From Diagnosis to ‘I Do’: A Breast Cancer Story Rooted in Love at Intermountain Health St. James Hospital
RoseAnn Ruppert hadn’t had a mammogram in years. With no family history, she never thought she could be diagnosed with breast cancer, but one night, lying in bed she felt something different.
“I think that’s a lump,” she told her fiancée at the time, Dave Ruppert.
He felt it too and said , “You need to get that checked out.”
RoseAnn arrived at Intermountain Health St. James Hospital for her planned mammogram and expressed her concerns. Due to the size of the lump, she was told she would be skipping the mammogram that day and moving directly into advanced testing..
That moment was the beginning of a whirlwind.
Jodi Lubcik, oncology patient navigator at St. James, help set her up for her necessary next steps and advanced imaging. It started with a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound, then biopsies. The results came back: invasive ductal carcinoma.
Dr. Marwan Massouh, medical oncologist at the Intermountain St. James Cancer Center, explained to RoseAnn how this form of breast cancer is one of the most common, making up 80% of all breast cancer cases but that RoseAnn’s case was a “ aggressive, invasive type of cancer.”
When RoseAnn first began to grasp the reality of her diagnosis, she turned to Dave with a heavy heart.
“I told him, ‘This isn’t what you signed up for.’ We were supposed to have our love story finally.”
With tears in her eyes, RoseAnn recounted how Dave’s reaction solidified their bond forever.
“He told me, ‘Whether it is or it isn’t doesn’t matter. I’m with you.’”she said.
Dave’s steady support became a pillar of strength – one that grew even stronger when friends in Seattle rallied around the couple’s plan to elope.
‘Come out here and we’ll take care of everything’ her friends shared, as they quickly worked to create a special ceremony.Just six days later, surrounded by loved ones in a friend’s Seattle backyard, RoseAnn and Dave were married.
“Everyone knew I had cancer and would start treatment the next week,” she said, “but that wasn’t the focus. It was about Dave, my kids, our friends and family coming together as one.”
When RoseAnn returned home to Butte, her chemotherapy treatment began. As she sat for long hours at the cancer center, she found herself overwhelmed yet supported.
“Everybody’s nice and friendly and makes this easier,” she said of her care team at St. James,
“We build very close relationships with our patients seeing them Monday – Friday sometimes six to eight weeks,” said Stephanie Schulte, a radiation therapist in the St. James Cancer Center. “We get to know their personal life, meet their family, and we’re on the journey with them the whole time they’re with us.”
RoseAnn also found comfort in sharing her experience on social media, to educate and connect with those she cares about.
“I thought, if I can show my kids, it’s okay to be vulnerable, then that might help them lean into being that way too,” said RoseAnn.“I got flooded with personal messages and phone calls and texts and cards,” she said. “It kind of was incredible to me to think that because I shared something, people showed up.”
RoseAnn explored options for treatment, but she Dave decided to stay in Butte. “Every step of the way, we’re sure that this is where I’m supposed to be. It’s here in Butte. It’s in the St. James Cancer Center with these people.”
The cancer center and her caregivers have been a pillar to provide support in her day-to-day cancer journey. “I just walk in here and it feels like a community; people who are warm and welcome even without knowing each other.”
RoseAnn will continue her chemotherapy for six months, before moving forward with a mastectomy.While there are some unknowns, she is approaching her treatment with courage, surrounded by love and strength.
“I feel super blessed, super fortunate to be at a point that I’m happy and cared for by so many people,” she said. “This couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
Although she still has treatment ahead, with her new husband by her side and her caregivers support, it is clear that RoseAnn isn’t walking alone.