Dr. Rachel Lewis-Shelton, a Harlan County native, was recently featured in Southern Kentucky Health and Family Journal (SKHFJ) for her work with breast cancer patients. Shelton is a general surgeon at Lake Cumberland Hospital in Somerset.

According to the SKHFJ, Shelton performs many different surgeries as part of her profession. The article said Shelton began taking an interest in breast surgeries and breast cancer patients soon after she began practicing. In the article it said although survival rates for those diagnosed with breast cancer have risen significantly, due in large part to technological advances that allow for earlier detection, the disease and its treatments can still ravage the body.

“One of my dreams was being able to help women,” said Shelton. “Perhaps those feelings came from my own memories of watching beloved family members deal with a devastating disease that is all too personal for many women.”

Shelton said it is part of her job to let the patient know as much as she knows and treat them with respect. Shelton said the cancer word scares everyone very badly.

According to the SKHFJ article, sometimes women are left with few options if the cancer is particularly aggressive or if it has been caught late. Those choices may include a mastectomy, which is essentially the surgical removal of the breast or both breasts. The entire breast can be removed or only part of the breast may be removed.

Along with the surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy may also be used to treat the cancer.

To help bring the best care possible to breast cancer patients, Shelton works with the patients’ oncologists and other medical professionals to determine the best route to take when battling the disease.

“It takes everyone working together to give the patient the care they need,” Shelton said. “It’s her decision on what she does. I give the patient choices and we make the decision together. It’s a big decision, it’s a big choice.”

Shelton said in the SKHFJ article that every woman should perform a self breast exam at least once a month, and women 40 years of age and over, plus women 35 years of age who have close family members who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, should have a mammogram at least once a year.

“You need to take control,” said Shelton. “This is about your body, your health. It’s helpful, I think, when you can go to your doctor in good or bad times.”

Shelton is a Cumberland High School and Southeast Community College graduate. She also graduated University of Kentucky and University of Louisville Medical School. Shelton is the wife of Dr. Tom Shelton and the daughter of Marvin and Judy Lewis, of Lexington. Shelton is the granddaughter of Martha Lewis of Dione, the late Warren Lewis and the late Rev. and Mrs. Jim Sears of Benham.

“I attribute much of my success to the excellent education I received in the Harlan County Schools and at Southeast Community College. I still proudly consider myself a Harlan Countian and visit as often as possible,” said Shelton.