Survivors

Tamika Felder

Survivor and advocate

Tamika Felder

Diagnosed with cervical cancer at age 25, Tamika Felder had to deal with the stigma of a disease linked to and STD.

"I was surrounded by people who were very supportive and wonderful. But there were also a few people who said cruel things because my cancer was linked to a sexually transmitted virus," she recalls. "That was painful, and those people either ended up being cut out of my life or their place in my life was minimal."
Tamika had to have her cervix and uterus removed, and had chemotherapy and radiation to kill all the cancer cells. To this day, the most difficult part of the experience was realizing she'd never be able to give birth to a child. But financial strain was also an issue, due to all the medical expenses. Before cancer, she had been making a name for herself in the broadcasting industry, but after her diagnosis she was unable to pay her bills. With her career on hold, issues with money, and her social outlets affected, Tamika gave up on life.
"It's so easy to give up," she says. "I remember kissing my mom and my best friend goodbye in the hospital days after my surgery. The pain was unbearable and I just wanted it to be over with. But they wouldn't let me give up. They provided the strength I needed to continue fighting. And eventually, I realized cancer didn't have to be a death sentence."
Tamika made the decision to face the disease head on, and she fought for her life as hard as she could. If she lost her life, she decided, it wouldn't be because she gave up. Today, 10 years after her surgery and treatment, Tamika is once again working in broadcasting, as a television reporter and producer in Washington, D.C.
"I had an amazing support network and knew that I was in good hands with my health care," she says. "So my coping strategies became research and understanding for my disease. The more I learned, the more I was determined to beat it."

Staci Wright

Helping kids regain their self image

Staci Wright

Staci Wright was in the eighth grade when she began having terrible headaches. The 13-year-old girl had been healthy, happy, and active all her life, playing soccer since kindergarten. But life changed overnight when she was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in her skull.
The treatment was 10 months of chemotherapy, along with 5 weeks of radiation. "For me, the hardest part of the cancer battle was that my pain was hurting my whole family," she recalls. "It put so much stress on my parents and older brother. Luckily my sister was too young to really realize what was going on."
During it all, she tried to stay positive and upbeat, doing her best to live life as a normal kid. The support of her family and friends helped her get through many painful times during the year. But even so, there were days when she felt overwhelmed.
"Sometimes it felt like I was all by myself in this battle," she says. "I realized others couldn't fathom what I was going through, and so there were times when I just wanted to be left alone."
Hair loss from chemotherapy isn't easy for any patient. But for a teenage girl, it can be devastating. Staci felt sad and depressed with losing her hair and didn't want to go to school. "I had a really hard time with my hair loss. But there was nothing I could do about it except move on to more important things, like surviving," she says. Unfortunately Katie's radiation killed all the hair cells on a patch of skin on the back of her head, causing her hair loss to be permanent.
Fortunately her mother, Debbie, learned of a hair system that stays in place, made of real hair attached to material that looks like a scalp. Staci loved her new hair but was concerned about the other kids she met at the children's hospital who were still dealing with baldness. "It's tough for people my age to lose their hair," she says. "They lose their self-esteem with it."

Life is something
that can’t be
taken for granted.

That's when Staci and Debbie decided to do something to help these kids. They established the Angel Hair Foundation , a non-profit organization that purchases hair systems for kids and teens. Through hard work and getting the word out, the foundation is thriving and helping kids with cancer everywhere feel better about losing their hair.
Staci is now doing well, playing soccer, hanging out with her friends, and attending the University of Oregon. She believes she'll always have insecurities about her permanent hair loss but trusts that she'll know how to deal with them when they arise. She's excited about what life has to bring to her and plans to become a dietician. More important, she knows that true friends will love her no matter what her hair looks like.
"To me, life is something that can't be taken for granted. I can't be that little shy girl that doesn't push the limit every once in a while," she says. "I often think about how cancer affected my life, about how I developed as a person through this experience. Cancer made me realize what is important in life and made me the more mature person I am today.  Carpé diem!"

Ben Moon

The picture of balance

Ben Moon

Ben Moon, then a 29-year-old rock climber, surfer, and adventure photographer, assumed that the blood in his stool and his ongoing fatigue were due to the rigors of traveling or to a virus he had picked up along the way. Luckily, a wise nurse-practitioner suggested that he get a colonoscopy.
"I was only 29, and a lot of people my age don't get scoped," he says. "The fact that I got sent for a colonoscopy saved my life."
Shortly afterwards, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. After undergoing radiation all summer and then chemotherapy, Ben had surgery to remove his rectum, leaving him with a colostomy. Eight more rounds of chemotherapy left him exhausted and feeling toxic.
"It was pretty hard emotionally to deal with that kind of a change to my body, especially in my late 20s," he says.
It was difficult for him to deal with the colostomy at first, but Ben researched the procedure and realized he could irrigate daily, having far greater control. He started rock climbing again just weeks after surgery, eager to get outdoors and test his new limits.
"The thing that helped me the most was focusing on one day at a time and not looking too far ahead," he says. "I never let a feeling of defeat creep in; I tried my best to stay positive. Seeing the brave smiles of those who were much older and physically weaker than me in the infusion room was a huge boost."
Ben was lucky to have wonderful friends and family who gave him ongoing support. They encouraged him to keep up his active lifestyle, helped with meals, sent cards and notes, and even held a silent auction to raise money for his medical bills. "They wouldn't let me lie around and feel sorry for myself," he says.

