Chemotherapy: 963 Real Stories
963 stories match chemotherapy. 777 of them mention surgery.
Ovarian Cancer: Leslie’s Patient Story
After losing her husband Rocky to melanoma in 2008, this patient drew on his example when high-grade serous ovarian cancer returned in January 2017. It was her second ovarian cancer diagnosis, and it came while she was training for the April 2017 IRONMAN…
Read this storyOvarian Cancer: Leslie’s Survivor Story
This patient was diagnosed with high-grade serous ovarian cancer in August 2013 after weeks of diarrhea were followed by severe bloating. A CT scan showed large amounts of abdominal fluid, and further evaluation led her to MD Anderson. A laparoscopy showed…
Read this storyStage II BRCA1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Roxana’s Patient Story
Roxana Lopez was 25 when she was diagnosed with Stage II invasive ductal carcinoma in her left breast in August 2015. Breast and ovarian cancer had affected several women in her family, including her mother, who died of breast cancer when Roxana and her twin…
Read this storyStage II BRCA1 Ovarian Cancer: Barb’s Patient Story
In February 2014, at age 50, Barb White underwent a hysterectomy to remove a large suspicious cyst. The surgery confirmed Stage II ovarian cancer, which had spread to her uterus. Three weeks later, she began chemotherapy. Barb had a severe allergic reaction…
Read this storyStage III Ovarian Cancer: Dianne’s Patient Story
Dianne Simpson was 73 when she completed treatment for Stage III high-grade serous ovarian cancer in April 2017. Her symptoms had started months earlier with worsening pain, bloating and difficulty sleeping. Initial evaluations did not identify the cause, but…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Monica’s Patient Story
Monica Wright was 44 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2015. She underwent a lumpectomy in December, with an old friend beside her during that first treatment. When Monica later began weekly chemotherapy infusions in Boston, friends…
Read this storyOvarian Cancer: Allison’s Patient Story
At 31, Allison Bellevue was pregnant when an ultrasound found a small mass on her right ovary. The mass grew over the next month and was removed. Three days after surgery, when she was 17 weeks pregnant, she learned that she had clear-cell ovarian cancer. Her…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient Story
At age 50, this patient was diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer on August 5, 2015, only about 6 weeks after a persistent cough began. She had never smoked and had worked as a radiation therapist for more than 20 years, so she pushed for further…
Read this storyStage II Ovarian Cancer: Betsy’s Patient Story
Betsy Feldmann was 58 when persistent abdominal pressure led her through visits with four doctors before she was diagnosed with Stage II ovarian cancer. A committed triathlete, she wanted to remain active during treatment and continued swimming, biking…
Read this storyHER2-Positive Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Trish’s Patient Story
Trish Vickery learned in 2013 that she had inflammatory breast cancer, a diagnosis that carried particular weight because her mother had died from the same disease. At age 58, Trish described coming to Dana-Farber as one of the luckiest decisions of her life…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Melissa’s Patient Story
Melissa Angiolillo was 35 when she was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer. Alongside fear about the disease, she felt pressure to handle cancer with constant positivity. During chemotherapy, when treatment was taking a physical toll, that expectation…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Marianne’s Survivor Story
Marianne Gongos was 60 when a lump appeared in her left breast in 2011. She was already living with chronic myeloid leukemia, diagnosed in 1999, and had reached remission through a clinical drug trial. Surgery confirmed breast cancer, leading to removal of…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Michelle’s Survivor Story
Michelle Hines was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2015 and received 6 rounds of chemotherapy followed by 17 rounds of targeted therapy. Treatment could be difficult even with strong anti-nausea medication, and some days she felt too sick to move…
Read this storyStage IV Ovarian Cancer: Diane’s Patient Story
Diane Sarver was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer in January 2010 after a physical therapist noticed fluid on the left side of her neck. She had none of the pelvic symptoms she associated with ovarian cancer and no known family history of cancer…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Diego’s Patient Story
Diego wrote this entry after more than a month away from the blog, describing a difficult but meaningful pause in his lung cancer course. He had spent about 10 days hospitalized because pain in the hip and left iliac region had become unbearable. Chemotherapy…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Darrell’s Survivor Story
Darrell Sawyer’s colorectal cancer journey began in November 2012, when what seemed like a short stomach flu did not go away. After a month of ongoing stomach upset, a colonoscopy found a tumor in his intestines so large that the procedure could not be…
Read this storyStage III Ovarian Cancer: Pam’s Survivor Story
Pam Scarpino was diagnosed with Stage III high-grade serous ovarian cancer in October 2007. She initially stayed close to home for treatment, but an anaphylactic reaction to paclitaxel during her first chemotherapy treatment prompted her to seek care at MD…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Sarah’s Patient Story
Sarah was 37 when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer had affected several women in her family: her grandmother was a 40-year survivor, her aunt a 20-year survivor, and her mother had also been diagnosed. Sarah said her family did not…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Theresa’s Survivor Story
Theresa Cotton was 49 when she opened her colonoscopy results alone in a hospital parking lot and learned she had cancer. She called her husband immediately, then started researching cancer centers and treatment options. People she knew encouraged her to go…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Elizabeth’s Survivor Story
Elizabeth was 45 when she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer after first finding a problem in November 2017. Her mother had developed breast cancer at 51, so the family had already been encouraged to remain alert. When an initial appointment was delayed…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Natalia’s Survivor Story
Natalia, from Colombia, had a hard, growing lump in her left breast. An early ultrasound found nothing, and three months passed before a mastologist removed the lump and confirmed cancer. Dissatisfied with the information and manner of her first doctor, she…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Anne’s Survivor Story
Anne developed persistent diarrhea with blood and later unexplained weight loss. After several months, a primary-care physician referred Anne to a gastroenterologist, and testing confirmed Stage III rectal adenocarcinoma in February 2017. Anne was 39 at…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Debora’s Patient Story
Debora, 65, lives in the United Kingdom and was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer in 2017 after noticing a dimple across her left breast. The diagnosis brought anger, fear, sadness, numbness, and vulnerability. Her initial treatment plan included…
Read this storyStage III HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Dorothy’s Survivor Story
Dorothy Paterson found a lump in her right breast while showering in 1998, even though her mammogram the year before had been clear. Testing first showed invasive ductal carcinoma, and additional evaluation at MD Anderson revealed HER2-positive breast cancer…
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