Radiation: 614 Real Stories
614 stories match radiation. 511 of them mention surgery.
Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Sally’s Survivor Story
In 2013, Sally Johnston was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer after her primary care provider found a lump near her clavicle. A biopsy confirmed breast cancer involving lymph nodes. The cancer was estrogen receptor-positive. Sally began treatment with an…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Jim’s Patient Story
Jim Bromwich was 36 when mild abdominal cramps and a small amount of blood in his stool pushed him to ask for a colonoscopy. He had been active and healthy, and an initial doctor reassured him that colon cancer was unlikely at his age. His GP still offered a…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Gail’s Patient Story
Gail, 65, is a mother of 2 from the United Kingdom who works in administration. In August 2024, she was diagnosed with Stage III luminal A breast cancer after feeling a lump in her breast that did not go away after a few weeks. She was surprised by the…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Debra’s Patient Story
Debra was diagnosed with Stage III colorectal cancer in June 2024 after symptoms that included blood in her stool, incomplete bowel movements, weight loss, fatigue, fecal incontinence, and increasing groin pain. Her diagnosis came during an emergency visit…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Bridget’s Survivor Story
Bridget noticed blood in the stool and other symptoms in April 2024 but waited a few months before seeking medical care. The diagnosis of colorectal cancer was further delayed after early concerns were not taken seriously, leaving Bridget angry about the time…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Jeff’s Patient Story
Jeff Williams was 50 when his first routine colonoscopy found a tumor in his sigmoid colon. Scans the next day confirmed Stage IV colorectal cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs, with 4 liver lesions and 3 lung lesions. He first had surgery to remove…
Read this storyStage II Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Chantal’s Survivor Story
Chantal was 24 and already knew she carried a BRCA1 mutation when she felt a sudden painful lump during a beach trip. Just 1 month earlier, her preventive MRI had looked normal. Because the lump was visible and clearly new, she sought testing quickly. Biopsy…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Brenda’s Survivor Story
Brenda first found a breast lump in 2017, when she was in her early 40s. She was told it was a cyst, while an area of calcification seen on mammography was monitored every 6 months for the next 5 years. During a mammogram in May 2022, the area believed to be…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Olivia’s Survivor Story
Olivia Franz was 27 and breastfeeding her 4-month-old son when she noticed a painless lump in her left breast in mid-October 2020. An initial ultrasound suggested mastitis, but the lump and swelling grew during a week of antibiotics. A second ultrasound and…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Julie’s Patient Story
Julie Flower was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in March 2018, initially with liver metastases. Over the next 5 years, the cancer involved multiple sites, including the lung, liver, lymph nodes, and bone. Her treatment history was long and…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Leigh’s Patient Story
Leigh was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma in 2011. She was shocked to learn that the cancer could be difficult to see on mammograms and biologically different from the more common ductal subtype, yet did not have a separate treatment approach. With…
Read this storyStage IV Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: April’s Patient Story
April Donaldson was 40 when she found 4 lumps along the side of her left breast in January 2020, only months after a normal mammogram. Around the same time, she received genetic testing results showing she was BRCA1 positive. Biopsy confirmed triple-negative…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Danielle’s Patient Story
Danielle Archer was 40 when worsening constipation, abdominal pain, and a feeling that something was off led to a colonoscopy and endoscopy on December 31, 2018. During the colonoscopy, doctors found a bleeding 7-centimeter mass in the upper sigmoid area…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Susan’s Patient Story
Susan was 72 when she shared a long history with breast cancer. Her first diagnosis began in 2000, when her husband, a physician, felt a small hard lump in her left breast. A fine needle aspiration missed the cancer 3 times, but surgical removal showed the…
Read this storyStage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Kelly’s Survivor Story
Kelly Thomas was 33 when she felt a lump in her left breast. She had no breast cancer history in her family and had checked her breasts regularly, so the finding was frightening. Imaging and biopsy confirmed breast cancer, and her breast surgeon told her…
Read this storyHER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Susan’s Survivor Story
Susan was 72 when she shared a breast cancer history spanning more than 20 years. Her first diagnosis began when she was 50 and her husband, a physician, felt a hard pea-sized lump in her left breast. A fine needle aspiration incorrectly came back negative…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Jason’s Survivor Story
This Patient Story video is a survivorship discussion with 2 colorectal cancer survivors, Jason Randall and Amy Hart, focused on living with an ostomy. Jason describes himself as a Stage IV colorectal cancer survivor who was almost 5 years into the experience…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Michelle’s Patient Story
Michelle Cappel was first diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in 2017. Initial treatment included chemotherapy and curative-intent surgery, and she reached no evidence of disease for about 2.5 years. As she approached the 3-year mark, she developed a…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Megan’s Survivor Story
Megan-Claire Chase was diagnosed with Stage II invasive lobular breast cancer after symptoms such as green bruises, brittle hair, sudden weight gain, and a left-breast mass. Her doctors later believed the cancer may have been growing for 8 to 10 years and had…
Read this storyStage II Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Megan-Claire’s Survivor Story
Megan-Claire Chase was 39 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIA invasive lobular breast cancer. Years before diagnosis, she had a strong family history of cancer and was already watching her body closely. A preventive mammogram at 35 was read as clear, but…
Read this storyStage III Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Nikki’s Patient Story
Nikki, a 47-year-old mother and teacher, had already survived a rare cancer before her breast cancer diagnosis. In 2016, while breastfeeding her long-awaited son, a doctor reviewed years of bowel and IBS-like complaints and investigated further. That workup…
Read this storyStage III HER2-Positive Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Nikki’s Patient Story
Nikki first noticed sharp pain around her right nipple in August 2022. Because there was no lump and she had been told that cancer usually did not hurt, she attributed it to menopause. By late November, her nipple had become completely inverted. A biopsy and…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Lucinda’s Patient Story
Lucinda Rudolph was 68 when an annual breast cancer screening in April 2020 led to a frightening local assessment. She had been treated for breast cancer 10 years earlier with lumpectomy and radiation, and this new cancer was initially described as…
Read this storyStage II Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Cynthia’s Survivor Story
Cynthia Jordan had normal mammograms for 13 years and no symptoms, even while a walnut-sized tumor was growing in her breast. She had dense breasts but had not been educated about what that meant or why supplemental screening could matter. In 2018, a…
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