Thanks to a chance encounter at her favorite coffee stand in October of last year — and numerous Providence caregivers pulling out the stops — a Medford woman had necessary breast cancer surgery well before a December mammogram appointment she had on the books.

Cindy Jarrell of Medford believes she would not have avoided chemotherapy and radiation treatments without the work of the team at the Leila J. Eisenstein Breast Center at Providence Medford Medical Center. Members of mammographer Susan Aupperle’s team came in on their day off to accommodate a mammogram that Jarrell believes spared her chemotherapy and radiation thanks to early detection.

“I wonder how much worse it could have been,” Jarrell said.

As a survivor of Stage 3 breast cancer more than two decades ago, Jarrell said she gets a mammogram every October. When she initially made her appointment last year, however, Jarrell found Providence was booked to December.

Aupperle said October has always been their busiest month.

“We were booked out,” Aupperle said. “It’s just always been our busiest quarter.”

On Oct. 18, 2023, Jarrell was ordering at the Human Bean coffee stand on Barnett Road when she spotted familiar faces from Providence’s breast center, including Aupperle.

Jarrell approached Aupperle and told her she needed an appointment before December. Jarrell was unemployed and needed an appointment before her COBRA health insurance ran out, she explained.

“I promised her we would,” Aupperle said.

Jarrell got her appointment two days later. Aupperle described it as a joint effort between her scheduler and the rest of her team and said staff came in on their day off to help.

“It’s just the way it is here,” Aupperle said.

The mammogram results were worth the effort. It showed microcalcifications, an early sign of breast cancer.

“They caught it before it was an actual tumor,” Jarrell said.

She had more films the following week, followed by a biopsy the following month and the necessary surgery to remove the cancer by Nov. 30.

“I was all done before I was even (originally) scheduled to come in,” Jarrell said. “I think that was the last day I had insurance.”

Aupperle said she had an instinct to help Jarrell get her appointment that she can’t quite explain.

“There was some kind of invisible connection,” Aupperle said. “Just this feeling this needs to be done.”

“I feel like anyone would have done the same thing — I’m just grateful I was there,” Aupperle added.

The caregivers were raising awareness ahead of The Human Bean’s annual Coffee for a Cure event — in which the coffee chain donates all food and beverage proceeds from a specified Friday in October to local breast cancer foundations.

The Human Bean’s 19th annual Coffee for a Cure was held Friday, Oct. 18. The Human Bean did not respond to an emailed request for comment, but the Medford based coffee chain said in a press release earlier this year that since 2005 the giveback program has raised more than $3.5 million in proceeds that are “used to support patients with mammograms, post-diagnosis care and support and breast cancer education.”

Aupperle recounted that the day the Providence caregivers were outside The Human Bean stand last year had been “kind of humdrum.” Not everyone getting coffee wanted to hear about breast cancer awareness and the benefits of early detection.

Jarrell said she’s speaking publicly about her experience to encourage women to get checked regularly. She acknowledged that after fighting cancer last year, part of her is scared of what a mammogram scheduled for next week will find.

“People do get afraid,” Aupperle said.

“It’s so much better to find out early,” Jarrell said.

Aupperle recommends that women over 40 get a screening mammogram once a year. She said modern equipment is gentler and curved screening panels better accommodate the patient’s anatomy.