Radiation: 614 Real Stories
614 stories match radiation. 511 of them mention surgery.
Stage III Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Famke’s Survivor Story
Famke was 39 when she noticed that an area in her right breast felt firmer and had a defined edge. It was not a distinct lump, and she nearly dismissed the accompanying pain after reading that breast pain usually was not a cancer symptom. Her gynecologist…
Read this storyStage I Breast Cancer: Tamara’s Patient Story
Tamara Mitchell had already faced other cancers when a routine mammogram in 2019 led to a diagnosis of Stage I breast cancer. She underwent a partial lumpectomy and then received radiation to her left breast. Her breast cancer diagnosis became part of a…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Alison’s Survivor Story
Alison was 34 and breastfeeding when she found a lump under her right arm. Biopsies confirmed triple-positive breast cancer in the breast and axillary lymph nodes. After HER2 testing returned equivocal 3 times, the final result guided a TCHP regimen…
Read this storyStage III HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Stefanie’s Survivor Story
Stefanie first noticed a breast lump when she was 5 months pregnant and assumed it was a clogged milk duct. The night she delivered her second child by scheduled C-section, a postpartum nurse raised concern about the lump. An ultrasound was inconclusive, so a…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Shari’s Patient Story
Shari found a breast lump in December 2015. A mammogram several months later led to a surgical lumpectomy because she had saline implants. The lump was breast cancer, and further staging showed that the triple-positive disease was already metastatic, making…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Renée’s Survivor Story
Renée had already survived acute myeloid leukemia and a bone marrow transplant when she noticed a change in the shape of her left breast at age 35. A dimple appeared, her nipple flattened, and urgent imaging and biopsies found stage 2 breast cancer involving…
Read this storyStage II Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Lucy’s Survivor Story
Lucy found a breast lump at 23, months after learning that she carried a germline BRCA1 mutation. Several clinicians thought the area felt like fibrous tissue, but because of her inherited risk she continued with imaging and biopsy. Three days after her 24th…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Paul’s Patient Story
Paul Weigel was 43 when he was diagnosed with Stage III colorectal cancer in 2013. His tumor, located at the junction of the rectum and colon, was about the size of a lemon. Imaging also showed suspicious lesions in his liver and lungs, but his story did not…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Janine’s Patient Story
Janine Stellacci had been an athlete since her teenage years. Around age 40, she began experiencing severe fatigue and changing gastrointestinal symptoms, which she initially attributed to stress, hormones, and being a woman. After several years, occasional…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Jen’s Survivor Story
Jen was 55 when an annual mammogram found calcifications in her right breast. Because she had dense breasts, follow-up included a contrast mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy. The first diagnosis was ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS. Based on that result, Jen…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Betty’s Patient Story
Betty Jean had survived breast cancer in 2019, but a later episode of back pain changed the course of her life again. While on vacation, she developed pain that seemed like a bad back problem. Imaging instead revealed Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, with…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Monica’s Survivor Story
Monica Diaz first noticed blood in her stool, followed by weight loss and abdominal pain. A colonoscopy led to a cancer diagnosis, and subsequent scans also found a tumor in her liver. She remembers the fear of potentially leaving her children while they were…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Adrienne’s Patient Story
Adrienne first blamed her severe fatigue on stress after a major breakup. She was sleeping 9 or 10 hours but still waking exhausted, and an annual physical showed normal bloodwork except for low vitamin D. Later, she noticed localized indigestion and felt a…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Laura’s Survivor Story
Laura Behnke noticed blood in her stool a few days before embryo implantation, but the bleeding stopped and she focused on pregnancy after IVF. It returned in her 2nd trimester, and she assumed it was hemorrhoids because pregnancy and postpartum hemorrhoids…
Read this storyLeukemia: Nicole’s Survivor Story
Nicole Schulz was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2005, when she was a high school freshman. The treatment that saved her life was intense: chemotherapy, radiation and 2 bone marrow transplants. Remission did not mean everything returned to normal…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Lung Cancer: Shannon’s Survivor Story
Shannon was 35 when a cough lingered for about 1.5 months, followed by severe neck pain that did not respond to repeated muscle relaxers. The pain reached 7 or 8 out of 10, limited her ability to turn her head or pick up her children, and continued through…
Read this storyStage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Heidi’s Survivor Story
Heidi was 55, a fitness trainer, and a lifelong health enthusiast when lung cancer was found by accident. In October 2018, she had a CT scan during evaluation of a mildly suspicious ovarian cyst. The ovary was benign, but the chest CT showed a lung mass and…
Read this storyStage II Colorectal Cancer: Allison’s Survivor Story
Allison was 32 and living with Crohn’s disease in remission when new symptoms felt different from anything she had experienced before. About 1.5 years earlier, she had the cleanest colonoscopy of her life. Then she began losing weight, feeling severely…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Andrea’s Survivor Story
Andrea was pregnant and around 30 weeks along when she mentioned a divot in her breast at an OB-GYN visit. A same-day breast center evaluation led to biopsy of both the breast and lymph nodes, and she soon learned she had breast cancer. Her story describes…
Read this storyStage III HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Genoa’s Survivor Story
Genoa was living the life she wanted when a subtle but persistent feeling of nausea made her think something was wrong. She was already due for a mammogram, and her OB-GYN also ordered a breast MRI because of her family history of breast cancer. The MRI…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Renee’s Patient Story
Renee first found a hard, painful breast area after playing with her children. Her family doctor quickly suspected breast cancer, and testing showed Stage III disease. The first plan was chemotherapy before surgery, with the hope that she might be able to…
Read this storyStage IV Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Erin’s Patient Story
Erin first noticed an ache near her left breast and armpit, then later saw dimpling in the skin. A mammogram was clear, but she pointed the ultrasound team to the exact area, and a biopsy led to breast cancer care. Surgery found that what had looked like a 9…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Justine’s Patient Story
Justine was a 30-year-old kindergarten teacher when bowel changes, soft stool, and blood led her to seek answers. On February 11, 2019, a colonoscopy found a tumor, and she was staged with Stage IIIB rectal cancer. Her first plan was 5 weeks of capecitabine…
Read this storyStage III HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Tina’s Patient Story
Tina was 37 when she noticed that her right nipple had become sunken. Because her mother had breast cancer twice, she took the change seriously and saw her OB-GYN. A mammogram first seemed routine, but a call-back led to more imaging, ultrasound, and biopsy…
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