Surgery: 1,095 Real Stories
1,095 stories match surgery. 777 of them mention chemotherapy.
Stage IV Lung Cancer: Mary’s Patient Story
Mary Lynn Moser lived through 15 years of cancer, including 5 years with breast cancer and nearly 10 years with lung cancer. A radiologist noticed a lung spot while reading a mammogram, allowing the lung cancer to be detected at Stage III rather than after…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Randi’s Patient Story
Randi Young began smoking at 17 or 18 and stopped at age 31. On April 15, 1984, she decided to quit; the next day she went for a run and never smoked another cigarette. Within 1.5 months she completed her first 10K, ran her first marathon later that year, and…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Katie’s Survivor Story
Katie Gilmore was 12 weeks pregnant in 2023 when she went to the emergency room after coughing up blood for 24 hours. After several days of tests and a biopsy, she received the diagnosis over Mother’s Day weekend: neuroendocrine lung cancer. The immediate…
Read this storyHR-Positive Breast Cancer: Jenna’s Patient Story
Jenna was 34 and pregnant when she found a breast lump that she initially thought was a clogged milk duct. Ultrasound and an urgent biopsy confirmed breast cancer with spread to lymph nodes. A second opinion agreed that treatment needed to begin quickly…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Suzi’s Patient Story
Suzi found a painful lump in the lower part of her left breast during a self-check at the end of April 2024. She had long believed that painful lumps were unlikely to be cancer, but a mammogram, breast scan, and guided biopsy confirmed carcinoma. The…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Amy’s Patient Story
Amy was 48 when she noticed that her left nipple had become inverted. She had also been unusually tired, had sore breasts, and was experiencing severe back pain, but the nipple change was what prompted her to seek care. Her first mammogram was followed by…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Goodie16’s Survivor Story
Goodie16 found a lump in the left breast in April 2014. Mammography did not show the lump, but ultrasound and biopsy confirmed invasive ductal carcinoma. They underwent mastectomy, and the lymph nodes were clear. The cancer was staged as IA, the Oncotype DX…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Susan’s Survivor Story
Susan was 59 when a routine mammogram found breast cancer despite there being no lump or other warning sign. In the first days after diagnosis, she struggled to believe that cancer had entered her life so abruptly. Fear shaped how she thought about survival…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Valerie’s Patient Story
Valerie Brown had symptoms for several months before a CT scan found an abnormality in her lung. A needle biopsy confirmed lung cancer, and she underwent a lobectomy in March 2012. Recovery was painful, but she reached five years with no evidence of disease…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Jill’s Patient Story
Jill described a lung-cancer diagnosis as being dropped without warning into an unfamiliar country. Medical language, appointments, scans, and treatment decisions all arrived at once, making it difficult to navigate care alone. Her experience included…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Yara’s Patient Story
Yara was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 after years of fearing the disease following an earlier benign lump. The diagnosis pushed her to make decisions she had postponed and to live more boldly, but daily life remained shaped by fear of recurrence, scan…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Ericka’s Survivor Story
Ericka was 41 and had considered herself completely healthy when breast cancer interrupted her life. Treatment included chemotherapy and radiation, and she also faced the loss of one breast. When active treatment ended, the emotional impact became especially…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Susan’s Patient Story
Susan had continued annual breast examinations and mammograms because of dense breasts. A July mammogram was read as normal, but in October she felt a new lump in her left breast. A repeat 3-D mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy found invasive ductal carcinoma…
Read this storyStage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Anne’s Survivor Story
Anne was 11 weeks pregnant with her third child when she was diagnosed on June 11, 2022, with Stage III poorly differentiated metaplastic triple-negative breast cancer. She was building a career in pediatric surgery and expecting a son after two daughters…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Kattysmith’s Patient Story
Kattysmith was first diagnosed with borderline Stage I/II breast cancer in 2003, shortly before turning 51. She underwent lumpectomy with sentinel-node biopsy, which showed no spread, followed by radiation and tamoxifen. After years of follow-up, breast…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Naomi’s Patient Story
Naomi was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2024 while raising two children, ages six and eight. Chemotherapy caused rapid hair and weight loss, and she wore a wig because her children were frightened by how ill she looked. A mastectomy brought both…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Adriana’s Survivor Story
Adriana was 34 and living in Israel when she noticed a breast lump. As a doctor with a strong awareness of her family history, she recognized that the mammogram looked concerning. She flew to Brazil the next morning because she could obtain a biopsy more…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Ann’s Patient Story
Ann was diagnosed in February 2017 with two large ER-positive, HER2-negative invasive lobular cancers in her right breast. The tumors had not been felt and had not appeared on mammograms, and cancer was found in 17 lymph nodes. She underwent right mastectomy…
Read this storyStage 0 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Survivor Story
This patient decided to go to a breast clinic for screening and had mammography and ultrasound. The doctor told her she had cancer in both breasts, and the shock was so great that she could hardly remember the rest of the conversation. After referral to a…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Patient Story
This patient had regular breast screening every year, alternating mammography and ultrasound. One screening found a 1.5 cm breast tumor. She had not thought of herself as high risk: she exercised, felt healthy, and did not match the common risk factors she…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Iris’s Survivor Story
Iris Niebling was 63 at the time of her interview and had been diagnosed with anal carcinoma at 47. She had not noticed bowel-cancer symptoms herself; the diagnosis began during a gynecologic checkup, when her doctor felt a nodule near the rectal area…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Regina’s Patient Story
Regina Ritter was 51 at the time of her interview and a mother of 4. Her breast cancer began in May 2008, when she was 47 and felt something painful and very large in her right breast. Further examinations found a tumor, and CT also showed a liver metastasis…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Martine’s Survivor Story
Martine was 66 and recently retired when she told her lung cancer story. Her diagnosis dated back to summer 2018, after severe pain in her spine and back kept waking her at night and did not improve with anti-inflammatory medication. A blood test showed…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Leftfootforward’s Survivor Story
Leftfootforward was 37 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIB breast cancer in December 2010. Her treatment began with A/C chemotherapy and then Herceptin. She had a bilateral mastectomy, followed by 36 rounds of radiation. Herceptin continued for about 8…
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