Photographer Documents Wife's Breast Cancer

N E W   Y O R K, Oct. 23, 2001 -- After Tracy Sondern learned she had breast cancer, the 38-year-old makeup artist made an unusual request of her husband: she asked him to document her treatment with his camera.

Andrew Southam, a celebrity and fashion photographer who was heartbroken by the diagnosis, struggled with the request, because he didn't want to view his wife's treatment and recovery from behind a lens. However, he agreed and now her story and his striking photos are featured in Glamour magazine.

ABCNEWS' Dr. Nancy Snyderman spoke with the couple about their decision to share Sondern's story.-->

"At first, I couldn't look at them...it was shocking to see what had happened to me, to my body," Sondern tells Good Morning America. But when she saw the photos in the magazine, she realized how powerful they were, and wanted younger women, especially, to become more aware of the disease.

Southam says it is not hard for him to look at the pictures, "because I feel that it's behind us."

Chronicling Stages of Cancer

The photo collection chronicles Sondern from the time that she was diagnosed to her recovery.

One photograph shows her two days after her lumpectomy, the dark stitches on her breast visible, her hair wrapped in a towel. Another photograph depicts her sleeping after the chemotherapy treatments. Sondern says the treatment made her feel nauseated and exhausted.

In radiation therapy, Sondern underwent treatment that thinned her beautiful blond hair. Southam convinced her to cut off her hair and then shave her head smooth. He documented this major step with a shot of a pile of hair on the floor. He then wrote the caption "hair or no hair, she is still beautiful."

A Shocking Diagnosis

Sondern discovered the lump in her breast a year ago, when she rolled over in bed and felt it graze her right arm. When she first visited her gynecologist, the doctor said it would probably shrink after her next menstrual period. Her doctor didn't seem terribly concerned because she was statistically a little young to be at risk for breast cancer — just over 4 percent of breast cancer patients are under 40. Plus, she had no family history of the disease.

A Shocking Diagnosis

Sondern discovered the lump in her breast a year ago, when she rolled over in bed and felt it graze her right arm. When she first visited her gynecologist, the doctor said it would probably shrink after her next menstrual period. Her doctor didn't seem terribly concerned because she was statistically a little young to be at risk for breast cancer — just over 4 percent of breast cancer patients are under 40. Plus, she had no family history of the disease.

Sondern had had a mammogram and breast exam four months earlier, but there was no indication of cancer at that time. Mammograms are sometimes not as effective in finding cancer in younger women because the breast tissue is too dense.

Her doctor told Sondern that her five-year survival odds were as high as 95 to 100 percent, if she underwent chemotherapy followed by radiation. She hesitated, because chemotherapy can cause premature, and possibly permanent menopause, and she and her husband wanted to have children. Sondern opted for intensive chemotherapy, over three months instead of six, so that she would be exposed to toxic chemicals for a shorter period of time.

Then she began six and a half weeks of radiation treatment, a procedure that left her right breast blistering, red and raw. The treatment ended last April. Her menstrual period came back, indicating that it might be possible for her to bear children. One of her doctors says her chances of having a recurrence of breast cancer are a slim 3 percent, while another says it is more like 15 to 20 percent.

"I feel like it's behind me," Sondern says, but she cannot know for sure. She has gone back to work, and she and Southam have moved from New York to Los Angeles to help take some of the stress out of their life.

Photos Were a Gift

Rather than writing in a journal, Sodern asked her husband, a photographer, to document her battle with breast cancer. She wanted to be able to see the progress through her treatments.

They did not initially think about publishing the photographs, although Sondern thought the images would be very powerful.

For her husband, taking the photos was a gift — a way for him to be constructive when he felt powerless.

"She asked me to do it to help me deal with what was happening, to give me a function," Southam says. "When something happens and you can't change it, you feel powerless. You want to contribute."

"I feel like it's behind me," Sondern says, but she cannot know for sure. She has gone back to work, and she and Southam have moved from New York to Los Angeles to help take some of the stress out of their life.

Photos Were a Gift

Rather than writing in a journal, Sodern asked her husband, a photographer, to document her battle with breast cancer. She wanted to be able to see the progress through her treatments.

They did not initially think about publishing the photographs, although Sondern thought the images would be very powerful.

For her husband, taking the photos was a gift — a way for him to be constructive when he felt powerless.

"She asked me to do it to help me deal with what was happening, to give me a function," Southam says. "When something happens and you can't change it, you feel powerless. You want to contribute."