Cancer taught me how to thrive even through the tougher times of life.

His photography clients were very understanding, too, and made sure he had work to do. With everyone's help, Ben made it through his treatments and got "back up on the wall" with a chemo pump line dangling and a new lease on life.
Now age 36, Ben is working with a company that makes ostomy supplies, helping them improve their products so that people who have the procedure and who are young and active can feel confident with their condition. "I'm very aware of how I treat my body," he says. "I try to practice yoga, climb, surf, and bike often. So I know how important it is to have a sense of control, trusting that you can live your life the way you want to."
In a world where most people aren't comfortable discussing colostomies and the challenges that come with them, Ben encourages questions and welcomes the opportunity to help others through his Web site . "I feel the only residual challenge from the cancer is living with a colostomy, but I haven't let it slow me down," he says.
Surviving cancer has brought Ben closer to his friends and family. He believes this greater connection caused a shift in his photography, too, helping him to capture human emotion more clearly in his subjects. "I feel more focused and driven to improve and grow as an artist," he says. "Cancer helped me appreciate those I love in my life even more, and taught me how to thrive even through the tougher times of life."

Matthew Zachary

Composing a support network for young adults

Matthew Zachary

Matthew Zachary started playing piano at age 11. He wanted to be a Hollywood composer and studied music in college. But in 1995, when Matt was a senior, he began losing motor coordination in his left hand and had to give up his musical ambitions. A massive tumor that generally occurs in children under the age of 6 was found in his brain.
Matt had brain surgery and extensive radiation but refused chemotherapy because he wanted to be able to continue to play the piano. One of the drugs he was offered would have caused peripheral neuropathy, a side effect he wasn’t willing to endure for the rest of his life. Music was his anchor, and he made every effort to sit down at the piano and play, even if only just for minutes a day.
"In spite of losing the ability to use my left hand, music was a grounding force in a sea of chaos," he says. "It was the only thing I had control over, and it made me happy."

Cancer gave me the confidence to take risks,
and the belief that I could accomplish anything.

But, once he finished treatment, he felt jaded and angry. There were no support groups or internet resources for people like him, cancer survivors in their 20s. And at the time, the word survivorshipdidn't really exist within the oncology community. After surgery and treatments, the doctors gave him little guidance or planning for what to do next in life.
"I know all about that isolation and fear. The feeling of, 'What am I going to do for the rest of my life?'" he says. "I had lots of love and support from my friends and family, but I was desperate for peer support from other young adult patients and survivors who could relate to exactly what I was going through."
As timing would have it, after making a career in advertising, Matt recorded a CD of his own compositions to help him heal and put closure to his cancer. Through a series of events, the project evolved into his becoming an advocate and spokesman for young adults with cancer. Now his organization, the I’m Too Young For This! Cancer Foundation , helps people in their 20s and 30s who have the disease get the support and information he felt he didn’t have. He is also passionate about calling attention to the lack of clinical research in this population.
"Cancer made me a better person," he explains, "in that it gave me permission to live life to the fullest, the confidence to take risks, and the belief that I could accomplish anything."

Katie Strumpf

Sharing her stories

Katie Strumpf

When Katie Strumpf was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 10, her parents were wise enough to look at the different protocols of the clinical trial she had joined. After examining their options, they insisted Katie be placed into a group where the treatment wouldn't affect her fine motor skills. Now she is healthy and 31 years old and grateful for all the research they did. She remembers the experience clearly.
"I followed my parents' lead, in that I tried to be positive and understand my treatment," she says. "One of my coping strategies was to remind myself that, although cancer was forcing me to grow up a lot faster than I wanted to, going through the treatment would give me the opportunity to grow up and at some point, just get to be a kid."
Members of Katie's family came from near and far to support her. They brought her favorite foods and games to help her feel normal.

Having cancer made me appreciate life…I’m a stronger and better person.

