Duke Medicine: Breast cancer survivor finds comfort at Dollywood

Claire Weinberg was the mom of a young boy when she felt something strange during a breast self exam two years ago. Here's her story.

Posted 1:10 a.m. Jun 1, 2010 — Updated 3:02 p.m. Sep 28, 2012

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

We've been featuring information about breast cancer for the last couple of weeks thanks to our sponsor Duke Medicine. It's all a run up to the Race for the Cure, which is set for June 12 at Meredith College in Raleigh.

As part of it, I had the great opportunity to meet with Claire Weinberg, a mom from Oxford, who shared with me her story about how she came to find out she had breast cancer and her treatment at Duke. Claire actually was misdiagnosed at another local hospital and went to Duke on the advice of a friend.

Throughout her treatment, Claire kept her sense of humor (thus that reference to Dollywood). The mom of a now five-year-old boy also is a licensed massage therapist, occasional fashion model and practice manager of the family's business, TeamCare, a top specialist physical therapy practice in the country.

Since she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she's also become a breast cancer survivor spokeswoman and advocate.

Her advice to anyone out there struggling with breast cancer or other challenges:

"Grab life while you have it, see humor where you can, look around you as if you are seeing it for the first time, find your inner child! Don’t take anything for granted and know your own body. No one will care for your body any more than you. Listen and be aware."

Learn more about Claire's story in this video.

Suggest A Correction