SIGN IN YOUR ACCOUNT TO HAVE ACCESS TO DIFFERENT FEATURES

FORGOT YOUR PASSWORD?

FORGOT YOUR DETAILS?

AAH, WAIT, I REMEMBER NOW!

Sidelines MagazineSidelines Magazine

  • LOGIN
  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Subscriptions
    • Flipbook
    • Subscribe Options
    • Order Sidelines Caps
    • Order Individual & Back Issues
  • Podcast
  • Marketplace
    • Business Ads
    • Directories
      • Barns, Farms, Trainers & Clubs
      • Equestrian Services
      • Real Estate
      • Stallions
      • Tack & Feed Stores
    • Classifieds
    • Horse Trailers for Sale
  • Advertise
  • Blogs
    • Show World
    • What’s Happenin’
  • Partners
  • Contacts
    • Contacts
    • Employment
0
Friday, October 07 2016 / Published in Sidelines Feature

How Speaking Up Saved Bill Sipp’s Life

 

Bill Sipp Photo by Doris Degner-Foster

Bill Sipp
Photo by Doris Degner-Foster

By Doris Degner-Foster

Bill Sipp wasn’t afraid to talk about a personal matter to a woman friend, and it may have saved his life — a life that’s too much fun to leave yet.

Bill’s riding career began because his wife, Julie, wanted to vacation in Ireland and ride horses. Before departing they both took some English riding lessons. Since he’d ridden Western in his youth, Bill was confident that he could pick up the new riding style, but he soon found that some things were different. “I learned quickly why you don’t ride English in jeans,” Bill laughed. Outfitted with the proper riding breeches, he adapted and upon returning home, he took up eventing with Julie. He’s been an avid rider and foxhunter for over 25 years.

When the Artillery Fox Hunt in nearby Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, hosted an event, they were introduced to foxhunting and were immediately hooked. Over the years, Bill has ridden with several foxhunts in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa as a whipper-in, a staff member helping the huntsman with the hounds. Sometimes hunting three or four days a week, he could quickly use up his allotment of vacation days from work.

Bill is a product support manager with Haemonetics, a company that manufactures blood processing machines that can save lives in the operating room by treating and re-infusing a patient’s lost blood back to them. But he never imagined himself on an operating table.

Being The Patient

According to the National Breast Center, only one in 1,000 men will ever be diagnosed with breast cancer. Last October, Bill found a lump in his breast and he didn’t hesitate to bring it to the attention of his doctor, even though his doctor is a woman and good friend. “When you’re going in to get regular exams at the doctor’s office, don’t hold back on things you may think are weird,” Bill advised. “That’s your 15 minutes in front of a paid professional, so get it out; don’t talk about the weather.” He went on to say that making a written list of symptoms and concerns can also be beneficial because it’s easy to forget those details until after leaving the office.

Bill, saddled up and ready to ride. Photo courtesy of Bill Sipp

Bill, saddled up and ready to ride.
Photo courtesy of Bill Sipp

At first he wasn’t too worried because he’d found a breast lump in the past that had proven to be benign, and although he was over 60 years old, his active lifestyle kept him healthy and he felt well. But this time it was different.

His doctor was concerned and ordered a sonogram, which was immediately followed by a mammogram. “When they sent me next door for a mammogram, I wasn’t prepared for it mentally,” Bill remembered. “From that they still couldn’t really tell so then they did a sonogram-guided biopsy. I got the results [that the lump was malignant] on the eve of my 62 birthday last year, October 20th.”

The best plan for Bill’s care was determined after a PET scan, where a radioactive dye is injected followed by a full body scan to determine where else there are actively growing cells. In Bill’s case, there were only a couple of lymph nodes near the breast with the lump that indicated cancerous activity.

“With women, they go back and forth with lumpectomies because they want to save the breast, but to me it didn’t mean anything to get rid of it,” Bill said. “Initially they were just going to do the one and it’s like, well, that’s gonna be kind of weird. Also, since I’d already had this kind of activity, there’s the risk that it’s going to happen again, especially after I found that there were about six or seven women in my family that had breast cancer.”

The Road To Recovery

A double mastectomy surgery with removal of the two lymph nodes was scheduled within two weeks of Bill’s diagnosis. Although he had cancer, he was feeling fine physically and was eager to have the surgery done to get on with recovery.

“I’d say really the worst part of it was right after surgery when I had these drains in [the surgical sites] to deal with,” Bill said. “I had to drain the containers and measure how much drainage there was, which determined when they could pull the drains when it got down to a certain level. I had them in for about a month.”

