Oct 13, 2003 10:53PM ivanna wrote:
Shortly after I was diagnosed in Dec '02 I met a woman at my docs office who is a 25 year survivor(one of my docs first patients!). I was terrified as I was waiting for chemo and she told me her amazing story. She had lymph nodes involved, not sure how many. She traveled from Bainbridge Island to Seattle all by herself to receive her chemo for 1 year. She did great for 20 years, then she was diagnosed with leukemia(don't worry there is a happy ending!). She got very sick and had hospice at her house as she prepared to die. Then one day she had a blood draw and it seemed that it was normal. She amazingly got better. The doc claimed spontaneous remission, as she was no longer receiving treatment. After all of this she was in a terrible car accident and wound up in the hospital for a year! I couldn't believe it. After all she had been through, there she was, smiling and sharing her story with me. I asked what helped her get through all of this and she replied "I have always had strong faith" . What an amazing woman! When I saw my doc he said there is a woman that I should talk to, and I replied that I already had and then he told me her story again. I was glad to hear it twice. Now I must go to watch Lance Armstrong on David Letterman!