She said she hopes to take part in the Breast Cancer Fund's next climb--the 19,000-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa--in the fall of 2002.
After the Mt. Fuji climb, Kutner spoke at an international forum in Tokyo, Japan, entitled, "Experiences of Breast Cancer Patients: Improving Quality of Life." Survivors and physicians, including Kutner, from both Japan and the United States, spoke about how breast and other cancers are treated in the two countries. Kutner said she spoke about how patients participate and are informed of their choices for treatment in the United States.
Kutner said it was inspiring for her to see women come away from cancer strong enough to climb Mt Fuji. She said she saw in the climbers the same kind of spirit that she sees in her own patients, and that the climb for her was a statement about hope and a real affirmation of life, especially since many survivors who climbed had undergone aggressive cancer treatments.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
