Chemotherapy: 963 Real Stories
963 stories match chemotherapy. 777 of them mention surgery.
Stage IV Colorectal Cancer: Starr’s Survivor Story
Starr was 45 when abdominal pain pushed her to seek care. A scan showed multiple masses in her liver, and a hospital biopsy confirmed cancer there that had started elsewhere. She was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic colon cancer, with later discussions also…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Kalei’s Patient Story
Kalei was 28 and raising 2 young daughters when bowel changes, strange tissue in her stool, blood, clots, and cramping made her push for answers. A full colonoscopy found a mass growing through the rectal wall, and pathology confirmed rectal cancer. Her care…
Read this storyStage II Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Ali’s Survivor Story
Ali was 32 and 25 weeks pregnant when worsening rectal bleeding led to a flexible sigmoidoscopy. She had been bloated for months and initially thought bleeding might be hemorrhoids, but the scope found a rectal mass. Biopsy confirmed adenocarcinoma, and she…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Karin’s Patient Story
Karin was first diagnosed with breast cancer on December 4, 2014, after mentioning a swollen breast gland during a visit for a persistent cough. Everything moved quickly. She initially hoped the tumor could simply be removed, but treatment also included…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Lung Cancer: Emily’s Patient Story
Emily was active and healthy when a cough that began in fall 2023 kept lingering. By August 31, 2024, shortness of breath on a familiar hike and a changing voice made her seek care. A chest X-ray showed nodules, and a CT scan led to the call no one wants: the…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Lauren’s Patient Story
Lauren was 31, raising a young son, when fatigue, back pain, chest/rib pain, and widespread joint pain became impossible to ignore. Early emergency-room visits did not find the cancer; she was treated for pneumonia and then evaluated for other possible…
Read this storyStage IV BRAF Colorectal Cancer: Jackson’s Patient Story
Jackson was 27 when worsening fatigue, thinning stool, blood in his stool, severe stomach pain, and projectile vomiting led him to the ER. He was diagnosed on January 11, 2025 with Stage IV colon cancer, a complete bowel blockage, and more than 40 tumors in…
Read this storyStage IV Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Melissa’s Patient Story
Melissa Fouts was diagnosed with Stage IV triple-negative breast cancer in 2019 after previously being treated for triple-negative breast cancer twice before: Stage I in 2004 and Stage II in 2016. At the Stage IV diagnosis, she believed time was short and…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Laura’s Patient Story
In November 2024, Laura VanBrocklin was making dinner for her 2 children when sudden nausea, urgency, and a feeling that she might pass out sent her to the emergency room. A CT scan within 30 minutes showed a bowel blockage caused by a tumor and lesions in…
Read this storyStage III Ovarian Cancer: Mary’s Survivor Story
Mary Catherine Riley was 46 in 2019 when persistent bloating and urinary frequency led to testing that found ovarian cancer. Her specialist diagnosed stage III disease involving lymph nodes, and surgery confirmed low-grade serous ovarian cancer. She then…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Angela’s Patient Story
Angela George was 42 when family history led her to take a closer look at her cancer risk. Her father had recently been diagnosed with colon cancer, and several relatives had also had cancer, including her mother and grandmother with breast cancer. In July…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Heather’s Patient Story
Heather Candrilli was 35 when severe bloating and later rectal bleeding led her to a gastroenterologist. An abdominal ultrasound found lesions throughout her liver, and colonoscopy later found the colon mass. She was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer in…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Maria’s Patient Story
Maria first went through chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, and targeted/endocrine therapy for breast cancer. Surgery showed more lymph-node involvement than expected on PET imaging, and up to 20 lymph nodes were removed. Pathology later showed more cancer in…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Kara’s Survivor Story
Kara Lionetta was caring for 2 young children when her youngest was only 5 months old and she learned that symptoms she had associated with pregnancy and postpartum recovery were actually Stage III rectal cancer. She had experienced extreme exhaustion…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Claire’s Patient Story
Claire Firrell was 46 when abdominal pain led to a Stage III colorectal cancer diagnosis in November 2015. The cancer had spread to lymph nodes. Her first treatment included surgery to remove the tumor, part of her colon, and lymph nodes, followed by 12…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Shiva’s Survivor Story
Shiva Sharma was 40 and working as a family doctor when vague bowel changes and back pain finally led him to schedule a colonoscopy. He had recently moved countries with his wife and 3 children and initially blamed stress. The colonoscopy changed everything…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Nicole’s Survivor Story
Nicole was 27, active, and athletic when stomach pain and inconsistent bowel movements started to feel less like routine digestive trouble. At first, she thought it might be IBS, partly because many young women around her talked about stomach issues. The pain…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Iris’s Patient Story
Iris Lopez-Mendez first faced breast cancer in 2010 after feeling a lump in her right breast. Mammogram and biopsy confirmed Stage IIA breast cancer, and she was treated with lumpectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy. For years afterward, she kept up with…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Marissa’s Survivor Story
Marissa Coreno was 27 when she felt a breast lump in June 2021. She was young, healthy, living independently, and had no family history of breast cancer, so she did not expect the lump to be serious. Diagnostic imaging at Cleveland Clinic Fairview Hospital…
Read this storyKRAS Lung Cancer: Wyatt’s Patient Story
Wyatt was in his 30s and already had a complex medical history when lung cancer entered his life unexpectedly. He had no obvious lung cancer symptoms and was shocked when cancer was found after dealing with issues related to a long-standing shunt. His doctor…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Samantha’s Survivor Story
Samantha Fletcher spent months trying to understand persistent stomach pain. Her journey included emergency-room visits and surgery for an ovarian cyst before a colonoscopy in July 2024 finally found a tumor in her colon. She was 35 when she learned she had…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Clara’s Patient Story
Clara was 24 when symptoms that seemed unrelated slowly pointed to something serious. Hip and back pain were first explained as an L5-S1 herniated disc from running, but the pain around that area later made more sense after doctors found cancer had spread to…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Kathy’s Survivor Story
Kathy Ball-Toncic had already survived the trauma of September 11 and rebuilt her career when cancer entered her life twice in close succession. In February 2023, on her 69th birthday, she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), described as the…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Jenny’s Patient Story
Jenny’s story is remembered through her husband, Kyle, who describes her as a loving mother, partner, and advocate for lung cancer awareness. Her lung cancer stage, subtype, biomarker results, and specific drug names were not stated, but her care was intense…
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