Chris Parrish - Pancreatic Cancer Patients

I was working out four times a week and in great shape. I had always been on the go and eating whenever I could find time. Friends noticed that I had lost a lot of weight, but I just thought it was due to my active lifestyle. During this time, I was constantly having stomach problems. My doctors recommended over-the-counter drugs and thought nothing of it. For a month, I also had constant diarrhea. Again, my doctors found nothing wrong.

Then, one day during my workout, I was stretching out on a Pilates ball and I noticed a bump protruding under my left ribcage. I knew something was not right. I had also been very tired, having a hard time eating, and in general, not feeling good. I just hurt. I went to my internal medicine doctor and had a MRI and CT scan. Four days later, the physician assistant told me that I had a mass in my pancreas and lesions on my liver. Holding back tears, I asked if they could take them out. But she said they couldn’t. The physician assistant mentioned that I should see an oncologist, and that was the first indication that she was talking about cancer. She never even said the word “cancer.”

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Dawn Jones - Breast Cancer Patients

My cancer journey began in 2000. On the same day that I discovered a lump in my breast, my mother had a heart attack. I immediately flew from my home in New York to Virginia to be with her and my siblings.

When I got back to New York, I went to my doctor’s office for a biopsy. That’s when I received the diagnosis: inflammatory breast cancer. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe it; there was no history of cancer in my family.

I spent the next year undergoing chemotherapy. Then I had a mastectomy. After wearing a breast prosthesis for 18 months, I had reconstructive surgery. For a while, I thought the cancer was gone.

Then one night at the end of 2007, I passed out. I didn’t want to believe it, but the cancer had returned. It was in my neck, lymphatic system, chest and back.

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