 |
Bob Husz |
 |
Jason Schoo |
 |
Jacqueline Hill |
 |
Bernie Duhaime |
 |
Cheryle Rambo |
 |
Lola Martin |
 |
Ardith Hopp |
Each survivor was asked what it meant to live through the disease. Here are their answers.
Lymphoma survivor Bob Husz: “I used to think you had to go 90 miles an hour all the time. I don’t think that anymore. But I’ll tell you, the care I got here was tops.”
Head and neck cancer survivor Jason Schoo: “It’s an accomplishment I hope I can share with others. I want to let them know that I’ve been there and there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Breast cancer survivor Jacqueline Hill: “It means that I overcame my illness, even if it’s only for the time being. Now I can reach out and share my experience with others.”
Breast cancer survivor Jo Meier: “It means I’m alive. It means I did something right, although I don’t know what I did.”
Prostate cancer survivor Bernie Duhaime: “I’m proud of it now. When I found out I was more shocked. Now I want to do all I can to help the next generation get through it as well.”
Colon cancer survivor Cheryle Rambo: “My daughter had been after me to get a colonoscopy because I was having some intestinal issues that I didn’t think were serious. When she was pregnant in 2004, she refused to tell me the sex of the baby until I got a colonoscopy. I got the procedure and it caught the cancer. Colon cancer is so silent; it won’t always give you the kind of symptoms that make you want to run to the doctor. Mine was painless and quite a surprise to me. I was very lucky that it was caught when it was. Now I tell everybody to get one. It’s the only way you can really know you’re cancer free.”
Breast cancer survivor Lola Martin: “It means life. It means I have more time to do the things I’d hoped for. It makes me realize how blessed I am. It’s life itself.”
Lymphoma survivor Bill Penry: “It means that I get to enjoy a life that I was intended to live. In 1993 and 1994, I was told I wasn’t going to survive. I’m a very lucky person. Of course I know it wasn’t luck, it’s the work that they do here.”
Pancreatic cancer survivor Ardith Hopp: “Surviving cancer means that I was able to become a grandma. I have two grandchildren, Kirsten, 3, and Barrett, 1. I now live with insulin injections, bouts of severe jaundice and a bad itching all over my body at times. But, I also have my grandchildren and the ability to be an inspiration to other people unlucky enough to get pancreatic cancer. I’m still here.”
Breast cancer survivor Michelle Sanzovrin: “It just means that I’m cancer free and able to enjoy my children growing up. Now I recognize what’s most important in life.”