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April 18, 2003/Nisan 16 5763, Vol. 55, No. 34
Valley woman helps lymphedema sufferers
JESSICA BARBER
Staff Writer
After a bout with breast cancer, many survivors may feel that they have endured enough disease to last a lifetime. However, 10 to 20 percent of breast cancer survivors develop lymphedema months or even years later, a disease characterized by an accumulation of lymphatic fluid that causes swelling in extremities, according to the National Lymphedema Network's Web site. If not properly treated, lymphedema may interfere with the healing of wounds and can lead to infections.
Kathy Weltman of Scottsdale faced such an affliction after surviving her own battle with breast cancer five years ago. Getting the disease, however, led Weltman down a new career path.
"I went through a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation," says Weltman. "About 10 months later, I woke up one morning and my whole right hand was very swollen."
Weltman was originally diagnosed with cellulitis. After a few weeks of antibiotics, the swelling and pain had not diminished. Weltman consulted her internist and discovered that she had lymphedema.
"I went to a certified lymphedema specialist at Scottsdale Healthcare and we started a treatment plan which included bandaging intended to massage the lymphatic system (to reduce swelling)," she remembers. However, when Weltman tried to buy the bandages, she discovered that there were no local suppliers.
"I ordered my bandages from Florida and waited 10 days to get them, but in the meantime ... I started to think about how I didn't understand (why there were no local suppliers)," she says. "I asked my therapist if she would send her patients to me if I opened up a bandage shop. She said yes. That's how I got started."
After researching companies and products available on the market and getting a stock for local customers, Weltman opened Lymphawrap in her Scottsdale home in 2000. She has provided more than 500 lymphedema patients with bandaging over the last three years.
She has also developed her own products for lymphedema sufferers, including a foam roll, a stockingette and a customized hand or foot piece to protect the tops of swollen hands and feet.
"The first thing you put on is like a stocking," explains Weltman. "It's what they would put on underneath a cast if you broke a bone. The next layer is a cotton padding in a roll or my foam roll, and then you wrap the bandage around."
Weltman goes on to explain that ready-made compression garments available at drug stores are not the ideal bandages for lymphedema sufferers.
"If you put persistent compression on your whole limb, the fluid is not able to move," she says.
Weltman also has what she calls "therapeutic sessions" to discuss other issues that cancer survivors may be dealing with.
"I'm doing this because it's important and I want to educate people," she says.
Although Weltman's customers are primarily breast cancer survivors that were afflicted with lymphedema after mastectomies, other types of lymphedema can occur.
Primary lymphedema, which usually affects all four limbs and other parts of the body, can be present at birth, develop at the onset of puberty or be associated with vascular anomalies, according the NLN Web site. Secondary lymphedema, the site explains, develops as a result of surgery, radiation, infection or trauma that requires the removal of lymph nodes.
Weltman intends to continue providing the service to locals affected by lymphedema.
"This is not about making money, it's about performing a mitzvah," she says. "Lymphawrap comes from my heart."
Call 480-661-1820.
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