Surgery: 1,095 Real Stories
1,095 stories match surgery. 777 of them mention chemotherapy.
Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Louise’s Survivor Story
Louise Butcher was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer in 2022, forcing her to face the disease she had long feared. She had both breasts removed and chose to go flat, a decision that became central to how she rebuilt her relationship with her body. Running…
Read this storyStage I Lung Cancer: Taylor’s Survivor Story
Taylor was 21 and a former Division I college soccer player when persistent symptoms kept being dismissed. She first struggled with numbness and tingling in her toes and could not pass a required fitness test, but testing did not explain it. About a year…
Read this storyStage III HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Caroline’s Patient Story
Caroline McNally was 30 when a lump under her arm and breast changed quickly enough to make her push for urgent evaluation. Within 3 days, the skin around the lump looked grey and bruised, and she knew it was more than something harmless. Her gynecologist…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Janet’s Patient Story
Janet Ayala was 35 when she felt a breast lump while getting ready for a shower in summer 2024. After difficulty getting a diagnostic mammogram appointment, she finally had imaging in September and was told right away it was breast cancer. The diagnosis was…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Joe’s Patient Story
Joe Carr's diagnosis came quickly after several weeks of fatigue and loss of appetite. One night, severe stomach pain sent him to the emergency department. A CT scan showed that his liver was covered with lesions, leading to a colonoscopy and colon surgery to…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Phil’s Survivor Story
Phil Bosanko was 48 and working for the Transportation Security Administration when blood spotting led to his first colonoscopy in early 2006. The test showed colon cancer, and surgery removed 9 inches of colon. Phil and his wife initially thought the cancer…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Cora’s Patient Story
Cora was preparing to start private practice as a therapist when colorectal cancer changed her life. Before diagnosis, fatigue was the first major clue. She was sleeping instead of eating, losing weight unintentionally, and repeatedly being evaluated for…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Nina’s Survivor Story
Nina, a mother of 3 in Leeds, had been told for years that her bowel problems were IBS. During lockdown, her symptoms worsened with increasing discomfort, skin flare-ups, and blood and mucus in her stool. Tests were reassuring, and she was advised to manage…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Ruchira’s Survivor Story
Ruchira had little reason to suspect lung cancer. She was young, healthy, a nonsmoker, and her cough was mild and intermittent. Her father first noticed it, but she ignored it for nearly a year. After she tested positive for COVID, a chest X-ray led to a CT…
Read this storyStage II Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Chase’s Survivor Story
Chase Johnson was 36 when her dog, Cato, helped draw attention to a breast lump. In 2021, after Cato repeatedly acted anxious around her and pressed his snout against the side of her breast, Chase checked the area and found the lump that led to a Stage IIB…
Read this storyStage II Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Tamra’s Patient Story
Tamra, a registered nurse and care coordinator in Cleveland, was diagnosed with Stage II invasive lobular breast cancer on September 24, 2024, after her yearly mammogram. She did not have the usual warning signs such as a lump, breast thickening, or dimpling…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Kina’s Survivor Story
Kina had lived with on-and-off IBS-like symptoms for years, so when bowel symptoms returned she first tried cutting dairy and coffee. Blood in her stool and feeling constantly unwell finally pushed her to seek answers. Colonoscopy found a 4 cm mass, and at…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Sonja’s Patient Story
Sonja Rideout was diagnosed on October 19, 2022, with Stage II HER2-positive breast cancer after ultrasound and biopsy of a 2-inch breast mass. Her treatment began with 4 months of chemotherapy, followed by a total mastectomy and DIEP flap reconstruction…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Kristie’s Patient Story
Kristie was 51 when her first colonoscopy changed everything. She had gone in after her OB-GYN pushed her to complete screening that had been delayed after COVID. She had dealt with constipation for much of her life and later recognized pencil-thin stools as…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Sian’s Survivor Story
Before a routine mammogram in July 2012, Sian Bevans noticed a lump in her left breast. Ultrasound and biopsy confirmed that the lump was related to fibrocystic breast changes, but the mammogram also showed calcifications in her right breast. Sian delayed the…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Lea’s Patient Story
Lea was 37 when she first felt a small, hard breast lump in 2017. She pushed for a mammogram because breast cancer had affected an aunt, even though her doctor initially thought the lump might be an ingrown hair. After abnormal mammograms and biopsy, Lea was…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Scott’s Survivor Story
Scott Zeff was 67 when a prostate exam for urinary issues led indirectly to a rectal cancer diagnosis. He was given medication for a swollen prostate, but because he had never had a colonoscopy, he was advised to schedule one. A few months later, colonoscopy…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Nadia’s Survivor Story
Nadia lived with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, from age 15. For about 25 years, she managed flares, frequent bathroom urgency, colonoscopy surveillance, and close follow-up with her gastroenterologist. She was also in a clinical…
Read this storyStage I HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Erica’s Survivor Story
Erica was 46 when a routine mammogram changed the course of her life. She had delayed screening in her early 40s because of procedural anxiety, but after encouragement from her doctor and a close friend, she began annual mammograms. Her 2022, 2023, and 2024…
Read this storyStage III Colorectal Cancer: Briana’s Survivor Story
Briana was 31, active outdoors, and working in the environmental sector when symptoms began about 10 months before diagnosis. Mild constipation became repeated episodes of nausea, vomiting, lower-left abdominal pain, anemia, and worsening bowel problems. She…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Regina’s Survivor Story
Regina was active, newly married, and learning to swim when years of breathing symptoms finally led to a rare lung cancer diagnosis. For at least a couple of years, she knew something was wrong, but wheezing, coughing, and back pain were repeatedly explained…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Kayleigh’s Patient Story
Kayleigh had 1 alarming symptom: a small amount of blood in her stool. She called her doctor right away because it was unusual for her body. At first, hemorrhoids seemed possible, but Kayleigh asked for a FIT test. When it came back positive, she researched…
Read this storyStage III MSI-High Colorectal Cancer: Tommy’s Survivor Story
Tommy Allen was 57 when severe stomach pain and bright red blood in his stool led to a colon cancer diagnosis. He first had surgery in June 2019 near home in Alabama, but the surgeon could not remove all the cancer because the tumor was wrapped around…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Rylie’s Patient Story
Rylie was 27 when repeated emergency-room visits for lower-left abdominal pain and bloating led to a Stage IV colon cancer diagnosis. At first, she was sent home after being told the problem might be constipation. During another visit, doctors kept her for…
Read this story