Stories of Hope

Mary Shipherd, Georgia Diagnosed in 1989 at age 65 Small cell lung cancer “As soon as I as physically able, I started going to a fitness center again. I know it helped me get through this.”

Mary is a dynamic 79 year-old lung cancer advocate who took it upon herself to do what she could during Lung Cancer Awareness Month in November 2003. Having had two surgeries for the disease, she "became a one-person effort" to raise awareness, urging her county commissioners and Georgia's governor to proclaim Awareness Month and contacting the local daily newspaper and radio station. The paper featured an article about her, along with a list of signs and symptoms of lung cancer. With print materials from ALCASE and Cancer Care, and the permission of the local hospital, Mary set up an information display in the lobby and staffed the table for four days. She distributed more than a dozen of the "Hope" posters and gave a presentation about lung cancer to the Georgia Cancer Coalition, which she has now joined.

Widowed since 1994, Mary has a circle of friends and a lively sense of humor. She lives on a small island, where she loves the closeness with nature. Besides her budding lung cancer activism, she supports efforts to renovate the nearby Coast Guard station. She also pursues physical fitness and says, "there's all sorts of things you can do to strengthen the body and feel better." As always, ALCASE suggests you discuss exercise and treatment options with your physician.

I am a lung cancer survivor. Fourteen years ago I was a smoker and I was diagnosed with lung cancer. The upper and middle lobes of my right lung were surgically removed. Four and a half years ago, when I was diagnosed with a second lung cancer, I was a former smoker. The upper lobe of my left lung was removed.

In 1989 at age 65, retiring from my job as a human resources manager did not even occur to me. I had some recent unexplained weight loss but no major health problems. The weight loss troubled me, so I decided to check it out.

I made three very important phone calls to my doctor's office. The first was to schedule an appointment for a physical (a six-week wait). The second was to request an order for a mammogram to be done as soon as possible (I had never had one). The third was to add a chest x-ray along with the mammogram. The films were made within a week.

At the time, my husband was a hospital patient and my evenings were spent visiting with him. It was 10:30 at night when my physician finally reached me at home—with the news that my chest x-ray showed a "suspicious nodule" in my right lung. I insisted that it had to be a mistake, so a second film was made the next day. The result was the same.

Everything moved quickly after that. A pulmonologist did a physical and pulmonary evaluation, followed by a chest CT and a bronchoscopy to obtain a tissue sample. The biopsy was positive for adenocarcinoma, a type of non-small cell lung cancer. I cried. The news was like telling me that I had only three to six months to live. Finally I accepted that cigarettes were killing me and I quit smoking "cold turkey." I was on an emotional seesaw and I still had to face telling my husband!

It was my good fortune to be referred to a surgeon with whom I developed a trusting relationship. That trust was generated in our first meeting.

Within four weeks from the time of the first chest x-ray I had surgery at the local hospital. My surgeon expected at pre-op that only the right upper lobe would be removed. However, he found that the lesion, which measured 3.2 cm, was as he described it "intimately attached to the middle lobe" and that lobe was also removed. At the same time, about a dozen lymph nodes were removed for examination. The nodes were clean. The cancer was confined to the lung. I didn't need further treatment.

My recovery was painful but uneventful. I returned to work after six weeks and didn't retire until May of 1998, when I was 75. Initially there were frequent chest x-rays, which were eventually reduced to an annual one.

In January 1999 my routine chest x-ray showed a suspicious nodule in my left lung. A CT scan confirmed the nodule. I was stunned. I hadn't smoked in ten years and I thought I was free of cancer.

The news came at a time when I was already stressed over the recent death of my sister, which left me the sole surviving member of my immediate family. Little did I know it would be a year before I could travel to handle her personal affairs.

Because of my age and my earlier loss of some of my lung I was considered a "high risk" surgical candidate. Arrangements were made for me to go to Savannah for pulmonary and surgical evaluation. Based on very limited testing, I was advised that I was not a surgical candidate because any further lung reduction could leave me unable to manage my day-to-day activities, including self-care.

None of what I heard was acceptable. I became my own advocate. I arranged an appointment with a pulmonologist and thoracic surgeon at the top clinic in a major city. After very extensive testing and surgical consultation, the good news was that my lung function after surgery should allow me to manage comfortably.

Now I had two diverse opinions and it was recommended that I get a third. Arrangements were made for me to go to yet another city, to see a thoracic surgeon. He agreed with the most recent findings and I gave the go ahead and surgery was scheduled—six months since that first chest x-ray.

I have never felt so alone as I did when I said goodbye to my friends and boarded the plane the day before my surgery. I had two contacts, both of whom were strangers to me. They were in the medical field and associated with the university medical center where I was heading. These two ladies became my self-appointed surrogate family and visited me daily during the twenty days I was in their city.

My surgery went well. The upper lobe of my left lung was removed and again the diagnosis was adenocarcinoma. It was a second primary tumor, not a recurrence of my first cancer. After eight days in the hospital, I was transferred to a skilled nursing rehabilitation facility for twelve days. Rehab continued in my home.

When I look back, it all seems very strange. At the time, I seemed numb to what was happening to me. It was as through I was a robot—getting everything done but with little feeling. I brought legal documents up to date and even wrote a brief obituary. My friends prayed for me but I seemed unable to pray, even though I often felt the Lord's presence. Exercising on a regular basis had been part of my routine for more than a decade. As soon as I as physically able, I started going to a fitness center again. I know it helped me get through this.

I have twin scars on my back beginning below the shoulder and wrapping around to end mid-way under my breasts. My second lung cancer almost "took my breath away". Exercising to keep what was left of my lungs functioning at their maximum level was critical to my recovery. People laugh when I tell them, but I purchased two train whistle toys and kept one upstairs and one downstairs. I had to inhale deeply and exhale strongly to make them blow and it helped me. I found that singing gets me short of breath. Also, a friend gave me small bag filled with sand, and I would lie on my back and put it on my diaphragm and practice just breathing in and out, to strengthen those muscles. The body is remarkable in its ability to adapt and compensate for trauma inflicted upon it. Mine responded well to my efforts.

Now I don't walk as fast on the treadmill as I once did but I can often walk a 26-minute mile. I am at a gym three times a week using the equipment and participating in a Body Flow Class. A year ago one hour of Tai Chi three times a week was added to my schedule. I live alone now, since my husband's death, but I have been sort of "adopted" by some friends. I am glad to have found ALCASE. I tracked them down after seeing a television show where the lung cancer ribbon pin was mentioned.

A dense area in my left lung has been followed for more than a year. It has remained stable. Because of my history of lung cancer it is closely monitored with CT scans and a periodic PET scan for any signs of change.