Survivor Stories
Patients who are undergoing cancer treatment, and colon cancer survivors talk about diagnosis, surgery, treatment, side effects and the many ways that colon cancer has changed their lives.
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Amy Weidner-LaSala
Jan 19, 2010
There has been a history of cancer in my family. My grandfather had an intestinal cancer- we assume it was colon cancer. He died young, when my father was 18. My father was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2001. His tumor was removed and he is currently cancer free! Read More »
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Barb Rosen
Jun 05, 2008
When I hear the phrase "Into each life some rain must fall," I think of the joy that comes with rain, not the rain that wrecks a moment or day. So, when I say, "Into each life, some Barb Rosen must fall," I refer to a privileged experience. For one afternoon, my soul opened up to the constant pouring of wisdom from this woman, a 20 year survivor of cancer. Read More »
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Becky Kritz
Jun 05, 2008
In the spring of 2008 things were looking pretty good. I was a 46 year old, divorced, single mom of a then 20 year old, working full time and part time and was just enjoying life. I was busy, involved in many activities, my bills were paid and I had no worries. Well, almost none. I had had several bouts with skin cancer, but having been a sun worshipper most of my life, I couldn t complain about the effects. Both my parents had had bouts with skin cancer too, but that was it, no other cancer in the family. Read More »
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Craig Phinney
Feb 16, 2010
After two different colonoscopy s (Oct 08 & Jan 09), and the results sent to consultants with Mayo Clinic. My colon doctor called on a Friday evening (February 06, 2009) at 5:45pm on the phone and said, Craig, you have onset of cancer and the best way to proceed is remove the whole colon and you won t be chasing bad guys any more. Read More »
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Dave Shogren
Jun 05, 2008
Last summer, I was watching my son s baseball game and found myself up against a fence with my husband and a couple of other fathers. One dad started talking about a young father we all knew named Dave Shogren. Dave had been recently diagnosed with stage III rectal cancer in June of 2009. There I stood, listening to these dads saying that Dave was too fit and he was far too young at age 41 to get this disease. Read More »
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Dawn Armstrong
Feb 25, 2010
My name is Dawn Armstrong and I am 44 years old from Delanco New Jersey. I'm a Precertification Nurse for Premier Prizm and thought I new it all. I thought bleeding was from hemorrhoids, boy was I wrong. In May 2005, I had three episodes of severe abdominal pain and vomiting. This was after I had taken a laxative from which I thought I was constipated. I thought it was irritable bowel. Then I searched Web M.D., which indicated it could be an obstruction. A friend of mine at work strongly encouraged me to have a colonoscopy. Why? I was only 40. Read More »
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Erica Paul
Jun 05, 2008
At 26 the farthest thing from my mind was colon cancer. Now, at age 28, it is all I can think about. In June of 2007, I was diagnosed with Metastatic Colon Cancer. Stage IV it had already spread to my liver and lungs. In the blink of an eye, my life completely changed, and my future was uncertain. I was a young professional, in the prime of my life, and now I was a young woman fighting to stay alive. Read More »
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Ernie Behrle
Jun 05, 2008
My name is Ernie Behrle and I am 54 years old, from Raleigh North Carolina. My story, while a very scary period of my life, so far has a good ending. As a background, I have been basically healthy my entire life and rarely if ever even suffer from head colds and I had absolutely no symptoms of carrying cancer at all. In September of 2008, I went to my family doctor for a yearly physical and was finally convinced I needed to have a routine colonoscopy because of my age. Imagine how I felt when I awoke from the procedure to hear the doctor telling my wife he thought I might have to have surgery. Read More »
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Eve Grossman Bukowski
Jun 05, 2008
I m 41 years old and live in Piedmont California. I am married with two amazing children: 5 year old twins Eliana & Ariel. I am the head of governmental affairs for the Port of Oakland and Oakland International Airport. I also am a political junkie, an adoring mother, a kitchen phobic wife and an ardent supporter of getting information about colon cancer out to everyone who will listen to me. Read More »
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Gary Lachman
Jun 05, 2008
