Surgery: 1,095 Real Stories
1,095 stories match surgery. 777 of them mention chemotherapy.
Gastric Cancer Patient Story
Mr. Knight was diagnosed with stomach cancer on May 21, 2014, at age 62. One week later, on May 28, he underwent surgery to remove his stomach. He began chemotherapy and radiation on August 13 and completed 5 weeks of combined treatment. The course was…
Read this storyGastric Cancer: Sundar’s Survivor Story
Sundar Matpadi was diagnosed with stomach cancer in August 2012 at age 46. Sundar underwent total gastrectomy the following month, followed by 92 days of oral chemotherapy and 30 days of radiation. Treatment ended in May 2013. The treatment and recovery…
Read this storyGastric Adenocarcinoma: Alan’s Patient Story
Alan Gorman was diagnosed with signet cell adenocarcinoma of the stomach in March 2014 at age 50. Symptoms had begun about 7 months earlier with chest pain. Initial X-rays and blood tests appeared normal, and acid-reflux treatment was started. As the symptoms…
Read this storyGastric Cancer: Bob’s Survivor Story
Bob Ward was diagnosed with stomach cancer at an early stage and underwent total gastrectomy. A little more than 2 years after surgery, he reported being cancer-free. Recovery remained difficult. Bob struggled with eating and drinking, nausea, and maintaining…
Read this storyGastric Cancer: Dan’s Patient Story
Dan Kane pursued genetic testing after several relatives died from stomach cancer. The result confirmed a hereditary predisposition. Although at least 3 earlier endoscopies had not found cancer, evaluation after the genetic result led to a recommendation for…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Sandra’s Survivor Story
Sandra Monsonís was 43 and had not had a medical checkup for more than 5 years when a friend encouraged her to see a gynecologist. She had some breast discomfort but did not feel a clear lump. That visit found a lump that became a triple-negative breast…
Read this storyStage I Lung Cancer: Bonnie’s Survivor Story
Bonnie Ulrich loved family, fun, and staying active, including weightlifting. When she developed shooting pain down her arm, she first thought it was from physical strain. Because she had a smoking history, her doctor routinely checked chest X-rays. This…
Read this storyGastric Cancer: Rosie’s Patient Story
Rosie Rosanna Fiorino was 35 in 2004 when worsening digestive symptoms and inability to eat led to gastroscopy. The examination found a large mass, and she was hospitalized in July. She underwent total gastrectomy and later learned that the diagnosis was…
Read this storyOvarian Cancer: Shelley’s Patient Story
Shelley O’Keefe had noticed bruising, fatigue, lower back pain, and an episode of severe abdominal pain over several years. Because she was an athlete, golf instructor, and busy parent, many of those symptoms were easy to explain away. Pain during intercourse…
Read this storyStage III Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Martha’s Survivor Story
Martha had a dense area in her right breast that worried her throughout her 40s. Multiple mammograms over about 10 years were read as benign. At 49, another mammogram and an ultrasound were also considered benign, but Martha consulted a surgeon who agreed the…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Kathleen’s Survivor Story
Kathleen Shaffer was diagnosed with right breast cancer in early 2019. She had a lumpectomy and 2 lymph nodes removed in March, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. After finishing cancer treatment, she expected to move forward, but new pain and swelling…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Theresa’s Patient Story
Theresa Reynolds was 85 when she learned she had breast cancer and needed a mastectomy. Her first instinct was to avoid treatment. Her mother had also had breast cancer, and Theresa remembered what that experience looked like. She worried about putting…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Brian’s Patient Story
Brian Chrobak was 35 when he noticed a small lump behind his left nipple after a shower in January 2021. The lump changed size and began throbbing. After encouragement from his girlfriend, he returned for assessment, and testing and biopsy confirmed male…
Read this storyStage I Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Kim’s Survivor Story
Kim Brisky had worked at Cleveland Clinic Martin Health for 24 years, but being a nurse did not prepare her emotionally for her own Stage I breast cancer diagnosis. After a diagnostic mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy, she learned she had ductal carcinoma that…
Read this storyBRCA1 Breast Cancer: Muriel’s Survivor Story
Muriel Verger was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in 2015, when she was 33 and close to turning 34. She also reported a BRCA1 abnormality. Because the tumor was not large, her surgical treatment was a tumorectomy, also understood as…
Read this storyStage IV BRCA2 Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Julie’s Patient Story
Julie is an emergency medicine physician in Maryland, a wife, and a mother of 3. In October 2019, soon after a family trip to Italy, she noticed a small indentation on the outer part of her right breast while getting out of the shower. A mammogram did not…
Read this storyOvarian Cancer: Dana’s Patient Story
Dana Kivel was diagnosed in late 2011 with a rare ovarian cancer called a granulosa cell tumor. Over the next 10 years, the cancer recurred, with new tumors appearing in other parts of their body. Dana underwent four surgeries and received 5 months of…
Read this storyColorectal Cancer: Barbara’s Survivor Story
Barbara was 42, raising 3 children and going through a difficult divorce, when digestive symptoms kept being dismissed. She had trouble eating because food felt like it sat in her gut, and she repeatedly sought help. She had also documented that her father…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Màrius’s Patient Story
Màrius Soler is a man with breast cancer and the founder of INVI, an association created to make men with breast cancer visible. His story began with a small lump behind the nipple. Like many men, he did not immediately think of breast cancer and waited about…
Read this storyStage I HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Tammy’s Patient Story
Tammy was first diagnosed with Stage 0 DCIS, or ductal carcinoma in situ. After surgery, her pathology report found a second tumor: Stage I invasive ductal carcinoma. She had already undergone a double mastectomy and was waiting for one final test result when…
Read this storyInvasive Lobular Carcinoma: Maureen’s Patient Story
Maureen is an entomologist who spent her career on university campuses and now lives in Georgia. At the beginning of the COVID epidemic in 2020, she was diagnosed by biopsy with pleomorphic invasive lobular carcinoma. Hospitals were limiting access to…
Read this storyNon-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Susan’s Survivor Story
Susan Taylor was 71 when complications from a double knee replacement unexpectedly led to an early lung cancer diagnosis. After the knee surgery, she developed blood clots in both legs and lungs. A later chest X-ray found a mass in her left lung, which Susan…
Read this storyStage III HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Jeanine’s Patient Story
Jeanine had annual mammograms for 10 years because of a family history of breast cancer. In 2016, after years of watching microcalcifications, she noticed that a cyst-like area in her right breast would not go away and that the same breast had slight…
Read this storyStage I EGFR Lung Adenocarcinoma: Ashley’s Patient Story
Ashley Stringer was 34 when shortness of breath on the treadmill led to a lung cancer diagnosis. An X-ray showed a suspicious spot on her left lung, and biopsy confirmed Stage IA adenocarcinoma. Tumor testing showed the cancer was EGFR-positive. Because only…
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