Nordic consultant competes in Mrs. Indiana pageant to raise awareness for metastatic breast cancer

Last weekend, Nordic Senior Consultant Dora Trittipo competed in the Mrs. Indiana pageant in South Bend with the goal of raising awareness for metastatic breast cancer, a cause informed by her own experience as a breast cancer survivor. Dora is an example of the best kind of consultant: positive in the face of challenges that would stop most people in their tracks.

We sat down with Dora to discuss the pageant, her platform, and her mission to inspire other breast cancer survivors.

DoraQ. First things first: How did the pageant go this weekend?

Dora: It was so much fun. It was something I’d never done before, and at 55, I was definitely the oldest person in the competition. Most of the other girls haven’t been alive for as long as I’ve been married, which is 31 years. Most people were in their mid- or late-20s, but that did not deter me, and I was really excited about it.

The Indiana Mrs. America pageant is focused on community service and volunteerism, so you have to look good, but it’s not really the main focus at the pageant. There are five awards you can win, and I won three: the Fabulous Face contest, for raising the most funds for opioid addiction support; the Longest Married award, which I expected to win; and the Community Service Outreach award, for being very active in my community around my platform of metastatic breast cancer.

It was a lot of fun. I had my whole family come in, and I have six brothers and sisters and lots of nieces and nephews. People from all over the country came to cheer me on.

Q. What initially inspired you to enter the pageant?

Dora: A dear friend of mine was a cheerleader with me for the Indianapolis Colts, during the first two seasons in 1984 and 1985. She was Mrs. Indiana in 2014, and she encouraged me to do this. She said, “You are already so active in the community and with your platform, so you really need to experience this pageant.”

I took her advice and decided to commit myself to being in the pageant. She had been in pageants before and was much savvier, so she was a great support to me along the way.

Q. How has your experience with breast cancer informed your decision to take part in something like this?

Dora: I was diagnosed in 2010, around the same time as my children’s previous elementary school teacher, Megan, received the same diagnosis. We had worked together closely when my son was in fourth grade because she was the teacher representative for the PTO and I was the president.

She only lived 18 months after her diagnosis, but before she died, she started a foundation with her husband and parents that provides monetary and emotional support for women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. I’ve been heavily involved with the foundation, and it’s been wonderful to act as a mentor and guide to women in this very difficult situation.

I was re-diagnosed in 2014 and again in January 2017, which was only two months after I started with Nordic. I was only off for about four weeks, and they started me on a new treatment, and now I receive chemotherapy every three weeks and will for the rest of my life. I have great doctors taking care of me.

I think most people, if they saw me on the street, wouldn’t think I was a stage-four breast cancer patient. I try to be very active and take care of myself. I do what my doctors tell me to do, I eat healthy and exercise, and that really helps me live a fuller life. I want other men and women who are diagnosed with any kind of stage-four cancer to know, it doesn’t have to define who you are. It just changes how you live your life. I live every day knowing that it could be the last.

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Q. What was the message you were hoping to send through the pageant platform?

Dora: I wanted to show that this is what breast cancer survival can look like. Nobody is guaranteed how long you’re on this Earth, and I have the luxury of knowing my time will come sooner rather than later. I don’t let anything pass me by. I take more risks and live a full life. I want my kids to know that no matter what you face in life, it should not prevent you from living the life you want to live.

Q. What kind of preparation did you do prior to this weekend?

Dora: They had a workshop in October for all the contestants, and basically you go to the Mrs. Indiana website, you fill out an application, and you attend the workshop and talk about the phases of the competition. It starts with a 10-minute interview with a panel of judges, where you get the opportunity to talk about your platform. There is a fitness portion of the competition – a swimsuit competition – so I had to start working out extra hard. And the last portion was evening gown, so we all go to select our own evening gown and show how graceful we were walking in.

I didn’t even know what a pageant was like before getting involved. Most of the ladies had competed before in other pageants, including the woman who won.

Q. How does your experience with breast cancer change how you view your work as a healthcare consultant, or vice versa?

Dora: When I started consulting about three years ago, I asked my doctor, “Is this something I should do or could do?” And my doctor said, “If it’s something you want to do, then you need to do it.” I felt I could offer a lot to different hospital networks via my nursing and life experience. One of the biggest motivators for me in becoming a consultant was making a difference in how patient care is delivered. I absolutely love it. It’s exactly what I thought it would be, and it keeps me going and makes me use my brain every day.

Q. I imagine that your diagnosis puts some of the issues you encounter at work in perspective.

Dora: Exactly. I don’t sweat the small stuff. When you look at the grand scheme of things, nothing in your day-to-day is so important that it can’t be fixed. When you’re facing a life-or-death situation, it puts a different perspective on everything you do. I don’t get stressed out. It’s not worth my time or energy to get upset or worried about things I don’t have control over.

One of the lessons I had to learn after my diagnosis was to let go of control. I’m type A, and I like to be in control of what I’m doing. When you have cancer, you lose the ability to control what’s happening, and that was a difficult lesson for me to learn. Once I was able to let go of that need for control, it completely changed how I live my life.

Q. Is this the start of many more pageants for you?

Dora: (laughs) No. I enjoyed it, and I had a great time, but I’m not a pageant kind of gal. I met some amazing young women who inspired me, but no, this is definitely a one and done. 

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