It Turned Out To Be Lung Cancer - Lung Cancer Survivor Story: Missy Spease
Published 2015-08-10
It turned out to be lung cancer.
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TRANSCRIPT: MISSY SPEASE/CANCER SURVIVOR: Cancer's not always a death sentence. Though when you are the patient and you're diagnosed with cancer, the first thing you think of is: I'm going to die. And life becomes different.
I had had a cough- a previous cough from having bronchitis. The nurse that I worked with, she said: Missy, you still have that cough. And I was like, I'm good. I promise you I am good. And she's like: No. Get back there and get a chest x-ray.
I saw Dr. Guerrini. He ordered a chest x-ray for me. I had the chest x-ray and I went on back to work. A couple hours later, Dr. Guerrini came to me and said: I need to speak to you just a moment in private.
I’m a little bit in shock. But you know, things like this don't happen to me. So I didn't think anything of it. It's probably just an infection. My primary care doctor- Dr. Blake Long- scheduled me to see Dr. Chen in Pulmonary. I saw him, he did the biopsy. And he informed me: We were able to swab inside the lung and there are definitely cancer cells.
Immediately for me, it’s guilt. I was a smoker for 30 years- you know, what have I done to myself?
So I met with the TOPS clinic to have the availability to go and to sit down with three doctors- my cardiothoracic surgeon, my oncologist, and my radiation oncologist. And then the three got together and they spoke with each other- you know- what's the plan? What should we do? From three different aspects.
They told me I was a Stage IIIB lung cancer. And I knew that that was pretty serious- being in the medical field. So, they scheduled my surgery for February 1, Dr. Lata sat me down and explained to me that he needed to go into the mediastinal area and check those lymph nodes because those would not pick up on an MRI and he needed to check those to make sure. So I went in February 1, which also ended up being the same day as my son's last basketball game and homecoming. And I thought: Oh my goodness! He's a senior. I'm missing homecoming. It was a very trying day.
My whole entire family were there at six o'clock in the morning to see me off to surgery.
I went in at six a.m. and I woke up at 5:30 p.m.
The tumor was an aggressive tumor. He got it out. He removed the right upper lobe. And then he sent the lymph nodes for pathology and when those came back, all three lymph nodes were negative.
With them being negative, it means I do not have to do chemo- I do not have to do radiation.
You know, now I'm recovering from surgery and it's like: Wow. Really. So I go from a Stage IIIB to a Stage IB. And this is all due to early detection.
I am so thankful for the nurse that pushed me, the doctors that took care of me, my family, my friends that supported me, and where I'm at today.
So I've always wanted to be a runner. So I started training. We did the Tough Mudder in November, that very same year. And now I am training with my older brother to do a full marathon in Honolulu December 13th of this year.
There's just so many things that we can do for ourselves to detect cancer early and the options are there. I didn't think this would happen to me- but it does happen to us- mom, co-worker, wife. And it can happen to anyone. And during this time, I had friends whose niece was diagnosed with lung cancer one month after me that had progressed. And she passed away the very same year- actually three months later. And you know, I took that really hard- knowing that could have been me. Without early detection, that would have been me. And you know, both my boys that year graduated, one graduated from high school, one graduated from college in May and I was informed that had it not been for my early detection, I would not have been here in May of 2013 to see my two boys graduate.
All Comments (21)
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My father is suffering From lung's cancer 4th stage he is in serious situation please prayer for him
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My neighbour wasn't so lucky when it came to having lung cancer. She died aged just 59 over a year later after being diagnosed with it. She never smoked at all and was a healthy person right up to her diagnosis. It can happen to anyone at anytime.
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My cousin died from this. She was so funny and sweet, she left a baby behind so I have to take care of him. I am so depressed. I feel so bad for that baby and she also left a kitten behind ;-; RIP BABY GIRL I LOVE YOU
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My father never smoked nor drinked just diagnose with lungs cancer May God give him health
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Im so happy for you. I hope and pray to God that my story ends the like this. Prayers and God bless everyone else going thru this ❤️🙏
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I was diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer back in 1998 had a rough few years but iam still here. I thank all the people involved in my care,treatment, support. To the doctors, nurses, psychologist support staff, they treated me with respect, care, but most of all they treated me with love. The fact iam still here to post this I owe it all to what was referred to as a team Go team, if u guys are out there and see this message love everyone of you
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I was diagnosed with non-small lung cancer at age 25 and in a couple of days I’ll be 29. My staging went from 4 down to 2A or B.
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My mother Dx with lung cancer in 1970 and after surgery and radiation she lived until 1989 dying from something else. She didn't stop smoking either. She said why shut the barn door once the horse got out. However, her quality of life was very poor the next 19 years until she died. Much better to not smoke.
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I'm 40yrs old just Dx with stage 4 lung cancer. Never smoked a day in my life. This hurts and it's not fair. I'm due for surgery August 2nd. I just had a baby and I have other children.
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Stage 4 lung cancer, which spread to my bones and liver, was given 3 months without treatments. Got on a clinical trial in Aug 2018 with immunotherapy drugs..and now in remission as of Feb 2019...will continue infusions every two weeks for life to try and keep me cancer free...as there is no cure for stage 4 lung cancer...at least for now...who knows, maybe I will be one of those that really will live a long life?
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What an incredible story. I'm so happy for you that you caught it in time, and that you are a survivor. I can't imagine what is going through your mind now. I want to believe that you are living each day to the fullest of your capabilities. You have a very beautiful face; I see so much life there! I wish you and your family all the best.
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So happy that I came across this post!! Congratulations Missy!! I am grateful for this survivorship story!! Lymph nodes need to be tested.
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Very happy for you! God bless!
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Great story, well done.
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Recently, I found a letter that was overdue reminding my father to go for a second ct low dose pulmonary nodules scan since they detected an abnormal finding. It broke my heart to know he kept it from us, only for me to find out on my own accidentally. We’re praying for it to not be non cancerous, but we’re not sure. I’m grateful to hear your story, it’s gives me a great source of comfort and hope!
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God Bless you Missy. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you so much
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i pray it stays gone <3
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I have COPD so I would have yearly CTscans, and last year the spot in my right lung doubled in size from the previous one, so I had a biopsy and was proven to be cancerous. A month later I had a lobe ectomy of the upper right lung. But I did have to do 4 rounds of chemo, witch was hell. A year later still no evidence of cancer. So I’m also lucky I was diagnosed early.
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I am so happy for you.
