Raymond Strother
April 14th, 2008
“I really, really hate to tell you this,” is how it all began. Prostate cancer! Virulent prostate cancer! A bastard of a disease looking for other organs to attack.
My father died an agonizing death because he refused to be treated. My doctor, a wise and thoughtful man in Washington, D.C., told me that the same cancer that killed my father was likely to be in my future. We stepped up the schedule of my PSA tests. Every ninety days I drained a few centimeters of blood into a tiny glass vial as an investment in a future…ten minutes of my life for a painless and simple test my father refused. Cancer! My doctor was right but I was ready. I had already made my decision. I had too many books to write, too many grand children to teach fly fishing and tall story telling. I would fight. (more…)
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Bonnie Smith
March 31st, 2008
I am a Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor and here is my miracle. In 2002 I was laid off from my job due to downsizing, and at this point I decided to go back to college to get my degree. I graduated in May of 2004, and found a position. I had been having a health issue for over a span of 5 years that I had been complaining to my doctor about. My symptoms were chalked up to having my son naturally and just needed to do some exercises. Finally, I complained to my obgyn about my incontinent problem. I was only 37 years old (and too young to be having this problem) and a single mom to a 5 year old beautiful boy. We thought my bladder may be distended. After several tests I found out I had Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (I didn’t even know what this was). My outlook wasn’t very good. I had lymphnodes in my pelvic area that were loaded with cancer cells (one was the size of a small stone, the second a little bigger and the third was the size of a small boulder). The doctor said I needed to have chemo and radiation, and that I needed to start ASAP. In my mind I thought I’ll do whatever I have to because I have to be here to take care of my beautiful boy. (more…)
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Robert Shimmons
March 10th, 2008
Labor Day weekend 2004, my father was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer that had metastasized to his liver. He underwent surgery and they removed most of the cancer in his colon, but could not remove the tumors in his liver because there were too many. When we asked his surgeon for a prognosis, he said, “Well, I’m not going to say he won’t be here at Christmas.” He went on to say that 25% of patients with this type of cancer are still alive after 5 years.
To me, 25% didn’t sound like good odds. I only knew I wasn’t ready to lose my Dad, so we better be part of the 25%. My father was only 63 years old when he was diagnosed and I was getting married the next month. He needed to be with us. (more…)
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Mayte Prida
February 21st, 2008
Cancer is one of the greater tests that a human being can face. Almost everyone these days is touched by the disease — either personally or someone who they love. I understand. I know the emotions you feel because I have felt them too: incredulity, distress, desperation. Surviving cancer is not easy, but it is full of blessings if we decide to find them and are open to receive them. (more…)
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Sean Swarner
February 21st, 2008
Watch The Video
I am a two-time cancer survivor and living proof of triumph against all odds. At age 13, I was diagnosed with life-threatening Advanced Stage IV Hodgkin’s Disease. My prognosis was critical, and doctors did not expect me to live more than three months. Yet treatment after treatment, I improved. My family felt my turnaround was nothing short of a miracle - until the unimaginable happened. Two years later, at age 15, doctors found a cancerous tumor in my chest wall. It was Askin’s Sarcoma, another, entirely different and potentially fatal form of cancer. This time, doctors gave me only two weeks. (more…)
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Coach Kay Yow
February 21st, 2008
My strength comes from my faith. And all of the organizations, the people that are raising money for research, give a lot of cancer patients hope because a new drug can be discovered anytime. I’m on drugs that were discovered in the 90s and 2000 — and they are extending my life. I think all of the qualities that are necessary to be a winner as a person, give you the opportunity to be a winner whether it’s on the court, or battling cancer, or in your job, or in relationships. (more…)
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Tony Snow
February 21st, 2008
The first couple of weeks I was absolutely scared stiff. In the period between diagnosis and surgery, I was a wreck. But the funny thing is that once I got into surgery, and started chemo, it was like a sporting event. You’ve got something to do and at that point it was worse for family and friends than it was for me. They’re on the sidelines watching, and it’s scary because they don’t really know what’s going on. Once you’re engaged and doing the things you love and back into a normal daily round of activity, I think it gives you strength and you don’t spend a lot of time feeling sorry for yourself. There were a couple important things I did in battling cancer. One is that I decided not to be a hero. I actually announced on my radio program and told people to pray for me. I think a lot of times people think they can withdraw and thereafter, they lose the opportunity for friends and neighbors to do what comes naturally, which is to reach out and help and that is a really important part [of recovery]. (more…)
Tags: Cancer, cancer help, cancer research, Cancer Story, diagnosed with cancer, Tony Snow
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Mollie Fennell Hillyer
October 11th, 2007
Mine is a story of second chances. In 2002, after a divorce, I moved back to New Orleans. I was lucky enough to start seeing a man whom I had dated back in 1985. On June 11, 2005, I married this wonderful man. We started our married life in Pass Christian, MS. Two months later Katrina came rushing towards us and we evacuated to Mobile, AL, where my husband’s son lived. We lost everything. We were blessed that we did not lose any friends or family.
