Do You Know Anyone Who Has Cancer?

My mum was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in 2004. She had a mastectomy on one breast and got her lymph nodes taken out, finished her chemo and was 'cancer' free. In 2008 she got lymphodema in her arm, 2009 she found out for sure that the cancer had returned again. She died of bone cancer in 2010, she was 45 years old.


this sums up what I think about cancer

http://xkcd.com/931/

I was diagnosed with papillary-follicular Stage 2 thyroid cancer in April 2009, had my thyroid completely removed and underwent RAI treatment. I got the "good cancer" because it has the highest success rate. I was very fortunate that I had an excellent surgeon; I will see my oncologist every six months for the rest of my life. The downside of having no thyroid organ is that I have no metabollism, therefore making it nearly impossible to lose weight!

My father died of kidney cancer (1993) and my sister fought breast cancer (early stages, radiation only).

My mom had breast cancer and fought it for many years but finally gave up when my dad died 3 weeks before she did. She was 48. He was 49.

My mom battled a rare form of brain cancer before I was born. She went into remission, but it came back when I was around 2 or 3. She died when I was 6. By the time I ccould talk, she couldn't say anything. I remember going to visit her and reading to her. It's weird because I never really knew her, but I always feel like a huge chunk of me and my history is left unanswered.

God bless your families and God rest your loved ones souls. I have lost many near and dear to me, and I worry for myself and my family. I have a few cousins now fighting different cancers, I wish them well. Take care MFP's! Xoxox

This subject just hurts my heart to see the losses caused by cancer. My Dad was diagnosed with lymphoma in the 90s and went into remission after agressive chemo but ended up dying from liver failure in 2010. In October my Grams was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer that went undetected and died a month later. It was the hardest thing ever to lose her in such a short amount of time...it hurts to type the words out since I miss her so bad. I loathe cancer.

The man who was like a second father to me found out he had stage 4 cancer 3 years ago. It started out as back pain and headaches, they did tons of tests and he even tried some at home things before they spotted the cancer. At this point it had already spread to his bones and they gave him less than 6 months, even with treatment. He started treatment anyways, spent 10 months in the hospital, 3 months under quarantine, getting limited to no physical interaction with people for weeks on end, but he eventually pulled through after about a year. He was still weak and on steroids to help him gain back the 100lbs he lost (he weighed just over 100lbs when he pulled through). After 6 months of at home care, he developed a cold that quickly sent him back to the hospital. From there he spent the next 4 months in and out of the hospital for various things, getting better with each visit. Then he got pneumonia and was sent back to he hospital, had to be put into a medically induced coma, and was on life support. After 2 years of cancer and treatments, he passed away in April of 2010. He was 45 years old.

My Dad died 3 months ago from Bladder Cancer. He fought it for 5 years, and was determined it wasnt going to kill him. But it got him in the end once it spread to liver after having his bladder removed.

There is so much out there, I think it is rather scary!

In August 2008 my Mum started complaining of stomach pains. She kept pushing it aside and helped finalise my wedding plans for 8th November 2008. Two weeks later on Friday 21st November she went to hospital to have an Ultrasound done as her doctor thought it was gall stones and had booked the test in late October after she finally gave in to the nagging from my sister and I. The next day she got a call asking her to book an appointment with her doctor urgently. As this was a Saturday she waited until Monday when the doctors were open and went to see what the issue was. She was told that she had a tumor on her liver. She was sent for further tests and finally on December 17th 2008, she was diagnosed with primary bowel cancer, multiple secondary's. Come January she started getting ill and on the 24th she was admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties. She never came out of hospital. She became progressively worse and died 08:55 February 17th. The cancer had spread from her bowel to her colon, her liver, lining of her heart, bones and her blood. Doctors believe she had had bowel cancer for five years but due to having Coeliac and IBS, it went unnoticed. Any treatments would have killed her quicker as it would have put more stress on her weak, frail body. She was 44 two days before I turned 22 which was the day before my wedding, my sister turned 20 a month later.

Not a single day goes by when I don't think of her.

I am running my first 5k in May (Race For Life - Cancer research) for her memory. Hopefully,with enough money, they can find a cure for this awful murderer.

My Grandpa had colon cancer. He had surgery and lived for years following his original diagnosis, and passed away on February 2, 2010. (My wedding anniversary). He was 94.

