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Candy B.

I was diagnosed April 2013. Initially, I had gone to my family doctor for a routine annual physical. My mother had passed away from mesothelioma and my siblings and I get yearly x-rays because of this. Despite this resolution, I had been extremely busy and suddenly, three years had passed by where I didn't get any done. So for this physical, my doctor recommended I get one. About 3 - 5 years later, I received a call and was told I had a growth on my left lung and needed to immediately come in for further testing. Testing ran for several months and my thoracic surgeon reviewed the scans and decided he could not do a biopsy to determine if it was in fact lung cancer, so surgery was scheduled to be performed. My sister insisted I get a second opinion, fearing the worst, and we visited a cancer center. I spent 3 days doing extensive testing only to have the specialist confirm that she couldn't tell if it was cancer either, but it would have to come out either way. Back to the doctor we went. The surgery was performed and confirmed, I was stage 2. I began chemotherapy, once a week for six and a half months. Since then, my scans have been clean and I feel truly blessed to be here, especially with the births of four granddaughters.

First Published: July 29, 2016

Asthma Educator Institute
, | Jul 11, 2015