We spent months going back and forth to Pass Christian trying to salvage things. I had not been feeling well for awhile. Our first year anniversary was on June 11, 2006, but I was too ill to celebrate. A few days later I was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. It was then when I was diagnosed with stage 4 non-small-cell lung cancer. The tumors were in both lungs. One was the size of an orange. I had 12 tumors throughout my liver. I had only a few months to live. (more…)
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Melannie Godfrey
September 11th, 2007
In May 2000 I began to have some health issues that despite several medications and some minor explorative surgery, wasn’t being diagnosed. After months of different treatments, I was finally diagnosed with a brain tumor. I couldn’t have been more stunned than if I was told I was going to grow a third limb! My 14 and 16 year old children had just unexpectedly lost their dad in May of 2000 and I was terrified they may become orphans.The physician ordered an MRI/Brain Scan for a couple of days later and told me that it would probably take 7 - 10 business days before he received the radiologist’s report. Much to my surprise, the doctor called me back within a couple of hours of the procedure and confirmed that I did, in fact, have a brain tumor. Due to all of the recent extensive medications, including some hormonal/steroid medications, the doctor wanted me to wait six months to get the extensive prior medications out of my system and to see if the tumor was in a growing stage.
After a follow up MRI at the first of the year in 2001, the brain tumor I had had doubled in size… (more…)
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Leslie Stephenson
September 11th, 2007
I was diagnosed in the deep winter of 1997, and the hardest part for me was going home to tell my four children. Actually, my story really started with my mother’s death in 1977: We both had contracted breast cancer when we were 38 years old. I kind of had a sneaky suspicion that this would be an inherited disease. I lived in a town of 39 people in rural Minnesota at the time, and I had a Stage One but very fast-growing cancer, and I was told that it was a death sentence. But I just told myself that I am not going to repeat history and die the way my mother did. I started researching all over, by phone, and I literally established a network of people who said, “I tried this, I tried that.” Eventually I went to the Mayo Clinic and got some professional advice. I ended up being willing to have a double radical mastectomy and chemotherapy at the same time, and take my chances that way. The biggest drawback was that I was in the middle of nowhere, and I didn’t have the resources. (more…)
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Alison Stanley
September 11th, 2007
I will never forget, it was one of those wonderful snowy days on the east coast in the fall of 2004, and the doctor called and said it was indeed Stage Three breast cancer with a 9 centimeter tumor. It was surreal, because I remember looking out and seeing how peaceful it was, how calming, yet knowing I had such turmoil inside. It was really devastating. You panic and you sort of feel out of body for a while, and then you will yourself back into your body and say, what do you do now? It wasn’t until months later, but eventually I really took it onto myself to really understand what these drugs were about. (more…)
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Paige Brown-Strong
September 11th, 2007
I had chronic myeloid leukemia, which is an uncontrolled division of certain white blood cells. When I was diagnosed in 1999, I was told that the average survival rate was one to three years I was given about a year as my own prognosis. Now, here I am, eight years later, in effect cancer free. Back then I began what was then the only known treatment for this type of leukemia, which was a combination of interferon and chemotherapy. At first it seemed to be working, but as we progressed and got closer to that year mark, I became sicker and sicker and sicker. So I went on line to try to find out about other drugs. The type of leukemia I had was one of the rarer ones, so I did not have a lot of faith that there would be a lot of research committed to it. (more…)
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Jeff Trewhitt
September 6th, 2007
Working for America’s pharmaceutical research companies, to me, is far more than just a good job. I am determined to do what I can to help sustain the environment that allows our researchers and scientists to continue creating the medicines that are so important to patients all over the world.
The fact is, I’m both a communications officer at PhRMA and a cancer patient in remission, thanks largely to a crucial chemotherapy developed by one of our member companies. More than seven years ago, I was around the corner from death, suffering from advanced hairy cell leukemia. My oncologist got me started immediately on leustatin to fight the cancer cells and gave me other medications to regenerate my blood. An ample supply of antibiotics was available to defeat an infection that developed and within five weeks, I was off medical leave and back on the job. (more…)
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Billy Tauzin
September 6th, 2007
I beat cancer. Fortunately, for an ever-increasing number of cancer patients, my story isn’t uncommon. Just about four years ago, my doctor said words to me that no one wants to hear. I was diagnosed with an aggressive abdominal cancer. There was a lot that the doctors could do, there was some hope, but there wasn’t much time. The cancer was killing me and I had to prepare myself and my family for the worst. (more…)
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Mark Grayson
September 6th, 2007
I had prostate cancer. In 2003 when I visited my GP for a routine visit, he noticed from my chart that I had not had a PSA test in a year. The PSA test is an indicator of whether you may have prostate cancer. While most people know that pharmaceutical companies develop medicines, many companies also develop vital diagnostic tests that can lead to early detection of diseases such as prostate cancer. Well, two weeks later my doctor called and said that my PSA test was slightly elevated and he wanted me to go see a specialist. I, of course, thought this would be routine and that this was just a precaution. The urologist suggested that he do a biopsy and scheduled it for a few weeks later. Again the procedure was a little uncomfortable (as any man will tell you). But still I figured this was just routine. The urologist told me before the biopsy that they never give results over the phone so I had to go back to the office to get the results.When he told me I had prostate cancer, I thought again this was routine and it would be no big deal. I had done my research and I was not worried. However, driving home from the urologist’s office, that cool exterior must have crumbled. A few blocks from my home I turned the corner and slightly clipped a guard rail (something I had never done, especially on a street I had driven a thousand times before) and flattened two tires. I was really shaken. (more…)
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