I was diagnosed with an aggressive, stage IV breast cancer in 2013, after finding a lump. The cancer had already spread to five organs, including my brain. I was therefore immediately considered a terminal case.
This year, the holiday season is extra important for Mason’s whole family. Last December, just 8 days before Christmas, their entire world was turned upside down.
On March 10, 2013, it was all over. “The next morning when I got up, my mouth tasted like a dumpster. I didn’t want to know anything about nicotine for the rest of my life, honest to God.”
It was 2005, and 47-year-old Rick Crowley had a lump growing in his neck. The first biopsy indicated that it was benign, but his doctors in Olean, New York, were not convinced. A good thing, too: The second biopsy found cancer.
I tried to ignore the pain and the feeling of being “off.” But one day, after struggling through a few minutes of yet another bad run, I stopped in mid-stride, pulled out my phone, and called my doctor.
A survivor of Hodgkin’s lymphoma that was discovered when she was 16, Caryn Domzalski, now 35, has stayed active in Roswell Park’s Adolescent and Young Adult Program. Through them, she heard about Roswell Park’s Oncofertility Clinic.