My name is Anne. I was diagnosed with neuroendocrine lung cancinoma stage IV in January 2015.
I am an MRI technologist and was used to seeing patients diagnosed with cancer. When I developed a pain in my left side, I thought it was from moving wood with my boys. (I am 58 but think I'm 30.) After a couple of months I finally went to my family doctor who took chest and rib X-rays. I saw my own X-ray and was stunned. I couldn't have lung cancer. I quit smoking 30 years ago.
A 6-month regimen of chemo was started, but had no effect. During treatment, God sent me encouragement. A patch of bright green grass would come up every spring in front of our house. We have lived here in Virginia for 12 years and the grass never bloomed. Spring of 2015 that grass bloomed into a gorgeous patch of daffodils, the symbol of hope and life, and the symbol of the American Cancer Society's Daffodil Days of Hope.
Since the chemo was not working, I got a second opinion at CTCA in Newnan, Georgia. The center is built on hope and all the professionals are experts in their field. I knew immediately that's where I needed to be. I underwent radiation, surgery for rod placement in my leg, and liver embolization there. They have given me quality of life. I speak to other cancer patients routinely, and we laugh and cry together and give each other hope. Many times I tell them, we are NOT dying of cancer--we are living with cancer and it won't beat us. We are cancer fighters. In some ways cancer has been a positive in my life. I spend more time with my husband and children, and I've discovered the beauty and joy this life has to offer.
