Chemotherapy: 963 Real Stories
963 stories match chemotherapy. 777 of them mention surgery.
Breast Cancer: Sharon’s Survivor Story
Sharon Kovach grew up with breast cancer in her family: her grandmother and mother had both been diagnosed, and her mother died from the disease at age 56. An abnormal mammogram led to Sharon’s own diagnosis in October 1999, 1 month after her 40th birthday…
Read this storyStage III Testicular Cancer: Felipe’s Survivor Story
Felipe Soltero had no cancer symptoms until an accident with his 5-year-old son changed everything. While they were practicing boxing combinations in the backyard, his son accidentally hit him in the groin. The swelling did not improve, so Felipe went to the…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Lianne’s Patient Story
Lianne Kraemer was 37 when a small painful area in her left breast led to imaging and a biopsy in late 2013. She was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer involving lymph nodes. In 2014, she underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, reconstruction, and…
Read this storyHER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Feyama’s Survivor Story
Feyama Ashby, a quality and compliance coordinator in MD Anderson’s diagnostic labs, noticed pain in her sternum that extended into her right breast. She initially thought she had pulled a muscle while working out, but the timing lined up with her annual…
Read this storyStage IV Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Julie’s Patient Story
Julie Campbell was living with chronic myelogenous leukemia when a second cancer changed her course. In October 2020, tests showed no leukemia in her blood and her leukemia chemotherapy was stopped. One month later, she was diagnosed with Stage IV…
Read this storyGastric Cancer: Alan’s Patient Story
Alan Salm, known as Al, was diagnosed with stomach cancer in spring 2019. He received chemotherapy every 2 weeks for 2 years while continuing to travel and make memories with his wife and teenage son. Surgeons later attempted to remove his stomach, but the…
Read this storyStage IV Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Anabel’s Patient Story
Anabel’s breast cancer story was shaped by family loss. Her sister and mother had both died from cancer, and Anabel had cared for them before facing her own diagnosis. About 1.5 years after losing her mother, she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Christal’s Survivor Story
Christal Love was 39 when she was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer, described as aggressive hormone-positive, HER2-negative disease that had spread to her lymph nodes. She began treatment locally with chemotherapy. The first cycle used Taxol. During a…
Read this story32-year-old woman with Stage IV rectal cancer, liver and lung metastases, targeted chemotherapy, surgery, ablation, radiation, and ongoing chemotherapy
This 32-year-old woman was diagnosed with Stage IV rectal adenocarcinoma after a routine physical found a liver abnormality in late 2015. Further tests showed a rectal tumor 5 to 8 cm from the anus, perirectal and presacral involvement, liver metastases, and…
Read this storyStage III colon cancer: surgery and treatment story
An unnamed woman was diagnosed with Stage III adenocarcinoma of the colon. Her treatment began with surgery to remove the half of the colon affected by cancer, along with lymph nodes in that area. After surgery, she received chemotherapy for 6 months. Every…
Read this storyStage III BRCA Ovarian Cancer: Mimi’s Survivor Story
Mimi Gallagher was 46 when bloating, constipation and lethargy led to several medical visits in July 2012. A vaginal ultrasound eventually confirmed Stage III ovarian cancer. Within days, she went from being an active stay-at-home mother of two to preparing…
Read this storyOvarian Cancer Can Present Unique Challenges Around Gender
At 43, this patient had a hysterectomy for fibroids. During the operation, the surgeon noticed an abnormal ovarian cyst and removed the ovary. The cyst was cancerous. One month later, in June 2009, the second ovary was removed with a lymph node dissection; 1…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Almudena’s Survivor Story
Almudena was a medical student doing hospital rotations when rectal bleeding pushed her into the patient role. She had noticed blood in her stool 6 months earlier, at age 25, but was reassured that it was probably hemorrhoids. When bleeding happened again, a…
Read this storyStage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Marlena’s Patient Story
Marlena Murphy was 40 when she found a lump in her left breast during a monthly self-exam in 2018. Mammography, ultrasound, biopsy, and MRI led to a diagnosis of Stage III triple-negative breast cancer involving nearby lymph nodes. Marlena began chemotherapy…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Sandra’s Patient Story
Sandra Morales first noticed an uncomfortable sensation in her left breast in 2008, when she was 38. Two years later, she had her first mammogram on her birthday. The test found a suspicious mass, and a biopsy led to a Stage III breast cancer diagnosis in May…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Alejandro’s Patient Story
Alejandro Mirazo joined the Mayo Clinic Tapestry DNA Sequencing Research Study in 2021 to contribute to research on genetics and health. He expected to help science, but the study also changed his own care. Genetic sequencing raised concern for Lynch…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Fleur’s Patient Story
Fleur Profinet was 48 when she spoke about living with metastatic breast cancer and the way it changed family life. She first had breast cancer in 2013, then a recurrence beginning in 2020. Formal biomarker results, specific metastatic sites, surgery details…
Read this storyOvarian Cancer: Faye’s Patient Story
While finishing radiation for an earlier breast cancer, Faye Belvin developed pain in her side. A blood test at a routine oncology visit raised concern, and follow-up scans and biopsies led to a diagnosis of ovarian cancer in February 2021. Faye began…
Read this storyStage IV KRAS Colorectal Cancer: Kris’s Patient Story
Kris Sokolowski was 48 and diligent about checkups when a new, constant growling in his abdomen led to a scan in May 2021. His doctor saw a mass on his colon and liver and warned it might be Stage IV cancer. MRI and colonoscopy confirmed Stage IV colorectal…
Read this storyHER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Tamara’s Patient Story
Tamara was 30, recently returned from the United States, and had just given birth when she noticed a small lump in her armpit during breastfeeding. She was first reassured that it was probably a lactation-related cyst, but because her mother had died of…
Read this storyStage III Ovarian Cancer: Karen’s Survivor Story
Karen Howley LaCamera was 57 when sharp abdominal pain sent her to the emergency room in February 2018. A scan for suspected gallbladder trouble also found an orange-sized ovarian tumor, and she was diagnosed with Stage III ovarian cancer. Within 2 weeks…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Cindi’s Survivor Story
Cindi Terwoord was 62 when she acted quickly on new blood in her stool and was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in September 2019. A local oncologist recommended starting chemotherapy immediately, but Cindi waited a few days for her Cleveland Clinic…
Read this storyStage II HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: María’s Survivor Story
María Ángeles found a small lump in her armpit while showering, just months after a divorce and during a stressful period of rebuilding her life. She had also had fever and some weight loss, but the lump was the sign that pushed her to see her gynecologist. A…
Read this storyBRCA1 Ovarian Cancer: Mary’s Patient Story
Three months after treatment for early-stage breast cancer, this nurse was preparing for a preventive hysterectomy because genetic testing had shown an inherited BRCA1 mutation. Preoperative testing instead revealed that she already had ovarian cancer…
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