Many people feared the end of the world as we know it would occur at the Millennium. Massive power outages, computer network crashes, natural disasters, geopolitical crises and other mortal blows to humankind were all predicted; yet none came to pass. Except for me. Read More »
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Jo Ann Sebastiano
Jun 05, 2008
Properly designed protocols, streamlined case report forms, sound biomedical ethical principles, as well as validated randomization techniques are all typical concepts for researchers conducting clinical trials. These routine practices and tools can be administered without any personal connections to the actual recipient's psyche. But what does go on in the mind and body of the randomized patient behind the trial? Read More »
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Joan Kunicki
Feb 25, 2010
My name is Joan Kunicki. I live in Washington Township, New Jersey. I am 35 years old. I'm married and have two children. Alyana 7, and Alex, 4. I was diagnosed with Stage IV Colon Cancer when I was 33. I still have a very hard time admitting to that fact. I have pretty much tried to block the "bad memories" out of my mind, but when I went on this web site and saw how many more Forget Me Not Stories there were than Stories of Hope, I felt compelled to share my story. Read More »
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Kim Ruder
Jan 10, 2010
I was born in Hays, Kansas and moved to Austin, Texas when I was 20 years old. I have lived in Austin for 28 years. I manage a doctors office and love what I do. I have two beautiful daughters and a wonderful supportive husband. My hobbies are riding my horse and reading. Read More »
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Marilia Sardinha
Feb 25, 2010
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to bring to you the experience of my life. Despite all the difficulties and challenges I have faced, this is a gift within a tragedy. I welcome the chance to influence one person and maybe other lives everywhere someone's mother, someone's sister or someone s child to create an instant wherein someone realizes that, despite the fact that he or she is not over 50, a colonoscopy is needed and it could save a life. Read More »
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Meg Davis
Jun 05, 2008
I was diagnosed when a tumor in my ascending colon, near my appendix, ruptured one night. I thought it was my appendix and my friend Jenn drove me to the hospital. She left around midnight thinking I would be having a laparoscopic appendectomy. That's what I thought too. Imagine how I felt when I woke up at 4AM with a huge bandage covering my entire belly. The surgeon said there was a "mass" and he had performed a hemi colectomy. Read More »
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Mike Dellosso
Feb 25, 2010
It was March of 2008 and I was busy preparing for the release of my first novel in June. As is the case with any writer who has spent months, even years, finishing a novel, "shopping it" to agents and editors, dealing with rejections and self doubt and a steadily declining will power, these were exciting days, a regular dream turned reality. Read More »
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Natalie Savoie
Jun 05, 2008
In December of 2007, I became very exhausted all of the time. I would get up in the morning and still be tired after a full nights sleep. Even though I have never been the one to catch bugs or the flu, I knew something was very wrong. In early March of 2008, while walking around campus between classes, I told one of my best friends that I thought I had cancer. A week later when I was walking to work I experienced severe rectal bleeding. I immediately called my mother and told her she needed to rush me to the ER. Read More »
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Natalie White
Jun 05, 2008
My name is Natalie White and I am 38 yrs old. I grew up in Mt. Pleasant, Texas where I graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School. I went to Southwest Texas State University where I received a B.A. in English with a minor in Political Science. I attended and graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. I moved to Houston, Texas after law school where I still live today. Read More »
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Patty Smith
Feb 25, 2010
At age 50 I was diagnosed at stage 3B colon cancer in May 2008. This, after years of colon issues (that my MD dismissed for 10 years straight!) I wish I had known then what I know now and I do wish I had understood that a colonoscopy is the ONLY way to rule out colon cancer. Oh how different life would be if we all had those chances to go back and take different paths. Read More »
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Ricki Wilson
Feb 25, 2010
I was diagnosed with Stage III rectal cancer, signet ring cell type, in September 2007 at age 41. I underwent six weeks of chemo and radiation that fall and had surgery in January 2008. My tumor was very low in the rectum so everything was removed and I now have "Fred" my permanent colostomy. Read More »
