Cindy Krivoshik of Ringoes has a ‘nice life’ despite her problems.
By: Mae Rhine
EAST AMWELL Cindy Krivoshik is surrounded by the things she loves in her centuries-old farmhouse on Wertsville Road.
Besides her five children and her husband, David, a Princeton attorney, there are four cats, a rabbit, eight birds, two hamsters and a pet mouse.
The house is warm and comfortable, much like the woman of the house. All seems right in Ms. Krivoshik’s world.
But the truth is far removed. Ms. Krivoshik’s world was turned upside down two years ago when she learned she had breast cancer.
As one who has survived, she will be participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life from noon Saturday, May 31, to 10 a.m. Sunday, June 1, at South Hunterdon Regional High School.
"It felt like a death sentence," she recalled of the day in April 2001 she learned she had breast cancer.
As an ICU nurse for 24 years, she was used to seeing patients near death.
She had yearly mammograms and no symptoms, which makes it "really scary," she said.
She found out about her breast cancer through a notice in the mail.
"It was like ‘Whoa, what is this?’" she recalled.
Her doctor said "not to worry" and told her to get a biopsy. When the biopsy came back, however, he said "see a surgeon right away."
She went to American Oncologic, now Fox Chase Cancer Center, in Philadelphia, the town she was raised in. She took her two best friends and her husband with her for support.
"I already knew what they were going to say," Ms. Krivoshik said.
The following month, she had both breasts removed. Since then, she has to watch for lymphedema (swelling of the lymph nodes) as well as other complications.
"I have to be really careful," she said. "I can’t carry over 5 pounds, and I can’t exercise much."
It’s much easier to prevent the complications of lymphedema than to treat it, she noted.
Luckily, she has not needed any chemotherapy "So far, so good," she said. She had three more surgeries, including reconstructive surgery. Most of that has been completed.
But at the time, "I thought I was going to die," she said. "The only ones I saw (with breast cancer) died. I just saw the critically ill."
Life hadn’t been exactly easy for Ms. Krivoshik before her illness was diagnosed. With two children, she lost her first husband at a young age. He was 35 when he had his first heart attack and died before turning 40.
"He was a patient I took home with me from the hospital," she said.
After moving on with her life to take care of her two small children, she contacted an old friend who was her first love back when they both were teenagers in 1971.
"He wrote to me for 21 years, and I never wrote back," she said of her husband. "He waited all these years."
She called his house and left a message with his mother. He called back at 1 a.m. the following day, and they arranged to meet soon after. That was in 1991. They were engaged and married less than a year after that.
The couple had three children, Laura, 9, Peter, 8, and Danielle, 5, to combine with Ms. Krivoshik’s two other children, Paula, 15, and Dawn, 18.
But life threw Ms. Krivoshik another curve when she learned Laura had Rhett’s syndrome.
That is a neurological disorder that strikes roughly one in 15,000 children, primarily females, less than 1 in 15,000 girls (boys typically die at birth) with a positive test developed for it less than four years ago. For more information, visit http://www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/pubs/rett.htm.
Laura must attend a private school.
Despite that tragic news, the family went on with its life with no major hurdles until Ms. Krivoshik was diagnosed.
"I did something really stupid," she said after receiving the diagnosis.
She cried and told her family she felt like pulling her car out on Route 202 and letting herself get killed.
That had tragic consequences. Paula was so devastated over the loss of her father and her sister’s problems she took an overdose of prescription drugs and left a suicide note, saying she didn’t want to live without her mother.
That made Ms. Krivoshik wake up.
She will tell that story as one of the speakers and her second year as a participant at the relay.
She also is captain of one of the teams. The goal is for teams of 10 to raise at least $1,000 each. Ms. Krivoshik’s team already has raised more than $2,000.
She is eager to support the relay, and says her support has been her husband and her family.
"He spoils me," Ms. Krivoshik said of her husband. "He didn’t even want me to have the reconstructive surgery. He loves me."
She said it’s because of her husband that she only has to work-part-time now at Hunterdon Medical Center in Raritan Township.
"He makes that possible," she said. "When I was 280 (pounds), he thought I was beautiful."
Ms. Krivoshik since has lost 100 pounds.
"I was 180 when we got married, but he never said a word" about her weight gain, she said.
"He told me he’s only been in love twice in his life, and both times it was with me," she said. "I have a nice life."

