re: Cancer Sucks

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I am 48 and was diagnosed in April with stage 4 rectal cancer

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Dang Baw - good luck

Someone I love has been battling it for twelve long years. She is such a fierce warrior, but I don't think she can take much more.

My daughter was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 19 months old. Watching her fight cancer and treatment has been the the most challange thing in the world for me. There is nothing worse then watching your daughter suffer and have little to no power to help.
She turned 4 this year and is going through physical and speech therapy still. She is the world to me and my own little person miracle. We were told she had a 9% chance of winning with a very dangerous treatment plan. I still get emotional just typing this. It's helps me to share it though.

I've been so angry with cancer I have decided to go to college at the age of 30 to get involved in the fight for the cure. Ever since she was diagnosed I wanted to put a face to whatever tried to take her from me and I miss directed my anger a good bit. I have now decided the best way will be to learn about cancer and offer my service to fighting it.

damn, gravy....life has thrown a really crappy hand your way. keep your head up, man...

I was an emotional wreck when we originally found out it was cancer. Could not stop crying, I was honestly terrified. I could not make decision are hardly thing clearly. I was blinded by fear. The Doctor ended up having to rush her into a 3 hour brain surgery. They removed the tumor but she lost all motor skills.(through therapy she has regained most of what she lost) When we found out at was AT/RT-- Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor-- we knew her life was seriously on the line. At that point everything switched in my head. fight or die. We decided there will be no crying in a room she is in. We felt as if we presented a strong front to her she would present a strong front to her fight. We moved from mobile al to houston tx to new orleans la to birmingham al to find the best doctors for her rare case. My wife and I just decided that this phase of life was just to fight and not worry about anything else. little did we know, that you are never out of the woods. Scan again in September at MD Anderson. we go every 3 months and the never get easier.

I stand with everyone of you who are fighting or fighting for someone. Please never give up. Please stay as positive as possible. I watched my Daughter go from paralyzed on a ventilator with a 9% chance of beating cancer--this is all before 3 more brain surgeries, 3 rounds of chemo, 6 weeks of radiation, and 3 rounds of high dose chemo with stem cell transplants--defy all odds.

To everyone who has lost loved ones to cancer, I also stand with you. Ive lost three grandparents to it as well. We have spent too mush time in hospitals getting to know families with children, like my Olivia, succumb to this horrible nightmare. Its so painful, every time a child relapse it hits home a way i cant explain.

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Roger, did they at least give you a ride home in the leer jet?...

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Nah, but I did get in a Mariners game. Had to fly Alaska Air back home.

Hospital is on a bluff overlooking the ball parks. 5 minute cab ride. The staff wasn't impressed.

My wife has been fighting Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer for the last 18 months. Her second bout. Two tumors in her lung. On her fourth different chemo. We just keep buying time in hopes of a cure. As of now, her cancer is incurable. Cancer does suck and life is precious.

I lost my uncle to cancer in 2005 right before Hurricane Rita landed, he was 50 years old. Had some of it removed but advanced so rapidly there was little they could do to stop it. I cried like a baby during the burial.

I'm a 29 year survivor. Had it removed with surgery and radiation. Prayers to you all going through a battle with cancer.

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Lost my Dad yesterday

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man, I am so sorry to hear that...it sounds like your dad was a really great father who taught you an awful lot and I hope you can find some comfort in that. hang in there...it gets easier as time passes...

None.

I had a marble sized knot under my jaw in the submandibular area that nobody could see but that I could feel. I thought it was an infected tooth because I had a crown come off a week before. I just thought that my lymph nodes were doing their job. Never felt sick or had night sweats. They excised it for biopsy after they ruled out infection. Came back as lymphoma( diffuse large B cell).

I was offered a chance to take part in a clinical trial for a phase 3 study of the newest generation rituxin in my R/CHOP chemo plan. I had to delay treatment for 3 1/2 weeks to get all the required baseline data done. In those 3 1/2 weeks it spread all through my cervical , thoracic, and pulmonary regions. There were 6 lesions on one kidney and 4 on the other as well as on my pancreas. It spread very aggressively after they excised the mass. The treatment was effective and I went into remission.

It came back 5 months later and a lot worse. They gave me a 35% survival prognosis. I was inpatient at Emory for 82 days during the five months. All of the chemo and radiation during that time was prep for a stem cell transplant. It kind of sucked.

Anyway, it has been almost 4 years since and I am alive and well.