Every cancer story is unique, but each one carries the same thread of courage and hope. For every cancer patient, the journey is filled with challenges, small victories, and moments that redefine strength. At Rutledge Cancer Foundation, we’re honored to share stories of cancer survivors who continue to inspire us with their resilience and the way they embrace life after cancer.
From Intern to Patient: A Full-Circle Journey
During my freshman year at TCU, I had the incredible opportunity to intern at Rutledge Cancer Foundation (RCF). As a young student, I was eager to contribute to the foundation’s mission of supporting adolescents and young adults with cancer, while growing my marketing skills. Little did I know that almost a decade later, I would find myself on the other side of that mission, in need of the very support I once helped provide.
The Day Everything Changed
I found my lump during a routine self-check. We thought it was surely just a cyst or hormonal change. My husband found my second lump, in my lymph node in my armpit. With my mom having breast cancer, I knew my chances were higher, but at 27 with no BRCA gene mutations? (These increase the chances of someone having cancer). I thought, no way, not me. The news came the day after my husband’s birthday and a week before mine. Aggressive cancer. Triple positive. So many tests, tears, and fears followed.
Despite the shock of the diagnosis, I never once asked, ‘Why me?’ because I know that cancer doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t choose its victims based on fairness or timing. It doesn’t care that I was 27, about to start trying for a baby, or that I had dreams and plans for my career and future.
Understanding the AYA Experience
During my internship with RCF, our work centered on the unique challenges adolescents and young adults (AYAs) face when navigating a cancer diagnosis. But, until you’ve experienced it yourself, you can’t truly understand the magnitude of what that means. I was a walking example of everything that I had learned at RCF about the challenges of being what was classified as an AYA (someone between the ages of 13 and 39) with cancer.
I wasn’t a child anymore, with parents who could take me in their arms and make everything better. But I didn’t feel like an adult either – at least one who was able to face everything the doctors were telling me on my own. Thank goodness for my husband who was my rock throughout it all.
Gratitude for Progress, Awareness for Gaps
25 years ago, my diagnosis would have been a death sentence. I’m so grateful to the scientists, researchers, doctors, and nurses who have dedicated their lives to inventing new medicines and helping people like me heal. But the research for AYAs is still far behind what it is for adults. Many treatments for cancer in AYAs haven’t changed in more than 40 years. And the side effects are toxic and life-altering.
The Numbers Behind the Journey
While my cancer journey was much more than a bunch of tests, doctors’ appointments and hospital stays, here’s the short version:
- 2 types of cancer (breast and thyroid)
- 144 appointments
- 26 rounds of radiation
- 20 chemo infusions
- 11+ expert doctors
- 6 surgeries
- 2 collapsed lungs
- 2 weeks in the hospital
- 1 genetic mutation (Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome)
- More CT scans, echocardiagrams, MRIs, mammograms, x-rays, ultrasounds, and bone scans than I can even count
- Numerous ER visits
- Never-ending blood work
- So many amazing nurses
- Countless supportive family and friends
Reading back over it now, it feels impossible that I survived all of that, but I did.
And even once I was declared cancer-free, it’s not like I got to just pick up where life left off and continue with the life plans I’d been so looking forward to.
Learning a New Normal
I learned that there’s no “getting back to normal.” During treatment, I was faced with the reality of a “new normal” filled with doctors’ appointments, hospital stays and the uncertainty of what my future would look like. And now that I was cancer-free, I was in that same place, trying to figure out another “new normal” but realizing the life I thought I’d return to didn’t exist anymore. So, I was left to figure out how to build something new from the ground up.
The Challenges Beyond Cancer
I watched as friends’ careers were taking off where I was just grateful to get through a workday without a nap. I attended friends’ baby showers while meeting with different surrogates, hoping for my own chance at motherhood. But after multiple failed transfers, I learned that the medication preventing my cancer from returning was also preventing me from getting pregnant.
The long-term side effects of my treatment were exhausting and, in several ways, prevented me from living the life I had dreamed about before that fateful day that changed my life forever. I had to rediscover myself in ways I never expected, gain perspective on what’s truly important and accept just how fragile life can be.
Finding Joy in the Small Moments
I learned to find comfort in the small things and not to take any of life’s moments for granted, no matter how big or how small they may seem. I learned that life is too short to not do the things you’ve always wanted to do. We created new family traditions; my husband and I moved cross-country, and I adopted a dog. And while we couldn’t have our own children, I celebrated with my friends as they became parents and fell in love with being an aunt when my sister had a baby.
Healing Is a Marathon
Healing is a marathon, not a sprint. And no one gives you a training plan for this part. It’s hard to explain or imagine until you’re in it, staring at a version of yourself you don’t recognize.
While I’ll never be grateful for cancer, I emerged from it stronger, more resilient, and with a deeper appreciation for life and the people who make it worth living.
Redefining Success and Moving Forward
My cancer journey and life after cancer has required a lot of resets and shifts in the way that I approach life.
There’s so much pressure, external and internal, to hit certain milestones by a certain age, to follow a perfectly laid-out timeline: career, marriage, kids, home, success, and obviously… don’t get diagnosed with cancer. And when your life doesn’t follow that script, it’s easy to feel like you’ve somehow failed.
But, here’s what I’ve learned. You will pass that finish line. It may take longer than you expected. It may look different than you imagined. But one day, you’ll look up and realize you made it—you survived not just cancer, but everything that came after. And when you do, you’ll be stronger, more confident, and happier than you ever thought possible.
Are you a cancer survivor interested in telling your story, sharing advice or lessons learned during your cancer journey? We believe everyone’s story is unique, but there’s a powerful connection between anyone who’s faced cancer. By sharing your story, you can inspire and give hope to others who are going through similar struggles.
Please contact Kelly Wooley, Marketing and Communications Manager, if you’re interested. We would love to hear from you!
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