A Two-Time Cancer Survivor’s Daunting Family History
Colon cancer has always haunted my family. My father, two of my eight siblings, and myself were all diagnosed with colon cancer before the age of 45. Though I triumphed in my struggle with the disease in 2001, other members of my family were not so fortunate.
Both my mother and father lost their lives to cancer. My mother’s cancer began in her gall bladder and metastasized. A tumor was found in my father’s small intestine, but it was inoperable. And in 2006, my oldest sister, Patricia, passed away from ovarian cancer. It was a devastating time for our family, but also an eye-opening experience.
Ovarian cancer, the most deadly form of gynecologic cancer, was new to our family history. It raised the question of what other threats could lay in our future and prompted us to take preventative actions.
In 2007, when my other sister Joan discovered a clinical study at Magee concerning ovarian cancer, we were quick to join. Unknowingly, it was a fateful decision that most likely saved my life.
At the beginning of 2009, while receiving the study’s routine blood tests and ultrasounds, doctors discovered the very early stages of uterine cancer. Faced with yet another battle with cancer, I immediately underwent a complete hysterectomy. Dr. Robert Edwards conducted the hysterectomy and continues to schedule follow-up exams with me every three months. The surgery proved to be a success, leaving me cancer-free without the rigor of additional treatments.
Thanks to the care I received at Magee, I am now a two-time cancer survivor. The nurses, doctors, and staff at Magee were truly wonderful through my time in the study, as well as my time under medical care. Their warmth and kindness still resonates in my mind. They made the entire process so much easier than I could have ever imagined.
I’d like to extend a special thanks to my oncologist Dr. Louis Pietragallo at UPMC Cancer Center in Bethel Park, my colon cancer surgeon at Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Kenneth Lee, and my hysterectomy surgeon at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, Dr. Edwards.
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