The drain tubes made getting around difficult, but Bill made it possible to be more mobile by using a simple carpenter’s apron with pockets to hold the ends of the drain tubes with the catch containers. He emphasized that as an outdoors person and rider, the mobility was therapeutic for him. “I think people who ride horses are very motivated not to stay inside and watch TV and get into a downward spiral,” Bill said. “Go out and pet the dogs, pet the horses or whatever, but get outside the house and get into some fresh air. Get moving around — the quicker the better!”

Once Bill had made the decision that all breast tissue from both sides was to be removed, he was glad that he didn’t have to make any more difficult decisions. “Tests indicated that the cancer wasn’t likely to respond significantly enough to recommend chemotherapy,” Bill said.

Each Case Is Unique

Each case and each patient’s recovery is different. Like many breast cancer tumors, Bill’s was estrogen receptive, so he’ll take a drug for 10 years to block any estrogen receptor cells left in his system, and will have follow-up doctor visits to monitor his health. Because he sought medical attention soon after finding the lump, his cancer had been caught early and he only had breast tissue and a few lymph nodes removed. Since the cancer hadn’t spread into muscle, Bill didn’t think his post-operative pain management was as extensive as some other patients’.

“There’s always the question of why, but I’ll never get that answered,” Bill said. He expressed his gratitude that his cancer was caught early at stage one and that with today’s technology, cancer prognosis is more successful than ever. “Diagnosis and treatment is better than even four years ago, not to mention how things were a hundred years ago!”

Bill enjoying foxhunting

Bill enjoying foxhunting

As he was coping with his illness, Bill heard about others who were also dealing with it and compared his illness with a woman friend who also rides with the same foxhunt club. “She was always so supportive of me and then she was diagnosed with it, too,” Bill said, explaining that she was also coping with reconstructive surgery. She’d joke with Bill about him getting hot flashes because of the drugs they were both taking to suppress any estrogen in their systems.

Bill was surprised and saddened to find that a man who’d owned land near his hunt club had died of breast cancer. He said sadly, “He noticed lumps but he was embarrassed to tell anybody, even his doctor.”

A Changed Man

“Hopefully, my story will touch somebody, and send the message that just because I’m a guy doesn’t mean I ignore things like this,” Bill said. “I sent a message to my whole family telling them what happened and that this is their family history, too, so the next time they go to the doctor, not to neglect checking the cancer history part. I didn’t think I had that in my family history, but I did and knowing about it could make a difference.”

Being aware and willing to take action saved Bill’s life and he has carried that mindset into other aspects of his life. “Going through this illness kind of reinforces being aware of my surroundings in order to avoid not only diseases but accidents,” Bill said. “Anything can happen; you can get killed by a horse because he’s kicking at a fly. When your time’s up, your time’s up. The methodology can be a whole range of things.”

It’s clear that Bill is making an effort to stick around since he’s having too much fun in his life to leave just yet, if he can help it.

About the writer: Doris Degner-Foster rides with Harvard Fox Hounds in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when she’s not interviewing interesting individuals in the horse sport or writing fiction. Soon to be available is a middle-grade mystery about teens who ride and solve mysteries. Check out her blog at https://dmdegner.wordpress.com/

 

Double D Trailers Info

Share this page:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
Tagged under: bill sipp, breast cancer, breast cancer awareness

What you can read next

Nicki Wilcox: From Prairie Dogs to Pony Tales
Carlitos Gracida Takes the Gracida Legacy into the Future of Polo
Always an Olympian – Kim Severson Shares Her Olympic Story

Download Sidelines Digital now from your favorite app store!

Sidelines Magazine - Apple store   Sidelines Magazine - Google Play store   Sidelines Magazine - Amazon store
Update iOS app. Re-download Google Play and Amazon app.

Follow on Instagram!

sidelines_magazine

Sidelines Magazine
Jessica West always rode any horse that was availa Jessica West always rode any horse that was available to her throughout her Junior career, so she knew she had an advantage when she decided she wanted to ride on an NCAA team in college. Now a senior at @@auburnu and majoring in psychology, Jessica has enjoyed everything about the equestrian team and is ready to move on to her next adventure. 

Read more about Jessica at the link in our bio!

#ncea #ncaa #equestrian #collegiateequestrian #huntseatequitation #hunterjumper #equestrianlife #collegelife #showjumper #hunterhorse #horseshow #sidelinesmagazine
In the unique and challenging sport of combined dr In the unique and challenging sport of combined driving, Jacob Arnold has proven himself to be a bona fide star. It’s been said that success develops from a recipe based on hard work, perseverance, learning and sacrifice, paired with a love of what one is doing. Since the time he was a boy, Jacob has had the right combination of all of those ingredients, which have culminated in a meteoric rise to stardom.