The hardest part was missing a lot of school, she recalls, and not getting the opportunity to feel like a regular kid. Spending so much time in the hospital took a toll on her, too. And getting sick from chemotherapy was exhausting, especially at such a young age.
During treatment, Katie told her parents that someday she would write a book for children with cancer. Sure enough, after graduating from college, she wrote I Never Signed Up For This! An Upfront Guide to Dealing with Cancer at a Young Age,an easy-to-read book for kids with cancer.
Today, Katie's life is still very much focused on cancer issues, particularly the fight against pediatric cancer. She gives public readings of her book and for a while worked at a nonprofit organization that helps seriously ill children and their families. Unfortunately, she lost her husband, Adam, to a brain tumor last summer, so she is sharing her thoughts about surviving as a young widow on her blog,Sleepless in the South . She plans to write a book about their experience and the impact of losing a spouse to cancer at such a young age.
On the last page of her first book, Katie summed up her current view of life in this way:

I know you probably think I am crazy, but having cancer made me fully appreciate life. I go after what I want in life and believe I am a stronger and better person. Of course there are times when my life is uncertain and I am unsure of my path. When I'm hesitant to take that next step, I look over my shoulder and she's always there. That young bald girl with cancer dares me to give up, to not take that next step . So I put on some red lipstick, toss my hair over my shoulder, and take that next step. I owe it to myself, and the cancer survivor that I am."

Commentary:
   These stories could touch someones heart, because they are really sad in a sense. The age that some of the survivors first find out could really hurt the family or anyone else that has to go through it. I can not say that I know of the pain that they may have gone through, but I hope that they are continuing to 

http://www.euro-med.us/cancer-treatment.cfm?REFCODE=GooglePPC

Cancer Treatment

The Drawbacks of Traditional Cancer Treatment

In conventional cancer treatments, the body is bombarded with a large dose of toxicity-drugs and often radiation. This method harms the immune system, which makes it difficult to truly deliver a cancer cure. People struggle with the nausea and go bald from the toxicity of the drugs; this doesn't improve the quality of life much either.

In 1986, the McGill Cancer Center scientists surveyed 118 oncologists who specialized in lung cancer. They were asked if they would take chemo if they developed lung cancer. Three-quarters replied they would not.

It has long been acknowledged that the type of radiation used in the 1960s and 1970s elevated women's risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease. So many women were dying of the long-term adverse effects that it more or less counterbalanced any survival benefit from the treatment itself.

However, it is now said the newer forms of radiation minimize this sort of heart damage. To those of us who work with alternative medicine for cancer treatment, this did not ring true. Sure enough, a large and prolonged study by the Netherlands Cancer Institute showed that modern radiation also increases the risk of heart disease in women who receive it following surgery for breast cancer. Study results were published March 7, 2007, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).

The Politics of Treatment

Why is conventional chemotherapy still pushed by the vast majority of oncologists? In the book, Questioning Chemotherapy, Moss explained that traditional oncologists are in a very difficult position because they've been trained to give these drugs. And they've devoted many years to reaching a very high level of expertise in the knowledge of poisonous, deadly compounds. They want to help the cancer patient, yet the tools they've been given don't work, he said.

From expert and author Cynthia Foster, MD:

"Cytotoxic chemotherapy kills cancer cells by way of a certain mechanism called 'First Order Kinetics." This simply means that the drug does not kill a constant number of cells, but a constant proportion of cells. So, for example, a certain drug will kill 1/2 of all the cancer cells, then 1/2 of what is left, and then 1/2 of that, and so on. So, we can see that not every cancer cell necessarily is going to be killed. This fact is well known by oncologists.

"Now, how can cancer patients possibly fight even a few cancer cells when their immune systems have been disabled and this is yet another stress on the body, and they're bleeding because they have hardly any platelets left from the toxic effects of the chemotherapy? This is usually why, when chemotherapy is stopped, the cancer grows again and gets out of control."

The Immune System - The First Line of Defense

Because cancer is essentially a failure of the immune system, it makes no sense to administer a cancer cure that further damages the immune system. In Arizona, the doctors at the EuroMed Foundation kill cancer and bolster the immune system at the same time by blending conventional medicine with alternative medicine. We combine the best of both worlds for a better outcome through alternative cancer treatment.

We don't rely on chemo to do the entire job of killing cancer cells. We use a number of complementary therapies to diminish cancer. For example, Poly-MVA® is highly selective for malignant tissue. It influences oxygen, water, and electrical inputs to the malignancy. It behaves like a chemotherapeutic agent, but is not destructive. In June of 2008, Poly-MVA® became the first dietary supplement to be cleared by the FDA for use in a cancer study. It is likely this study will lead to the use of Poly-MVA® in conventional cancer treatments.

Commentary: This article is saying that, there are some drawbacks to traditional cancer treatment and how you receive your treatment. Some treatments contain toxics drugs that can harm the immune system. This part of the article is what really stood out to me because, most people don't know how traditional cancer treatment can harm you. Going into treatment thinking that it is helping you,but in all actuality it could possibly make you sicker.