A Way of Giving Back to My "Lifesavers"

Yesterday was the High Speed Chase for the Cure, a 5K run and 3K walk, which raises funds for the Cancer Institute of NJ through the CINJ Foundation. I formed the Team High Five a few weeks ago to celebrate my five years as an ovarian cancer survivor and to honor the five gyn-oncs at CINJ , their nurses and their staff . I consider them all my "Lifesavers". I along with the other members of High Five - Nick, my husband , and two long time friends Terry and Joan met at the Rutgers Athletic Center. Theresa, my daughter, was a virtual walker from all the way out in Kansas. It was great seeing so many CINJ folks, Candace, Michele, Dena and of course Dr Gannon- the surgical oncologist who did the surgery for my recurrence.

It started out as a cloudy, cool morning in the 60's. But as fate would have it just as the run/ walk started it became a cool and very wet rainy morning. That did not stop us or the hundreds of other runners and walkers from completing our task. It did though make me go a bit slower- I didn't want to slip on the wet road. We finished our 3K walk in around 30 minutes.

I finished the walk with a wet hat and soaked pants since my Rutgers red poncho couldn't cover everything. But I was thrilled that Team High Five was able to raise over $1000 for CINJ. I love going to my donor page and seeing the little thermometer fill up and listen to the cheers as the the stars shoot out of the top .

It felt great to give back to the people who saved my life.
Dr. Rodriguez, Dr. Gibbon, Dr. Nieves, Dr. Hellmann, Dr. Wagreich yesterday's walk was for you. Thanks!


Dee
Every Day is a Blessing! I am blessed to be treated by the talented doctors and nurses at CINJ.

High Five! A Celebration of Five Years

July 29,2005 was not such a great day for me. I awoke from surgery and learned I had stage IIIB ovarian cancer. My doctor said I shouldn’t read any of the statistics. They are just numbers, she said. Did I listen? No. When I got home from the hospital I went on to the NCI website and I read the stats . Not so good. The overall five-year relative survival rate for ovarian cancer is 46% but for late stage (that was me) it drops to roughly 30%. Not such a great number.

But the stats didn’t know me. The stats didn’t know my doctors. The stats didn't know my family and friends. My doctors, Lorna Rodriguez and Darlene Gibbon and their nurses at the Cancer Institute of NJ are my lifesavers. They discussed my options, suggested a port-a-cath, offered me a clinical trial, started treatment quickly and made sure I stayed on schedule.

My husband was my rock. When I thought it was too tough to continue he would say just take it one day at a time and you’ll be done before you know it. So after nine cycles of carbo/taxol /selenium over a 7 month period, I was done. Life slowly returned to a new normal. Over the next few years I visited my son in Switzerland where he spent a semester abroad, I watched him graduate college and saw my daughter marry a marvelous man.

Then in October 2008 my CT scan showed lesions on my spleen and liver. Darn that was not good. I thought to myself maybe those stats would be right. But once again my CINJ gyn oncs went to work. They referred me to Dr. Chris Gannon , a CINJ surgical oncologist. He removed my spleen and did a liver resection. I followed that up with six cycles of chemo and the cancer was gone. Again. And it still is.

So tomorrow I get to celebrate my fifth "cancerversary". The heck with those statistics.

As a way to celebrate this milestone and to honor my CINJ Doctors and nurses, I am walking in the High Speed Chase for the Cure benefiting CINJ on Sunday September 12, 2010. I’ve formed a team. My daughter suggested the name - High Five. Makes sense – ‘cause I’m celebrating five years as a cancer survivor. Want to join my team? You can walk, be a virtual walker, run or just make a donation for what I think is a very worthy cause- my lifesavers at CINJ.

High Five!

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing !

PS( Thanks to http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/featured/its-national-high-five-day/ for the photo above.)