I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in December of 2007. I had a colostomy for 1 year and 6 months of chemotheray. During the reversal procedure they found that the cancer spread to my ovaries. I had both ovaries. I am now taking oral chemo and on infusions of avastin every two weeks. I struggle with this dark cloud over me... like I imagine all of do that have cancer.

In January 2009 3 weeks after my mother passed away,I was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the duodenum. the journey has been indescribable, how will I make it?

This past July I was told that I have breast cancer. I criede with bmy sister in law for just a few second. Then We called the families together so that I could tell evey one at one time. It was not easy at first. My husband and son said that they would not take thier trip to Germany. Then my son gave me a hug and cried on my shoulder for a few min. I would not trade that for anything in this world. The second thing I had to do was tell my daughter. Which I thought would be hard but I was wrong. She took the news a lot better then I thought she would. She helped me make a choose that I was having a hard time with. I told her that I needed to make achoose between losing one breast or just have them take both. She loked me in the face and said do both. And that is what I did. I started chimo in Sept. And just found out that I have to have a total of 4 treatments. Here it is Octbor and I already had one treatment this month and have one more for this month and my last one will be in November the week after my 45th birthday and my son's 18th. I pray that this all works and that I will not have to go threw this again. The main reason I am still fighting is because of my husband and three children they mean the world to me and I would be lost with out them .I love the with all my heart. And the rest of the family has been a real big help as well. My sister in law helping with my little son and with my daughter. My in laws helping us with food and with the little one as well. My mother for taking me to the cancer center for my treatments and my step father for telling me what papper work I need to fill out to get help if we needed. Without all of these peopl;e in my life I don't think I would be in such a good place in my treatment. Thank God for them all.

My heart goes out to you Suzanne. In 2004, 3 days after the birth of their first child, my daughter in law, age 22, was diagnosed with stage 3 colo-rectal cancer. Thus began the nightmare of fighting the health non-care system. She is doing well at this time thankfully. But the devastating effects took a terrible toll on their marriage. I was then diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in 2006. I am a nurse,and having worked in health care for more than 25 years, I still could not navigate the ridiculous system that good hard working people (who pay their premiums), are sick and scared have to face when they have no strength and need supportive helpful people to guide and reassure them. Instead we are thrown to the lions, because the bottom line in this "humanitarian America" is the almighty dollar. Advocacy is no where to be found in the fear based system that rules America. The citizens of this country who have not yet needed their health insurance need to know how horrible it will be for them when they need it. I hope people will realize the urgency of this problem, and advocate to change it before they have to use it.

My heart goes with you all for your braveness and because although I feel, I have so far been blessed with not experiencing such turmoil in my own body. Recently a very dear female friend of mine told me that one year ago she was diagnosed with colon cancer and had surgery a few months after. This has been devastating news for all of us (family and friends) and quite frankly I no longer now what to think when I read all these things :(. I can only hope that God has it in himself to grant all of you with health and a more peaceful life as I am sure you all deserve.

I was diagnosed July 2005 with stage IV colon cancer. I have mets to my liver and my lungs. My wife and I have had to advocate for ourselves every step of the way. We have "fought" with our insurance company twice over payment for SIRT (Selective Internal radioation therapy)which was over $100,000 each time. We have worked for ourselves seeking out new procedures and doctors to help us with our next step in this battle. We pray a cure will be found soon, and that all families touched by cancer are able to get the very best care possible, regardless of their income. But, you have to actively seek treatments and the best doctors.

I was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer on Feb 13 2008.Stage one Renal Cell Carcinoma.They found it because I had pain in my left side.They told me the cancer didn't cause the pain because it was early stage.I consider it a MIRACLE from God.There were two tumors which looked like a bad outlook for it to come back later, but one turned out to be a cyst.This changed my prognosis for the better.I was operated on april 10 2008 and they spared 90% of my left kidney and my other kidney is good.

I was diagnosed with stageIV colon cancer this past October. I agree with the roller coaster ride. It is a scary ride that I just can't get off. I am a Family Nurse Practitioner and have been a nurse for a long time always working with an underserved urban population. Many of my patients know nothing about advocacy and the control that they can exercise when they advocate for themselves. Unfortunately many of my patients have been viewed negatively when they try to advocate because they may not know the right words, are nor English speaking, or have come from a background in which the only way you get heard is to act out, be mean, and use swear words. My goal has always been to teach these people how to advocate and not be disturbed if they try to advocate for themselves or a family member and it comes out mean and hostile. After my cncer diagnosis I have become even more comitted to the importance of teaching people how to get their needs met in an appropriate way, while reasuring them that it doesn't mean being quiet and passive. If I didn't know how to advocate for myself I would probably have been given a colostomy bag after my surgery. I knew what I wanted, I knew that there are other ways to resect a colon and then attach it at the resection site. I also knew the name of the surgeon I wanted and took all the resources that were sent to me immediately upon hospitalization to get the surgeon I wanted to do the surgry that I felt was appropriate. My PCP works out of a large community hospital and that is where they made the diagnosis of colon cancer. They couldn't do staging until they opened me up and got biopsies but my liver didn't look very good in the scans so I was prepard for the diagnosis that would turn my entire world upside down. But for surgery I wanted to be out of the comunity hospital and be sent to Brigham and Womwen's, have a colorectal specialist do the surgery and then get further treatment at Dana-Farber. Living in a suburb of Boston I knew I could get the best and wanted it. But I tell you if it wasn't for me to be able to get my voice heard I would not be having the wonderful treatment that I am having today. By the way, the surgeon I chose was able to due the entire surgery with a lap procedure including removing about 9 inches of colon, removing about 30 lymph nodes and also doing a biopsy of my liver. (I can still wear a two piece bathing suit.) So this is part of my story. I felt compelled to write this because I have seen many people that were not able to advocate for themselves, including people in my own family. And sometimes your life depends on you being able to do this. By the way, I have three children, two are in college and I also have a 9 yr. old. And you can bet that I am proud of the two oldest because they know the importance of standing up for what you believe is right and by the grace of God I am hoping I will be around to guide my youngest.

My experience has been a real eye-opener. I have had to fight not only the illness, but also the doctors and insurance companies. It has been immensely frustrating, especially in trying to get reliable information about alternative treatments and complete information about my condition, progress, etc from my doctors - I always feel as though they are leaving things out and, not being a doctor, it is hard to know the right questions to ask. In most cases I slow down or interrupt the process until I feel I have gotten adequate information on my own to make an informed decision. Another source of frustration is that the doctors don't seem to even talk to one another about test results, etc. Now I'm expected to undergo surgery that is potentially life altering and i feel I have not been given any alternative whatsoever. The fact that the doctors seem to use a "cookie cutter" approach is also a source of great frustration. I am othersise in very good health and have responded very well with virtually no side effects to chemo and radiation, yet the doctors continue to focus on worst case scenarios and brush aside my questions about alternatives. I'm a bit hardheaded, thank goodness, so up until now I've been able to control my treatment to a certain extent. Now with conflicting opinions among the doctors it is difficult to make a decision and I feel I am "under the gun" to opt for the surgery. I have been scheduled twice now and stopped short when the information and procedures conflicted with the test results and everything I had been told up until now. I have about two weeks to make up my mind what I'm going to do and get all the information I can to make the right decision, but I'm not about to give up or relinquish total control of my care.