Last week marked the one-year anniversary of me waking up with a broken rib for no apparent reason. Of course, in the three weeks that followed, the pain in my left side led to the discovery that I actually had stage-four lymphoma.
A year later, I've had a biopsy, a medi-port installed in my chest, four CT scans, a PET scan, six heavy chemo treatments and untold numbers of needles stuck into my body for various reasons. I've gone from a fairly bleak outlook to cancer free. I've met incredible people on this odyssey, from amazing doctors to remarkable nurses dedicated to saving lives and fierce survivors who refuse to lose to this insidious disease.
A year after that broken rib, I'm stronger, more resolved than ever and determined to live life in a different way. I hate to think about where I would be if not for the broken rib, as I had shown no other signs of the massive levels of cancer that had invaded my body. And in a weird way, that cancer was a blessing of sorts because I have been given the opportunity to refocus my priorities and take my life in a better direction.
The past year has been an incredible combination of surreal and amazing.
Similar stories:
Sabres coach Ruff suffers injury at practice
Sabres coach Ruff suffers injury at practice
Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff had to be helped off the ice during Monday's practice after colliding with Jordan Leopold, according to the team's Twitter page.
Faces of Cancer series
Faces of Cancer series
Bless you Andy Perdue and the Herald staff for showing that pink is not the only color of the rainbow during October.
As the Oct. 13 article, "Breast cancer charity motives doubted," suggested, most nonbreast cancer survivors are sick of pink! Breast cancer may kill some 40,000 women each year, but that's the same amount as ovarian, melanoma and other rarer cancers combined. Why shouldn't we have the same awareness?
While the survival rate for breast cancer has risen steeply to 85 percent in the last two decades, other rarer cancers' survival numbers have remained stagnant near 20 or lower. We are where breast cancer was 30 years ago, before anyone knew what a mammogram was. And people are dying because of it.
Faces of Cancer: Salon owner helps others battle cancer
Faces of Cancer: Salon owner helps others battle cancer
Before becoming friends with someone who had cancer, Franki Anderson didn't even realize the Tri-Cities had a cancer center. Today, she is one of its biggest supporters.
Anderson, owner of Franki & Co. hair salon in Kennewick, began cutting Terry Bailey's hair in 1999.
The longtime Tri-City radio executive was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which had metastasized. He also was on the board of the Tri-Cities Cancer Center and encouraged her to help raise money for the cause. So she launched Cutting for Cancer, a "cut-a-thon" event at her salon. It raised $5,000.
PNNL improves tests to detect breast cancer
PNNL improves tests to detect breast cancer
RICHLAND -- Research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory may lead to more accurate early detection of breast cancer.
Scientists at the Department of Energy laboratory in Richland have refined blood tests that could indicate whether abnormalities found in mammograms are likely to be cancerous or benign.
Although early detection of breast cancer saves lives, screening for breast cancer also produces false alarms that are stressful for patients and may require surgery or other invasive or expensive procedures to determine there is no cancer.
Richland High grad implicated in slaying loses job with police
Richland High grad implicated in slaying loses job with police
PORTLAND -- An Oregon police sergeant with ties to the Tri-Cities who has been implicated by investigators in the killing of his spouse is now out of a job.
Gladstone Police Chief Jim Pryde said Wednesday that allegations against Lynn Benton had been sustained, and Benton "is no longer an employee" of the department.
Pryde didn't elaborate on the allegations. He called them serious and a personnel matter not related to a murder investigation under way in Clackamas County.
Print
Email Story