Beginning his career as a Junior, Jacob earned the coveted @usequestrian Junior Equestrian of the Year award in 2011. Since then, he has taken the combined driving world by storm, competing successfully in four @fei_global World Championships. He also won the USEF Advanced Pair Horse National Championship in 2020 and 2021, among other victories—all before the age of 28, in a sport that has historically been dominated by older drivers. Last September, he placed 12th—the highest of any American driver—at the 2021 FEI Driving World Championship for Pairs in a field of over 100 top-level drivers.

Read more about @jacobarnoldcombineddriving at the link in our bio!

@alex.banks.photography #combineddriving #drivendressage #dressage #driving #carriage #horsedriving #equestrianstyle #equestrianlife #horselover #drivinghorse #carriagehorse #showhorse #sidelinesmagazine
@rolex Testimonee Daniel Deusser has claimed the f @rolex Testimonee Daniel Deusser has claimed the first equestrian Major of 2022, winning the prestigious Rolex Grand Prix at The Dutch Masters. In doing so he also claimed an additional bonus for non-consecutive Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping wins, following his victory at CHIO Aachen last year. The German champion’s outstanding performance riding his trusted partner Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z once again makes him the live contender for the coveted Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping.

Catch up on all the action and watch the free highlights video on the Sidelines Show World blog (link in bio!)

#showjumping #rolex #grandslam #rolexgrandslam #showjumper #dutch #netherlands #dutchwarmbloods #equestrianlife #hunterhorse #hunterjumper #equestrianstyle #showhorses #showjumpersofinstagram #jumpinghorse #grandprixjumer #grandprixhorse #sidelinesmagazine
Dog and Horse friendly 3 bedroom 2 bath on 1.25 ac Dog and Horse friendly 3 bedroom 2 bath on 1.25 acres in Jupiter Farms, Florida.

Jupiter Farms is an equestrian community with a trail system and a sand riding arena at the park. Charming home features vaulted ceilings, custom trim, custom lighting in master bedroom that changes color with a remote. Granite countertops in kitchen and laundry room. New 2022 stackable washer/dryer. Privacy fenced backyard with beautiful tall pines for shade, many palm trees also on property.

Secure fenced  25’ x 25’ pen with wood fencing , for a horse, dogs or a garden.  Wonderful property in desirable Jupiter Farms. 45 minutes to Wellington, 25 minutes to Jupiter Dog Beach. Perfect oasis for dog and horse lovers, close to everything in South Florida. MLS# 10778333, Agents welcome.

$655,000
Contact 561-246-9317
Load More... Follow on Instagram

From Our Classifieds Ads

  • C. M. HADFIELD’S SADDLERY
    Specializing in English Bridlework and Clothing - Mon - Fri 9 - 5 300 Business Park Way, Suite B-100 Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411 800-854-RIDE 561-793-2947 hadfields@aol.com www.hadfields.com

    [Read more]

  • BILL SCHAUB - OVER THE HILL FARM
    Wellington, FL Lexington, KY 407-474-2348 wothfarm@aol.com www.othfarm.com

    [Read more]

Sidelines Articles by Email

Subscribe to Sidelines Magazine Articles by Email

RSS Sidelines Blogs: What’s Happenin’

  • A Paris Horse Adventure: Saut Hermes 2022
  • Better Business with Malvern Bank: Michael Meller’s Secrets to Success
  • Third Annual Painted Ponies Art Walk takes over Southern Pines, NC!

RSS Sidelines Blogs: Show World

  • Jung Ends as He Began — On Top — at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN™
  • ROLEX TESTIMONEE DANIEL DEUSSER WINS ROLEX GRAND PRIX AT 2022 DUTCH MASTERS
  • STABLE VIEW IN AIKEN POSTPONING ‘A’ RATED $400,000 H/J CHALLENGE SERIES DUE TO RESTRICTIVE MILEAGE RULE

Category

Recent Posts

  • The Importance of Finding the Right Bit for Your Horse

    By Liz Halliday-Sharp Anyone who knows me is aw...
  • Martha Ingram’s Family Ties, From Horses to Philanthropy 

    By Laura Scaletti Portraits by Brenda Black &nb...
  • Course Designer Spotlight: Alan Wade

    Course Designer Spotlight: Alan Wade Our next S...
  • Judge’s Spotlight: John French

    Judge’s Spotlight: John French Our Judge’...
  • Mindset: Making or Breaking a Comeback

    By Margie Sugarman Someone recently approached ...

Copyright © 1987 - 2021 Sidelines Magazine
Privacy Policy · Returns & Refunds Policy · Hosting by Lucian Web Service
· Login

TOP
Get the Sidelines Scoop — your weekly look behind the scenes.Sign me up!