Globe Miami Times Connecting you to the Pulse of Globe Miami
Blue and Lisa Saiz have a lot to celebrate. Blue’s Shop is 5 years old and Lisa is 10 years cancer-free.
“Every day is a surprise,” says Lisa. “We started from dirt.”
Blue’s Kustoms, the custom body shop at 106 West Ash Street (Highway 60), atop a hill overlooking Globe, offers quality detailing, custom bodywork and paint, fabrication, and U-Haul rentals. Five years after its opening, Blue’s has a team of 8 and an impressive waiting list for custom fabrication.
“Everybody is welcome to come by during business hours to see the antiques, hotrods and motorcycles,” says Blue.
While you’re there, sign Blue’s guest book – started last year after receiving visitors from eastern Europe and Australia – and check out Blue’s Kustom 2024 t-shirt. Designed to increase breast cancer awareness, it features a pink ribbon hot rod and the names of 26 women Blue and Lisa know who have battled breast cancer. Some of them live and work in downtown Globe.
“Super excited to do it,” says Blue. “Someone we know is going through it right now.”
Breast Cancer Awareness
One in 8 women in the United States will receive a breast cancer diagnosis.
“At first, it’s just unbelievable,” says Lisa Saiz.
Lisa was diagnosed with stage 2.75 breast cancer in 2014. She discovered the lump herself, less than a year after a clear mammogram. She had extensive surgery, reconstruction and chemotherapy every six weeks. With each treatment, Blue went to the Harley store to buy her 3-4 new shirts.
“I just went through it. As fast as I could.” Lisa says. “I fought hard.”
It’s the loneliest time, she muses. The fear of losing hair, losing breasts. One morning, tired of her hair falling out and done with the scarves, Lisa asked her husband to shave her head. That was the hardest part for Blue.
“You shave mine first,” he said.
Friends rallied around them. Lisa never knew she had so many. There were benefits – softball games and dinners. Flowers, house cleaning.
“It’s amazing how people come together to help each other in your time of need,” says Blue.
More than 10 years later, Lisa remains cancer-free.
“It’s still unbelievable,” she says. “I had cancer. Cancer didn’t have me.”
The Most Common Treatments
In 2024, over 300,000 and almost 3,000 men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. Their median age is 62. Treatment depends on the type of cancer and how far it has spread.
Fortunately, about 66% of breast cancer cases are diagnosed at a localized stage.
Surgery is often the first treatment. Remove it. Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill or shrink the cancer. Radiation therapy employs high-energy rays to do the same. Newer breast cancer treatments include Hormone therapy, which tries to keep cancer cells from growing and immunotherapy, that works with the body’s immune system to fight back.
Over 42,000 women will die from breast cancer this year. Survival rates vary depending on several factors, including the stage of the cancer when it is detected, the type of cancer, and whether it is invasive or localized. Overall, the 5-year relative survival rate for breast cancer is greater than 90%. For breast cancer detected early and localized, the 5-year survival is 99%.
Somebody’s Mother
Larry Vela, a member of Blue’s talented team, remembers the day he got the call from his mother, Emma. She had breast cancer.
“We were pretty devastated,” Larry says. “My brother flew out from California.”
Emma’s diagnosis followed a mammogram at Scottsdale Memorial. She went through surgery.
That was 50 years ago.
“She’s still with us,” says Larry, with a smile. “She’s 96.”
Larry also has six friends who have had breast cancer. They all had early detection. They all survived.
The Healthiest Person I Know
“The scariest part is when you’re told you have it,” says Linda Gross, this paper’s publisher. Linda was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer at age 50, after a regular mammogram.
“They called me in 24 hours,” says Linda. “Three days later I was in surgery.”
She underwent a single mastectomy; and chose hormone therapy over chemo after pursuing a second opinion through Mayo Clinic. Despite having health insurance, the cost of reconstruction surgery was prohibitive. 15 years later, she remains cancer-free.
“I have stopped worrying about it,” she says with a nod and a smile.
She continues to get a mammogram each year.
A traveler, Patti Daley came to Globe in 2016 to face the heat, follow love, and find desert treasure. She writes in many formats and records travel scraps and other musings at daleywriting.com.
