Designing your own treatment room??   |   Monday, November 26, 2012

Heather L. is an architect.... who would have dreamed that when she designed the Cancer Center and treatment rooms at the University of Michigan Hospital, that she would eventually be a patient in one of those very rooms?


Diagonosed with triple negative breast cancer at age 47, Heather found the lump herself, but didn't think, or didn't want to think it serious. She had a European vacation planned and intended to investigate the lump as soon as she returned....


"I know so many women successfully going through treatment.... I'll just get the lumpectomy and move on with life. No big deal." But, she grows silent when she talks about the survival rate of women with her type of breast cancer... things aren't quite like she'd initially thought.

Now planning more surgery, she's only able to work about 1/4 time, which she seems to struggle with. Involved in a mostly women architectural firm in Ann Arbor, she gets a lot of support from co-workers and good friends. They even were involved in a 'head shaving' celebration, including wine and food!

"This has forced me to slow down... I'm always going at 1000 miles an hour."


"I've had to ask for help.... that's not me."

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Feeling a little guilty....   |   Tuesday, November 20, 2012

This thought was gut-wrenching for me... the thought of someone dying, so I could live. But, this very thought was part of Sandi's existence for several years as she waited for lungs to breathe and ultimately live.

Suffering long term illness after a brain tumor in college, Sandi's health continued to deteriorate over the years until at age 57 was told she would require a lung transplant to survive any longer. When presented with this desperate option, she says, "There are worse things than the prospect of facing death."Her life had become so limited, with the simple effort of breathing, that she was unable to even hold her newborn grandson until he was 18 months old.... the effort was simply too much.

After being hospitalized for quite some time and given the prospect of maybe a couple more days of life in her lungs, the thought finally crossed her mind and brought guilt with it...."is it wrong to hope for lungs, knowing that someone will have to die to get them?"

2 short days later....thanks to the generosity of a family of a 19 year old boy named Joshua, Sandi received the gift of life through new lungs.

"Faith gets you through it- faith in God, your family and doing the right thing... Giving up was never an option." She still is reminded of the ordeal she went through and the gift she was given...she wants to make the most of the gift she now enjoys. She's taken up a previous love of painting and has created some lovely images of joy!


Sandi was literally given the 'gift of life' because another human being's life ended. Consider the gift you could give if faced with the same tragedy. Please consider becoming an organ donor and giving the ultimate gift.

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"I want my mother...."   |   Tuesday, November 13, 2012

We all know how comforting mothers are when we are sick, injured or have a broken heart... Mom's just seem to make it all better.


The first thing that Pat thought about when she got her cancer diagnosis, was her mother and wishing she could be there to "make it go away." Even at age 69, Pat still needs her Mom, or someone to help her cope with the cancer and the diagnosis that will probably end her life, sooner than later. Diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in March of 2012, she now is fighting a battle to beat the cancer. A smoker for most of her life, she quit 6 years ago, but not soon enough.

Noticing an increasing shortness of breath, she went to the Dr. and was told the ugly news. "The first thing I thought about wasn't cancer, it was my mother. I wanted my mother.... everyone wants their mother."

She's a very 'matter of fact' type person, saying what she feels and meaning what she says. "I take life as it comes and learn to deal with it. I've not had an easy life and have lived on the streets since I was kicked out at 13."

Estranged from most of her children, her grandchildren have rallied around her, supporting her, transporting her and helping her with daily activities. "I'm the same ornery person I always was....just now with more emotion." 


She's a fighter. She's stubborn and she's accepting.... life has certainly dealt her some heavy blows, with childhood, with her children and now with cancer. She'll be here a while. SHE is the source of strength for this small family.

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Hanging on for a baby....   |   Friday, November 9, 2012

When some strange symptoms stymied doctors, Janice was persistent in finding out what was going on.
At age 57, Janice has been plagued by an unusual list of symptoms and was originally diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer. Not feeling well for months, thinking it was all related to a previous 12 back surgeries, she just didn't think it  was serious when she didn't feel good. Then finding a lump under her arm, she and the doctors assumed it was the breast cancer. But, not till doing some more extensive testing did it reveal that she actually had lung cancer that had spread outside the lungs and it was a lung tumor under her arm.


Given 3 to 4 years at the most to live, she said, "I was so pissed. I was going to prove that doctor wrong." Married for 43 years to her husband Ken, she is expecting a new grandbaby and is determined "to hang on till that baby gets here!"



"I've never been mad at God... He didn't do this to me. What will be, will be."

Taking life, "one day at a time", she focus' on family and friends and spending time together. As we hear from most of the people we see at Oldham, she says, "I'm much stronger than I thought.... I've learned to let go of a lot and accept help."



Her greatest wish, besides meeting this new grandbaby is to take a hot air balloon ride! Can anyone help with that??

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Relying on God's promises....   |   Thursday, November 8, 2012

Dorcas G., a gorgeous 49 year old woman, walks through the 'valley of the shadow of death', saying she relies on God's promises and "it's only a shadow."


Diagnosed with Breast Cancer this past March, she was shocked. No family history, originally thought to be benign.... was eventually found to be a rare, aggressive form of cancer, requiring surgical removal of all the cancer and potential cancer areas. But, she felt God was in control and felt complete peace.

"I've always been a runner, having completed 2 marathons, so I was healthy going into this... and I wanted to do it with dignity. I wasn't going to hide myself and I use comedy and humor. Sometimes people don't know how to deal with me!"


Mother to 4 children, she and her husband Manny want to set an example for them of unending devotion, faith and courage. She openly shares her strong faith in God, her involvement in her church and the support from her church family. "God gives me strength, far beyond what I think I might have."

"My children are more comfortable now with the cancer and showing them that I'm confident that I can go the distance with ANYTHING, is important to us. I have more compassion and I sure don't sweat the small stuff!"


She wants other women to know that " cancer will try to strip you of your dignity, but if you keep it in the light, it can't hurt you!"


Obviously a very strong, confident and faith-filled woman, Dorcas makes cancer look 'small' and insignificant in the grand scheme of things in her life. With the strength she gets from her faith in God and her family, I believe that she will conquer not only cancer, but anything else that has the audacity to step in her way! On a recent family trip to Boyne Mountain, during her chemo and treatment, she actually climbed Boyne Mountain to signify the 'half-way' point in her treatment... "God gives me strength to do anything."

Recently spotted on a north Lansing billboard promotion, she says she got quite a bit of attention from family, friends and her students!

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