Orland Park Breast Cancer Survivor Honored at Chicago Bears Game

An Orland Park woman who battled breast cancer was invited onto Soldier Field to share in a celebration.

Peg Mahoney participated in the Sunday, Oct. 3 Chicago Bears pregame ceremony as a guest of Advocate Health Care and the Bears. To celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness month, Mahoney and her 23-year-old daughter Kara took part in the Bear Down flag ceremony, a longtime Bears’ tradition.

The pair even met Chicago celebrities Bill and Giuliana Rancic.

Mahoney was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 2012 after she felt a lump during a breast self-exam. Shortly after, she underwent a bilateral mastectomy where physicians discovered the cancer was on both sides of her breasts. The multidisciplinary breast team at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn worked with Mahoney and her family to develop a comprehensive treatment plan that included lymph node dissection surgery, 16 rounds of chemotherapy, seven weeks of radiation and five to 10 years of an aromatase inhibitor.

Now cancer-free and the picture of health, Peg celebrated her survivorship at the Bears game alongside her daughter who was one of her biggest supporters throughout treatment.

Mahoney also is taking this opportunity to encourage other women to be proactive with their health by performing routine breast self-exams and scheduling annual mammograms.

“If I had not done my regular breast self-exam and felt the lump, my cancer would likely not have been diagnosed until a much more advanced stage,” she said. “The outcome could have been much different than where I’m at today.”