CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 45 HEALTH W hen Erin Champion contemplated having the fine lines on her forehead injected in a large room filled with interested onlookers recently, she didn't hesitate. "I was excited," she said. "It hurt less than a brow wax." Cape Fear Valley Health plastic surgeon Dr. Leif Nordberg, M.D, performed the injection during Cape Fear Valley Health Presents CityView's Ladies' Night Out at e Carolina Barn at McCormick Farms. He said medical aesthetic treatments such as Botox and fillers can be fulfilling and can provide a boost of self-confidence for patients. Perhaps no one deserved such a treat more than Erin Champion. A breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed six years ago when she was 29 weeks pregnant with her third child, Champion now helps other women cope with breast cancer. She's Cape Fear Valley Health's Breast Patient Navigator, accompanying women through every step of a daunting diagnosis and subsequent treatment. She's a convincing and inspiring mentor, having gone through a bilateral mastectomy herself and subsequent chemotherapy two weeks aer childbirth. "I didn't understand at the time that there could be a purpose to all the pain I was enduring," said Champion, 40. "I'm just awestruck that my own experience can give hope to someone else. My number one prayer is that I help someone every day and never hurt the process." Champion, whose academic background is in education and social work, was serving as a Bible study leader and caring for her two older children when she noticed a lump in her breast six years ago. It turned out that she had an aggressive form of breast cancer. at's when she first met breast cancer surgeon Dr. Elizabeth Sawyer, who was working at Womack Army Medical Center at the time. Sawyer, an Army veteran who is now a breast oncology surgeon at Cape Fear Valley's Breast Center, performed Champion's surgery in about two hours, helping to assure as little time under anesthesia as possible for Champion and thus the health of baby Elizabeth Grace, who was born two weeks later. BY KIM HAST Y PHOTOGRAPHY BY TONY WOOTEN Compassionate care and a boost of self-confidence Cape Fear Valley Health plastic surgeon Dr. Leif Nordberg, M.D, performs a lip filler injection during Cape Fear Valley Health Presents CityView's Ladies' Night Out at The Carolina Barn at McCormick Farms.

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