Surgery: 1,095 Real Stories
1,095 stories match surgery. 777 of them mention chemotherapy.
Stage II Breast Cancer: Jenna’s Patient Story
Jenna was 28 weeks pregnant when she felt a lump in her right breast while putting on lotion after a shower. She first wondered if it could be a clogged milk duct or cyst, but she contacted her OB. An ultrasound led to biopsy, and the results confirmed Stage…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Muriel’s Patient Story
Muriel was active, informed, and used to making decisions before breast cancer changed her life in May 2022, when she found a lump in her breast. Her care plan quickly expanded from mastectomy to discussions about chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but she did…
Read this storyStage II Lung Cancer: Michelle’s Patient Story
Michelle’s lung cancer was found while doctors were investigating a completely different problem. After a fall, she developed persistent pain that moved into her jaw, head, and neck and caused migraine-like symptoms. Months of physical therapy, pain…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Erica’s Patient Story
Erica was 41, active, and working as a P.E. teacher when breast cancer became part of her daily life again. Her first diagnosis was Stage I hormone-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. She completed chemotherapy in February 2025 and had a double mastectomy…
Read this storyStage IV Melanoma: Ken’s Survivor Story
Ken Herich had watched a growth on his right hand for about 10 years before an old friend, a retired physician, warned him it looked like melanoma. Doctors initially believed it was melanoma in situ, and in mid-2019 Ken had a wide excision with clear nearby…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Liz’s Survivor Story
Dr. Liz O’Riordan had spent 20 years treating breast cancer patients, but at 40 she became a patient herself. After a shower, she noticed a lump in her left cleavage and assumed it was a cyst. Her mammogram was normal, but ultrasound showed cancer. The…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Lung Cancer: Kelsey’s Patient Story
Kelsey was 36, a mother of 4, and working as a SoulCycle manager when severe back pain began changing her life. At first, she blamed work, commuting, aging, or a pulled muscle. Then she collapsed while coaching baseball and later had to crawl to the bathroom…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Jes’s Survivor Story
Jes first noticed something was wrong when she felt a new lump under her breast. She was uninsured at the time, so getting care felt overwhelming, but she started with Planned Parenthood and was connected to California’s Every Woman Counts program for…
Read this storyStage II EGFR Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Daniel’s Patient Story
Daniel West had no symptoms before a routine heart scan in October 2022 showed 2 nodules in his right lung. A bronchoscopy biopsy confirmed early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. Daniel, who had quit smoking in 2006, sought a second opinion at UT MD Anderson…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Jim’s Patient Story
Jim was 43 and felt healthy when routine blood work changed everything. A physical for an insurance discount showed high liver enzymes, and repeat blood work stayed abnormal. An ultrasound found multiple liver masses, followed by a biopsy and CT scan. He was…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Marina’s Survivor Story
Marina was 31 and had just qualified for the Boston Marathon when she noticed a daily ache in her breast. Her mother had survived breast cancer twice and was known to carry a BRCA1 mutation, so Marina already understood that breast cancer could run in her…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Meagan’s Survivor Story
Meagan was 24, student teaching, and focused on starting her adult life when she noticed small amounts of blood in her stool in August 2024. She assumed it was probably hemorrhoids because the bleeding was not constant or heavy. By February 2025, she brought…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Kalei’s Patient Story
Kalei first noticed bowel changes that seemed small: going more often, mucus or tissue in the stool, stomach pain, sharp pains, rectal bleeding, and then blood clots. Doctors initially reassured her because her blood work was normal, she was not anemic, and…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: David’s Survivor Story
David Lyon was 26 when occasional blood in his stool was followed by sharp abdominal pain so severe he could not stand up straight. A colonoscopy in June 2021 showed Stage IV colorectal cancer that had spread to his liver and several lymph nodes near his…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Joe’s Patient Story
Joe never had blood in his stool. His warning signs were fatigue, loss of appetite, feeling generally off, and then severe shoulder, back, stomach, and liver-area pain. Because he worked long hours in the restaurant industry, the fatigue was easy to explain…
Read this storyStage III EGFR Lung Cancer: Roxanne’s Patient Story
Roxanne was 43, a single mother, and a special needs teacher when lung cancer was found almost by accident. She had gone to her gynecologist for abdominal pain that felt like an ovarian cyst. A CT scan did show a cyst, but it also caught part of her right…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Alyssa’s Patient Story
Alyssa Kelly was 38 and pregnant in early 2021 when abdominal discomfort, weight loss and a concerning ultrasound finding led to an MRI. The news came by phone: Stage IV colon cancer. The main tumor was the size of a softball and pressed on her uterus…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Sydney’s Patient Story
Sydney had years of constipation, bloating, and pain before anyone found the cause. She thought it might be IBS and tried diet changes, including gluten-free and dairy-free eating. Doctors repeatedly told her she was too young for colon cancer. In mid-2020…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Amber’s Survivor Story
Amber Mike was 44 when bleeding after earlier fibroid surgery led her gynecologist to recommend a colonoscopy. She delayed the appointment at first because she was busy traveling for work, but in May 2023 the colonoscopy found a tumor and she was diagnosed…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Natasha’s Patient Story
Natasha McCants had her first screening colonoscopy in February 2023 at age 45 after a suspicious Cologuard test. The initial biopsy did not show cancer, but her gastroenterologist trusted what he had seen and sent her to surgery. Two months later, a…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Jacqueline’s Patient Story
Jacqueline Bennett first noticed a breast lump months before diagnosis, but several doctors dismissed it as mastitis. In June 2017, shortly after learning she was pregnant again, a new OB/GYN sent her for ultrasound and biopsy. The biopsy confirmed breast…
Read this storyStage I EGFR Lung Cancer: Shira’s Survivor Story
Shira felt completely healthy. She was a lifelong runner, had no lung symptoms, and almost skipped the full-body MRI her husband kept encouraging her to do. The scan found a lung mass but described it as a minor finding if she had no symptoms. Her father, a…
Read this storyStage I Colorectal Cancer: Timothy’s Survivor Story
Timothy Beckner was 43 and feeling healthy when an unexpected illness led to a colon cancer diagnosis. After returning from a family vacation in May 2025, he developed stomach issues and a fever. Emergency evaluation found salmonella and mild diverticulitis…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: John’s Survivor Story
John Murray was 51 when an at-home colorectal cancer screening test came back negative. Over the following years, he had bleeding and pain that he assumed were hemorrhoids. By February 2025, at age 56, he finally scheduled a colonoscopy. The test and…
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