Cancer Veteran or Cancer Survivor?
Thursday, February 23, 2012
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- Mary Elizabeth Williams (Salon)
For individuals facing cancer, the battle is a personal one, and whether one lives or dies, the experience is always traumatic. Mary Elizabeth Williams, a staff writer for Salon, has been sharing her own cancer story on the website over the past several months. Last month, after undergoing experimental trials for her metastatic Stage 4 cancer, her doctor told her that her tumors had disappeared.
Mary Elizabeth is what the cancer community refers to as a survivor. But in her opinion, survivor does not quite define what she and many others feel like after treatment.
GUESTS:
Mary Elizabeth WilliamsPRODUCED BY:
Kristen Meinzer
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I'M AN 11 1/2 YEAR SURVIVOR OF BASE OF TONGUE CANCER. HOWEVER, LAST YEAR THE OTHER SHOE DROPPED, AS THEY SAY, AND I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH A TUMOR AT THE ENTRANCE OF MY TRACHEA, WHICH WAS CAUSED BY THE RADIATION, SO I'M TOLD, THAT I HAD FOR THE BOT TUMOR. I'VE HAD A FEEDING TUBE SINCE MY FIRST SURGERY, AND NOW I AM A TRACHEOSTOMEE, AND SO FAR UNABLE TO SPEAK SINCE MY LAST SURGERY IN 6/11. I LIVE AN ACTIVE, HAVING AS MUCH FUN AS POSSIBLE,NEW NORMAL LIFE AND DON'T THINK ABOUT BEING A CANCER SURVIVOR MOST OF THE TIME. I DID STRUGGLE WITH WHETHER OR NOT TO SEE MYSELF AS A SURVIVOR, BUT I FINALLY ACCEPTED THE REALITY, AND HAD TO ADMIT THAT I HAD BEEN THRU A WAR AND THAT I AM IN FACT A SURVIVOR. ALL IN ALL, I'M JUST HAPPY TO BE HERE! BY THE WAY, I'VE ALWAYS LIVED A VERY HEALTHY, ANTIOXIDENT LIFE (E.G., RUNNING, WEIGHT LIFTING, SURFING, HEALTHY DIET, NO SMOKING, ETC). CANCER IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY DISEASE..............
I am not sure if you realized after you left Detroit that I was diagnosed with psuedomyxoma perotonei a rare form of appendix cancer in Fall of 2009. I went through very extensive surgery and HIPEC which is a heated chemotherapy at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center. I just got my 2 year clear. As far as being a survivor, I find it such an unusual term to be attached to my name. I feel more like I took care of things researching and finding the best treatment out there and now I move on with my life just a little wiser about life and how we should live every day because we will not live forever. I was told after my surgery that I would be living feeling a new normal, which is what I am doing. I am not choosing to label myself, but just to make sure that my life matters. If you want to talk about it more, let me know. I would be happy to chat.