Off Script: A Lifesaving Choice

Katie Hazelton is grateful. Grateful for her family, grateful for her career, and grateful for her ability to make choices. Lifesaving choices.

The first-year University of Pittsburgh head diving coach brings an inspirational story into her beginning at the helm of the successful Panther diving group, one she hopes to use to inform others.

With a snowstorm bearing down on Duke University Hospital, a 33-year old Hazelton lay in an operating theater, under the watchful hands of Dr. Gregory Georgiade, undergoing a bilateral mastectomy. A procedure many associate with the removal of cancerous tumors, for Hazelton, the surgery wasn't a reaction, but a preventative decision.

Less than 10 years prior to her January 2016 surgery, Hazelton learned that she tested positive for the BRCA1 genetic mutation. The BRCA1 gene, which produces tumor suppressant proteins, can develop an inherited mutation that dramatically increases an individual's risk to develop breast and ovarian cancers. Hazelton, whose grandmother died of breast cancer before she was born, and whose aunt and mother both fought breast cancer, learned of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations after her aunt and mother participated in a study at The Royal Marsden in her hometown of London, England.

"My auntie got breast cancer when she was 30 years old and my mum then got breast cancer when I was really young," recalled Hazelton. "They didn't then know that it could be hereditary. My mother was on a tamoxifen trial in her late 30s at the Royal Marsden when it was discovered that she had breast cancer. It was after this that the hospital asked my auntie and mum if they would like to be genetically tested to determine if there was a link. It came back that both of them tested positive."

In her early 20s, doctors at The Royal Marsden informed Hazelton that she was in fact positive for the BRCA1 genetic mutation, which, according to the American Cancer Society, puts a woman at a 70-percent chance of developing breast cancer by the age of 80.

Hazelton, who much like her mother's proactive decision to reduce her risk of developing cancer by undergoing a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy, knew she would have a choice to make.

"It came back that I had the BRCA1 gene," she said. "For me, it was scary, however, for my mum it was very hard. She feels guilty because she gave it to me, but it's one of those things you can't control. It wasn't until I moved to the United States and turned 30 that I really had to start thinking about it."

After wrapping up her position as the Technical Operations Manager with the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, where she facilitated nearly every aspect of the diving events for London 2012, Hazelton relocated from the hustle and bustle of London, to a quieter life in Durham, N.C., running the Duke Diving Club under head coach Nunzio Esposoto. After a few years living thousands of miles away from home, Hazelton decided it was time to go back, informing her supervisors that she would be leaving her position to move back to London. That was until she met her husband, Alex, in 2014. They have been inseparable ever since.

The decision to remain in the United States meant that Hazelton would have to make the first of her tough decisions while in Durham, electing to undergo the voluntary double mastectomy with the support of her husband, and mother, who stayed with Hazelton in Durham for five weeks.

"That was the biggest surgery, because that's when they removed all my breast tissue and then put expanders with a small amount of saline fluid underneath my pecs," Hazelton recalled. "I have scars from that surgery, but my goal eventually is to get tattoos. I have seen beautiful mastectomy tattoos of flowers and such that will go over the scars and that will be what I ultimately do."

Having gone into the surgery in peak physical condition, Hazelton hoped to get back to coaching as soon as possible, noting that Dr. Georgiade warned the young diving instructor to take it easy. After a month of healing, she would return to the hospital every two weeks to have the saline solution slowly inflated underneath her pectoral muscles. Once the solution was overfilled, she would have another surgery in September of 2016, removing the expanders and replacing the saline solution with silicone.

"When I was researching the surgeries and healing online, it was only horror stories," she said. "I don't think there are many people that talk about it online if they have a good experiences. So, for me, it was completely terrifying. I was one of the youngest people going through this. It was very hard to find anyone who was of a similar age."

As she continued to heal, Hazelton returned to coaching and, in June of 2017, was named the head diving coach at Pitt, joining a young staff led by former Olympic gold medalist John Hargis. Hazelton and her husband relocated to Pittsburgh, excited to work with an on-the-rise program that had already seen considerable success on the diving boards.

"What I really like about our staff and the athletic department is how ambitious we all are," Hazelton said. "We have really big goals, but they're within reason. We want to get better. Every year we're going to get better than the last year, and there's a huge focus on comprehensive excellence for Pitt Athletics. As soon as I met Heather Lyke and spoke with her about her vision, I was inspired and knew that I wanted to work for her. She has big ambitions and is very clear and direct on what she wants to achieve."

With a new career in a new city, Hazelton will have a few years to settle in before her next big choice will come along. As a part of the BRCA1 mutation, a woman's risk for ovarian cancer also increases. Hazelton's mother would undergo a hysterectomy, a complete removal of the ovaries and uterus, significantly reducing their risk to develop ovarian cancer. Similar to her double mastectomy, a hysterectomy would also drastically reduce Hazelton's risk of developing the genetically linked ovarian cancer, but would also leave her unable to have children.

"I was at a very high risk for breast cancer before my mastectomy, and now I am at a lower risk than the general population," she added. "When I get in my 40s, I'll then have to tackle the fact that I have a higher risk of ovarian cancer. We will tackle that obstacle when we get to it."

While many would be downtrodden by the situation, the fearless Hazelton has turned her condition into a positive, striving to spread awareness and encourage others to get all of the facts. She has run marathons in London and Berlin to raise money for various cancer-related charities, and has already been involved in raising awareness in her new home of Pittsburgh.

On Oct. 18, Hazelton joined her fellow swim and dive coaches, student-athletes and athletic department staff at Shape Training, just miles away from the University of Pittsburgh campus, as the group "knocked out" breast cancer, throwing 40,610 punches to represent the number of women the American Cancer Society estimates die each year from breast cancer.

"I would like to raise awareness that if breast or ovarian cancer runs in your family, there are means of knowing if you are at risk, too," Hazelton said. "Not all breast cancer is genetic, but gene testing is a valid option. It can help give you peace of mind and assist in making informed decisions."

"Bad stuff happens to people all the time, but I was in a position that I had a choice," she added. "That's what it has really taught me; that it is better to know exactly where you're at, ask questions and then be able to make the decision that is right for you. For me, it was about finding out where I was and then being able to make a decision that could save my life."

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