Success Stories!

shelliks

A coworker was telling her neighbor about me being 35 with 3 small kids, dx'd when the baby was 14 months old, blah blah blah. Her neighbor told her that she was dx'd when her baby was 18 months old and the doctors told her to get her affairs in order. Her "baby" is now 35 years old and the neighbor is 60!

Lindaip

My grandmother had a mastectomy in 1952 and a 2nd in 1963. She died of pneumonia in the late 70's-cancer free. Because of this I decided to havea prophlyactic mastectomy on my right side (had to have a mastecomy on the left 7 months earlier becauxe my IDC was rught under my nipple). I am just finishing up reconstruction with implants. All I need is the tatoos.

raven81

While in the ladies changing/waiting room at rads the other day, a women who I would guess was in her 60's starting telling me about her current battle with lymphoma in her neck. She has been battling it off and on for about 10 yrs.

Then she looked at me and said--"you know I had BC too, 16 years ago. After 4 years it went to my lungs, that's when I came to Sloan Kettering for treatment and I've been free of that ever since. The lymphoma is unrelated to the BC".

She also told me that back then for BC they gave you chemo for a full year!

beachcottage

Thanks for sharing your story and I will pray for your success as well!! xoxo,Patti

Aquarius13

I just found this thread - it's great! In 2002, I had right breast cancer - lumpectomy; In 2003, I had right breast cancer - mastectomy.

The success stories I want to share are my sister's and my mother's.

My sister had a mastectomy at age 42 - large tumor, very agressive. She had chemo, but no radiation, Was put on Tamoxifen Trial for 5 years. She is now 60 and an 18 year survivor!

My mother had breast cancer at age 77; she had radiation, no chemo - but is on tamoxifen. She is now 82.

I pray I will do as well!

LPM

Thank you so much for all of these stories.

I was feeling a bit down today contemplating my choice to have bilateral mastectomies on July 27th ...but thanks to this thread...I feel much better, and stronger.

faria

I love this thread! Awesome!

NancyNY

Great thread. I ran into a neighbor I hadn't seen in a while. I told her I had bc. She said, oh yeah I had that when Dinene (her daughter) was 4. Dinene is 42 today. She said then they took out the lump. When you went in for the operation you gave them permission to take your breast if the lump was malignant and too big. Hers was malignant but small enough to allow her to keep the breast. Then she told me about her friend who had breast cancer 20 years ago. She was having chemo and stopped midtreatment because she absolutely couldn't take it anymore. Doctors told her she was signing her own death certificate. That woman is alive and well today. This is not meant to tell anyone not to do chemo, but that many people live a long long time after bc.

mari3579

Found out recently that one of my clients is a 12-year survivor!~ She was diagnosed in her 30's while trying to get pregnant. She eventually could not have a baby, but has two beautiful adopted daughters! Also, the sister of another client of mine, is an 8-year survivor. She had a stem cell transplant as part of the treatment and it was very rough...the family thought she was not going to make it...and here she is 8 years later!! Maribel

Sachi

back to the top with you. Barb

rosebudd

I am visiting a long time friend (who is a 5 year survivor of bc!) when she recieved the Time magazine dated 8/30 entitled "How to Live to be 100 and Not Regret It". We both giggled and said guess that's out for us, but then surprisingly the oldest living American who is 114 had bc when she was 90! How inspirational is that!!
Hugs, Rosebudd

beachcottage

Hey Rosebudd thanks for sharing !! xoxo,Patti

Sphynx

Rosebudd - That gave me shivers! Thanks for posting it.

HappyTrisha

I will definitely get the latest version of Time! Thanks!

imhere4u

Thanks so much for sharing I think all of us needed to hear that good news for a good pick me up.......Rita

Carmelle

keeping at top for new people to read...
michelle

jeanm

I was diagnosed September 26, 2002. I was DEEPLY in denial prior to that, and had not sought proper medical treatment. By the time I finally went to the doctor I was already Stage IV, mets throughout the skeletal system, two broken and several compressed verterbrae, and a collapsed left lung. I was not expected to live longer than a few weeks, perhaps a month or two. Even when I continued to survive, I was not expected to ever walk again. Two years later, I am alive, stable, my lung partially reinflated and walking again, while my very expensive (sigh!) motorized wheelchair gathers dust in the corner. And today is my birthday---the second one I was never supposed to live to see!

