Aquaintance celebrates 25 years since advanced cancer diagnosis!

Anonymous

Aquaintance celebrates 25 years since advanced cancer diagnosis!

Dancemom

Hi everyone. I just have to shout it out because it gives me such hope. She is such a gracious, generous and caring person.

moth

what type? where were the mets?

I'm the oddball on this always. I don't find people's stories hopeful. Even if we had the same exact cancer, our genetic codes are different which will lead to different responses to treatments & the prognosis & outcomes. I dunno. I don't want to be a debbie downer but it's like saying someone won the lottery. Doesn't change my chance of winning a lottery - which is extremely close to zero anyway - at all....

Dancemom

all true, but at least there is a lottery.

Anonymous

thank you for sharing this! I appreciate it.

amontro

dancemom -

Thanks for posting. It gives us something to shoot for.

I've know long-time mbc survivors who are many years out, however, they have had some of the offending areas of cancers removed surgically (I guess like a biopsy).

Let us know how your person is doing.

Thanks and take care,

Anna

Anonymous

Dancemom , this gives me hope! We all would like to be outliers for sure .

edge_of_no_return

i say yahoo, yipee and hurrah!!! break out some good bubbles for sure. mandatory!

exbrnxgrl

That is wonderful to hear! Moth, I understand what you’re saying. The “hope” seems more like random luck, just like a lottery win. I am quite embarrassed when people say I am an inspiration or I give them hope. The reason? I have done nothing out of the ordinary to have lived so long. I have no real advice to offer so it really does seem like luck. While that is great for me, it feels like a fluke.

amontro

Caryn -

Don't put yourself down. You have been through a lot and even if you give a glimmer of hope to one person regarding longevity and stage 4, you have made a difference.

- Anna

exbrnxgrl

Thank you, Anna. You are very kind. I think it's no secret that I feel like a complete oddball in the world of mbc. I have long felt out of step with almost everyone here as I have done nothing special and have had far less tx than most with mbc. I have never had IV chemo despite having a port and I have only been on AI's. Diets, regimens, protocols, supplements? Nope, haven't done any. About the only thing I have done is not worry, panic or spend time worrying about a future I can't control. It actually makes me feel like a bit of a fraud and the pain of the cruel pm's I received several years ago (yes, pm's telling me they would laugh when I had progression) still sting and remind me that there are still folks on bco who feel that way. The reality is that I have nothing substantial to offer, my tx is minimal and very old school. I never panic nor cry for days. I simply have been lucky. I wish I had more to offer but I've been a bit of an oddball all my life. At least my odd mbc is consistent with that!

Caryn not a Karen

Dancemom

I really didn't expect such a robust response. When she told me, I felt the same way I do when ever I read someone announces NED; excited for her, and a little hopeful for me. A little over a year ago, I got this crazy diagnosis and thought I would be dead by now. I didn't understand the disease. Breast cancer when I was in elementary school meant "your mom is about to die". 2 years before my diagnosis, my child's close friend's mom died of it. So seeing all the "outliers " is definitely uplifting, but so is reading about everybody who is in treatment, and maybe struggling, but moving on and having a life with family and friends and work. Cancer is a huge, unwelcome part of life, but it is PART of our lives along with lots of regular stuff, good and bad. I appreciate all I am learning from you all.

Elderberry

exbrnxgrl: I see that a decent run is possible. Why not me? There are more of you outliers than just you. I am sure they have no explanation either. And then there are those with MBC who stopped treatment after 10 years and are continuing on. Are they "CURED"?

Living in Hope is a happy place to be. Living in Denial works for awhile but the suitcases are already packed by the front door waiting for you to check out.

I am still shocked that you were considered not MBC enough or people saying they would laugh when you had progression. Why are people angry that you are okay? Why would they wish to have misery inflicted on you just because they aren't doing as well? All of us are angry about MBC but why beat up on you?

exbrnxgrl

elderberry,

I get what you're saying but I guess “why not me?" seems like a pipe dream. I wish I had something concrete to account for my survival that could truly help others.

Yes, those ugly things did happen, sorry to say. One of the members involved stopped posting and another passed away. One charmer even made a public post telling me to take my single bone met and shove it up my a** (she used the actual word). It took the mods about 10 hours to delete that post. I believe the member who made that post is active occasionally. However, I want to emphasize that all of this happened within a short period of time several years ago and never occurred again. My theory is that as more and more members started surviving longer, which wasn't the case when I first joined, some members were forced to acknowledge that that stage IV is not the same disease for everyone.

When I started the Life does not end with a stage IV diagnosis threadin 2014, a few people were very upset with me. I understand to some extent but just because folks like myself are in the minority doesn’t mean we don’t deserve a voice.