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Robin Hewitt
Jun 05, 2008
I went in for my routine colonoscopy at age 50, it was fine. I was told that I did not need to be seen again for another five to ten year years. 18 months later, I was having a section of my colon removed because of a cancerous tumor! I was diagnosed with Stage IIA colon cancer. The medical field needs to rethink the time frame of being screened for colon cancer. At the first sign of any colon cancer symptoms, do not wait. Call your doctor and request to be screened. Read More »
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Sally Poulshock
Feb 25, 2010
This is my story, and luckily for me, it is a long story. It begins in 1981 when I was 31 years old. With my husband Joe and my two children, Michael (5) and Helene (3), I had just moved back to Cherry Hill, New Jersey and was settling in with a job, day care, and resuming friendships in the area. I looked well, but I didn't feel well and things seemed to be getting worse. I had persistent pain in my lower back. I was tired. My bowels varied from constipation to diarrhea and back again. I couldn t sleep, and so my quest for help began. It took about six months before I had my diagnosis. Read More »
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Shanecia Terry
Feb 25, 2010
My name is Shanecia Terry and I'm a Colon Cancer Survivor of 11 months. I'm also a single mother of an 11 year old name Jaylyn Richardson, and currently an active soldier in the United States Army National Guard. My civilian job is a data entry clerk at a facility name Angiodynamics which is a medical plant that manufactures different medical supplies. Read More »
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Shawn Weeks
Jun 05, 2008
It all started around Christmas 2006. Shawn started to show signs of being ill. Late one night I drove him to the hospital, the attending physician could not properly diagnose him except to say it was possibly gastritis. After prescribing some antibiotics he sent us home. Read More »
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Shaye Dunn
Jun 05, 2008
The nagging lower backache I d been dealing with for several weeks was really getting my attention on St. Patrick s Day, 2004. Before getting in the shower that morning, I sat down on the toilet and knew I had a problem when blood began pouring out of my rectum. Read More »
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Stacy Ostenson
Jun 05, 2008
I turned 40 last October and thought that would be the worst thing to happen last year, since I was not looking forward to getting old! Well in the beginning of September, I had taken my daughter to Chicago for the day with friends and felt a little weird but thought it was from being out in the sun all day and on the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. The next day when we were back in Michigan I took my daughter to the beach for the day and while we were there I had used the restroom and saw blood in my stool, I just thought maybe it was from drinking red pop the day earlier or from hemroids or an ulcer, I was also feeling light headed. Read More »
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Susan Falco
Feb 25, 2010
Diagnosed at age 39 with 2 small children, Susan promised herself in recovery that no matter the outcome, she would fight for other colorectal cancer patients. Her personal mission is to raise awareness of young onset colorectal cancer. She knows it can happen to anyone at ages much younger than 50. Misdiagnosed cases have often occurred, in her opinion, because most people and doctors rely heavily on the statistics. Susan was no exception to the rule. Read More »
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Todd McGovern
Jun 05, 2008
Todd (34) and I (33) live in Allenhurst, New Jersey. We were married in May of 2004 and at that time were living in Boston, Massachusetts. Two weeks after our honeymoon, Todd was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. He has been battling it ever since. We decided to move back to my hometown shortly after his diagnosis so we could have the close support from our family and friends. Despite this long battle, we have tried to remain as active as possible to maintain a "normal" life. Read More »
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Trish Lannon
Jun 05, 2008
My journey with cancer began in March 2007 when I ended up in the emergency room surrounded by nurses and doctors who were telling me they were surprised I had not had a heart attack because I was missing two thirds of my blood volume. At the time I had convinced myself that there was something wrong with my appendix, but it quickly became apparent that there was something much more serious going on. Read More »
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