Carmelle

Jean,
You are awesome! Thanks for sharing that amazing story.
Michelle

sgolden

Jean: What a beautiful post!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to share this!!!!! Totally awesome you are!!!!!!!!!! Sheryll

judiek

Jean,

Thanks for sharing that wonderful uplifting story...we need more of them

Warmly

Judie

mjcarden

I hate looking at stats alone, but this is definitely encouraging. I received this e-mail as part of an ad for a conference, but loved the gist:

In 2001, for the fourth year in a row, the Centers for Disease Control reported a decline in the death rate from cancer, with the most notable decreases in the death rates for breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer and leukemia.

Sachi

Interesting.... I wanted to delet another one of my annoying "move this to the top" posts but all it does is say I deleted it - but its still there. Hmmmm...... maybe I did something wrong?



Barb

Sachi

Derek, You're the best!!! Thanks so much for moving this up so its more visible!

Barb

Sachi

Ok - back to the top with this great thread!

Barb

cbr2004

Last week I climbed on a stump to offer some parsley over the back fence to my neighbour. She is in her late 70s and was telling me about her husband's illness. I mentioned that I was currently being treated for breast cancer. She asked "did you have a mastectomy?" I answered yes. She said "I had one 29 years ago." She said she hadn't even known what a mastectomy was since there wasn't much publicity about cancer at that time. She plays bridge with a group of women of similar ages, and 4 of the 12 have had breast cancer.

EmilyLaker

My Godmother was diagnosed with breast cancer this past year at 48. She is currently doing great and is back in good spirits.
Thanks for starting this thread!

filmfestgirl

My ex-husband's grandmother had mastectomies in the 1960's, and she passed away in 2000 (heart troubles). I'm guessing she was near 90 years old, but she would NEVER divulge that number!

Sachi

I love these success stories - hope others enjoy them , too.

Barb

rosebudd

A girl friend's mom had lymph node positive cancer and is cancer free for 20 years. My brother in laws sister also had node positive cancer many (5-10 years ago) and is also doing well! I will ask them to post! Hugs, Rosebudd
PS My girlfriends mother doesn't even remember how many nodes she had positive!!!

denisa

i have been meaning to post this since august! over the summer i attended a week-long writer's workshop, where they would give us assignments and a time frame to write. we would read aloud to the class of about 21 people, and also break into smaller groups of 3 to share.

one morning the topic was "the last time i tasted.....". everybody wrote a different essay beginning with that sentence - it would take you back to some memory and it became a starting point to some really interesting stories.

i wrote about "the last time i tasted fear " and described sitting in the surgeon's office being told my diagnosis. i remember looking around the room and wondering if there were any other survivors in the group, because percentage-wise their should have been. i also hesitated about sharing my experience with others and revealing i had had cancer to the group - being the group bummer and possibly having people look at me differently for the rest of the week. luckily, we broke up into the smaller groups of three, and read our essays aloud to each other in this smaller setting. it was much easier to read mine to just a few.

after our class was over for the day, one of the two women in my group approached me - a beautiful, vibrant, woman in her early 40's - and told me she totally identified with my essay. as a young mother in her 30's, she had been diagnosed with multiple nodes positive and multiple tumors, had major complications during chemo, had tram-flap reconstruction and complications during that......but in the end was a disease-free survivor, seven years out of treatment, and going strong. she was gorgeous, unpretentious, and healthy.

we both found it ironic that out of the 21 people in the group, that we had ended up together, and that i had even written about that topic - otherwise we never would have met each other. it was the highlight of the week for me. if you had seen her yourself you would have been truly inspired.

denisa