Radiation: 614 Real Stories
614 stories match radiation. 511 of them mention surgery.
Breast Cancer: Mary’s Survivor Story
Mary Richichi was 79 at the time of the story and had been treated for breast cancer years earlier. A routine mammogram found a tumor in the duct of her left breast in July 2009, during a stressful period when she and her husband were preparing to move closer…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Dan’s Patient Story
Dan was a young father with 2 daughters when symptoms that seemed like a stubborn cold began in November 2018. The cold did not go away. Instead, he developed shortness of breath, chest tightness, and lost his voice. Steroids and inhalers did not help, and no…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Stephanie’s Survivor Story
Stephanie Rifici Thorkelson noticed a breast lump while nursing her first son and initially thought it was another clogged milk duct. When the lump did not go away after about 1 month, she saw her Ob/Gyn. Mammogram and biopsy showed breast cancer shortly…
Read this storyBreast 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 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 storyStage IV MET Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Amy’s Patient Story
Amy’s third video focuses on living with Stage IV squamous cell lung cancer after several years of treatment. During her earlier Keytruda treatment period, she developed a painful bone metastasis in the femur and hips. The pain became severe enough that she…
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 storyStage IV Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Patient Story
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 storyBreast Cancer: Faye’s Patient Story
Faye Belvin was 58 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2019. She began treatment soon afterward, including radiation therapy. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, she was able to continue her cancer care while spending much of her time at home…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Kehau’s Survivor Story
At 78, Kehau Matsumoto described herself as a five-time cancer survivor and patient advocate in Hawaii. Her first breast cancer was found on a routine mammogram in 1993. Afraid of surgery, she chose radiation therapy. Breast cancer later returned more than…
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 storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Daneen’s Survivor Story
Daneen had surgery for lobular carcinoma in situ at age 32 and was monitored closely afterward. Tamoxifen was discussed as a preventive option, but she and her husband were trying to have a child after years of infertility and unsuccessful IVF. In June 1999…
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 storyStage IV Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Caroline’s Patient Story
Caroline McGuirk first noticed that her right breast felt tighter in September 2020. Over the following weeks, she developed swelling, redness, and dimpling, and later felt masses behind the nipple. Because she was 31 and otherwise healthy, breast cancer had…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Marie-Pierre’s Patient Story
Marie-Pierre Bertrand was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer when she was barely 50. Before the diagnosis, she had strong fatigue and struggled to get through normal activities. A lymph node was found in 2014, and a mammogram led to the discovery of…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Xue’s Patient Story
Xue Ming was 26 when diarrhea that lasted more than 10 days led him to seek medical care. A doctor felt what seemed to be a tumor, and he was referred from a town hospital to larger hospitals. Colonoscopy and biopsy confirmed middle-stage rectal cancer. The…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Cristina’s Patient Story
Cristina, 45, is a mother from Colombia who was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer after noticing subtle dimpling in the areola of her left breast. She initially paid little attention to the change because it was small and painless. A painful, swollen…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Elsa’s Patient Story
Elsa regularly examined her breasts and sought care after finding a small lump in her left breast and noticing changes in its size and shape. She was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. The news left her frightened, nervous, isolated, and powerless. Her…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Siti’s Patient Story
Siti was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017. She underwent surgery to remove the tumor, followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and completed that treatment course by the end of 2018. She then continued regular follow-up from 2019. Later, she…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Sylvia’s Survivor Story
Sylvia found a breast lump during a self-examination in the shower and underwent several tests before being diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer in November 2022. Having previously lost her mother to lung cancer, Sylvia found the diagnosis devastating and…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Antonia’s Survivor Story
Antonia was 39 and raising 2 children when she noticed a protruding mass in her breast, along with irritation and swelling. She was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. The news left her frightened, confused and overwhelmed, with a strong sense of…
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