I was diagnosed with kidney cancer in October of 2008. I had my left kidney removed along with the adrenal gland in November of 2008. The pathology report showed it to be a very aggressive type of cancer so the doctors placed me in a clinical trial where I was on chemo for 54 weeks (all of 2009). Towards the end of my chemo in late December of 2009, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and after my chemo was finished for the kidney cancer, I had my prostate removed to remove the cancer. I now have regular CT scans every 6 months. I do have a growth on the remaining kidney and it has remained stable the last two scans. They doctors aren't sure what it is so I'm not concerned either until my next scan in August. Until then, I just enjoy every day of my life. After all the medications I have been on, I'm finally able to get back to exercising and limiting my calories to take off the excess weight I have gained after the surgeries.

My friend has thyroid cancer and is getting surgery next week. Praying for her like crazy!

I lost my uncle to throat cancer on Christmas day, he hung around long enough to watch people open gifts in his hospital room then passed away.....

my grandmother has just been admitted to palliative care for her lung cancer that has grown to her stomach...it won't be much longer now......

I F*ING HATE CANCER. My mom has had it three times.
She got breast cancer the first time I think in 1993 and was given a 30% chance of living and how the hell she survived we still don't know. She was a stage 3B. Her first mastectomy at age 46. 16 years later she got breast cancer a second time but it didn't spread to the lymph nodes or in her blood like it did the first time and it was so small that they really couldn't see it and it was a totally different kind of cancer and a stage Zero almost so they told her she could have a lumpectomy but she said, "Nope, take it off". But that cancer would never come back. Once the surgery was done it was gone. Well, now 6 years later with no breasts at all she gets it for a third time. Metastatic breast cancer which went into both of her lungs. She is considered a stage 4 terminally ill patient right now and is like the 1% who this happens too. They say its almost unheard of for anyone to get cancer 20 years later.1% of cancer patients will have it come back. The cancer she has now is from the very first cancer that she got and has been laying dormant for all these years, 19 years actually. They usually give you like 5 years and then after 5 years you go to 10 and after that you're in the clear and they pretty much take you off of all pills and give you the high five. But they have no idea what is going with her on and want to study her at UC Davis and OHSU. She also works with cancer patients.
You would never in a million years know that my mom had cancer ever. She went to work bald running her business of 1500 employees day after day after, chemo session after chemo session. She was on chemo for almost a year and they wrecked and collapsed all of the veins in her arms and hands and started using her feet. After her 1 hour chemo session she'd get in the car and drive herself back to the office. She never once let anyone help take care of her. She was just too tough and didn't want to be looked at as "sickly". The second cancer she called it, "A piece of cake, this is nothing. Lets go on vacation since they gave me six weeks to rest" lol.
The cancer she has now, she doesn't even act like she has it and is out doing things living life telling me she is fine and that she's not going anywhere. She'll be 67 on Christmas day. My mom is a BADASSSS. The second time she had cancer she fought with them and told them 30 minutes after her surgery to, "let me out of here, this place is f**cking depressing" and forced them to let her go home. Next thing you know I'm wheeling her out to the car and she says, "Lets go to the mall". I was like "WTF? Thats the anesthesia talking" and she said, "Bull$hit that's me talking. I'm bored and been in that hospital since 5am this morning" I was so pissed cause she stood there fighting with me and I refused to take her and she said, "well then you better take me to Safeway or somewhere" haha.
I have been worrying about my mom now for exactly half of my life and scared to death every day for 20 years. Its been hard and it just feels like its never going to go away, and now, its not. She will be on Arimidex for the rest of her life. But I would rather deal with the stress of it then to have her pass away. Good new though. The spots on her lungs are very tiny, there were 3 on one lung and 4 on the other. She just got results back from the doctors last week or so and they said that they cant even see the 3 spots that use to be on the left side no matter how many Xrays and are hoping, but not suggesting that they are gone. I have a feeling my mom will outlive me and I really hope she does, she is my best friend ;(

Even if you don't read all of this it felt good just to get it off my chest. I have ulcers and gray hair from worrying and think this is partly why I have insomnia and don't eat.

My paternal grandfather had colon cancer. He passed away in 1998. My maternal grandfather had bone cancer. He passed away when I was 8.