Chemotherapy: 963 Real Stories
963 stories match chemotherapy. 777 of them mention surgery.
Stage IV Colorectal Cancer: Lindsay’s Patient Story
Lindsay was 32, about 3 weeks from her 33rd birthday, when she noticed a lump in her pelvic area. At first, she wondered if it was related to healing after a C-section, but the lump did not go away. She also developed unusual food smells, rapid weight loss…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Cat’s Survivor Story
Cat was diagnosed with Stage IIB breast cancer after feeling a lump in her left breast. An ultrasound raised immediate concern, and biopsy confirmed cancer. She was diagnosed at the end of June and chose to wait until after a family trip and school…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Lee’s Patient Story
Lee was 55 and had no family history of cancer when a prostate infection unexpectedly led to a CT scan. The scan showed 5 spots on his liver. A colonoscopy then found the primary tumor in his colon, making the diagnosis Stage IV colon cancer with liver…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Renee’s Patient Story
Renee first found a hard, painful breast area after playing with her children. Her family doctor quickly suspected breast cancer, and testing showed Stage III disease. The first plan was chemotherapy before surgery, with the hope that she might be able to…
Read this storyStage III HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Tina’s Patient Story
Tina was 37 when she noticed that her right nipple had become sunken. Because her mother had breast cancer twice, she took the change seriously and saw her OB-GYN. A mammogram first seemed routine, but a call-back led to more imaging, ultrasound, and biopsy…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Rachel’s Patient Story
Rachel’s Stage IB breast cancer was found after she delayed a routine mammogram for about 6 months. She had no symptoms, but 3D mammography showed a suspicious spot in the right breast. Ultrasound confirmed the finding, and biopsy showed infiltrating ductal…
Read this storyStage II Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Margaret’s Survivor Story
Margaret’s Stage II breast cancer involved both invasive ductal carcinoma and ductal carcinoma in situ. She first noticed left-breast pain and an inverted nipple. Mammogram and biopsy led to diagnosis, followed by rapid decisions about surgery, scans…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Bethany’s Patient Story
Bethany was 33 when a breast lump she had watched for months became impossible to dismiss. Earlier breast lumps in her 20s had turned out to be cysts or swollen lymph nodes, and she had dense breast tissue, so she first assumed this one was benign too. The…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Joanna’s Survivor Story
Joanna developed rectal bleeding, stomachaches, bloating, and food-related discomfort that worsened over about 1.5 years. Because she was young and active, cancer was not initially discussed. She first contacted her gynecologist, then waited months for a…
Read this storyStage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Stephanie’s Survivor Story
Stephanie found a small lump in her left breast while self-employed and uninsured. Because she could not ignore the possibility of cancer, she researched options and was connected with the Bridge Breast Network, which helps uninsured and underinsured women in…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Catherine’s Patient Story
Catherine was 10 weeks pregnant when persistent rectal bleeding, bloating, and trouble going to the bathroom led to sigmoidoscopy. The procedure found a rectal tumor. Further CT, MRI, and biopsy workup showed Stage III rectal cancer: it had reached lymph…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Doreen’s Patient Story
Doreen was diagnosed with Stage IIA triple-positive invasive ductal breast cancer after finding a lump in her left breast during a work trip. Getting the right imaging took persistence: after several calls and one wrong order, she finally had the correct…
Read this storyStage III Lung Cancer: Peter’s Survivor Story
Peter was 80 and felt well when he joined the NHS Galleri trial. He had spent 31 years in the police force, stayed active, and had never smoked. After a blood test through the trial, he received a call saying something in his lung needed investigation. MRI…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Ken’s Patient Story
Ken was 59 when Stage IV sigmoid colon cancer was found after years of intermittent bowel changes. He had loose stools, increasing bathroom frequency, and occasional blood, but no abdominal pain and no major appetite problems, so he kept hoping the symptoms…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Ben’s Patient Story
Ben Schultz was 33 when he first told a doctor that he had blood in his stool. The symptom was attributed to constipation. Two years later, it returned and became worse. A different doctor took Ben’s family history seriously and ordered a colonoscopy. On…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Jill’s Patient Story
Jill already knew the fear of lung cancer before her own diagnosis. Her father died at 41, only 3 months after being diagnosed, and her mother died at 54, 6 months after her diagnosis. Because of that family history, Jill had periodic CT scans even though she…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Carrie’s Patient Story
Carrie was a full-time elementary music teacher and single mother when she suddenly became very sick with stomach pain, gas, nausea, and vomiting. A walk-in clinic told her it was probably gas, but the symptoms did not improve. After she became sick in a…
Read this storyStage II KRAS Lung Adenocarcinoma: Roy’s Survivor Story
Roy was a 50-year-old commercial airline pilot and Air Force veteran when he noticed a subtle rattle in his chest while lying down at night. An early X-ray was interpreted as something like pneumonia, and because he was a nonsmoker with no family history of…
Read this storyStage II Ovarian Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Caitlin’s Survivor Story
Caitlin Koehler was 27 when a year of severe abdominal pain finally led to CT imaging that found an 11 cm mass on her right ovary. She underwent removal of the right ovary and fallopian tube, and pathology showed Stage II squamous cell carcinoma arising in a…
Read this storyMy Metastatic Breast Cancer Spread To My BRAIN!
The patient was 41, active in bodybuilding, and up to date on mammograms when she first noticed blood from her nipple rather than a breast lump. After the bleeding stopped, she was initially sent home. About 1 month later, she developed a large breast lump…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Jake’s Patient Story
Jake was 15 when severe migraines began in late 2012. For about 25 days, he hid the pain, took large amounts of Advil, and kept playing sports until his mother pushed for an MRI. The scan showed a golf-ball-sized tumor in his cerebellum. After brain surgery…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Gynna’s Patient Story
Gynna, who lives in Colombia, first noticed a small breast lump in 2017, but doctors were not initially worried. After she recovered from COVID-19 in January 2021, the lump felt different and much larger. Her doctor sent her for a biopsy, and 7 tissue samples…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Lawrence’s Survivor Story
Lawrence Henry, a retired Army colonel, was diagnosed with Stage 3C colon cancer in 2021 at age 50 after worsening stomach pain, blood in his stool and a feeling of fullness after bowel movements led to colonoscopy. He was treated locally with surgery…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Samantha’s Patient Story
Samantha was 22 when she noticed a breast lump in 2019. Because she was so young, doctors first considered causes such as a cyst or infection, but biopsy eventually confirmed breast cancer. Further testing found cancer in her rib and lymph nodes, making it…
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