A Survivor’s Story
Winter 2008
“… for many, like Sue, cancer has become a chronic condition, similar to high blood pressure or heart disease.”
As a young surgical nurse, Sue Ferrell didn’t know she and her sister shared the BRCA2 breast and ovarian cancer gene. At that time, no test existed for the mutation, because the gene hadn’t yet been discovered.
But Sue did know she had just met and married “a truly wonderful man.” They had three boys to raise—Larry’s two teenagers and Sue’s 6-year-old Michael—and planned to grow old together.
Four months later, Sue received her first cancer diagnosis. She worried whether she would live long enough to see her son learn to drive, go to prom or graduate from high school. “He was such a little boy,” she recalls.
After a double mastectomy, Sue had reconstructive surgery and underwent months of chemotherapy. Over the next 20 years, her cancer returned—not once, but twice.
She had two complete courses of chest radiation therapy, a variety of hormone blockers— including one that shut off her adrenal glands—medication to counteract osteoporosis caused by her treatment and too many doctors’ appointments to count.
Throughout all this, Michael grew up, got married and had kids—with his mom there for every major life event. And Sue’s sister developed ovarian cancer; genetic testing showed they both carried the BRCA2 gene.
After her sister died, Sue underwent a total hysterectomy as a preventative measure.
Now semi-retired, Sue recently went to Thailand on a three-week medical mission trip with her church—despite weakened bones and a weakened immune system from many years of cancer treatment. Sue and Larry volunteer as respite providers for foster parents caring for medically fragile infants.
Focusing on the needs of survivors
“While Sue’s story may be at the far end of the cancer-survivorship bell curve, it is hardly unique,” says Nancy Boutin, M.D., medical director at Salem Cancer Institute. Today, almost 10 million Americans have been treated for cancer.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 64 percent of Americans diagnosed with cancer today can expect to live longer than five years.
“A great number will be cured and have no lingering effects of their disease or treatment,” says Dr. Boutin.
“But for many, like Sue, cancer has become a chronic condition, similar to high blood pressure or heart disease.
“Increased focus on the needs of people who are surviving cancer is important,” says Dr. Boutin.
In 2004, Dr. Julia Rowland, director of the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute said, “Issues facing cancer survivors include maintaining optimal physical and mental health, preventing disability and late effects related to cancer and its treatment, and ensuring social and economic well-being for themselves and their families.”