Three Survivors
Mieko Komogata hasn't slowed down in the wake of serious stomach cancer, for which she was treated in 2002.
Even though they are not "cured," many people today are living quite well for extended periods with even the most deadly forms of cancer. Here are reflections from three patients of Robert J. Mayer, MD, on the subject.
"When I was first diagnosed, the doctors said my disease was treatable, but we just don't have a cure now. It was hard to hear," says Michelle Grant-Epstein, a 52-year-old mother of three from Framingham, Mass. The advanced colon cancer diagnosed in 2005 had spread to one of her ovaries, requiring extensive surgery and chemotherapy, which is continuing in the wake of a recurrence.
As Grant-Epstein thinks of it, she is "cohabitating" with her cancer, "and as long as I've got the upper hand, that's OK." The disease doesn't prevent her from being a "fully functional adult," she says – exercising at home, spending time with her family and friends, and working part-time at a local library.
"Do I wish for a cure? Absolutely!" she adds. "But I know that it's complicated and each cancer is different. For now, I'm grateful for the drugs that are controlling my cancer, and I hope they're still working."
Edward Bromfield, MD, a neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, was diagnosed in 2006 with pancreatic cancer, an aggressive disease rarely detected early enough for potentially curative surgery. A series of chemotherapy regimens has kept him feeling relatively well and active enough to continue playing basketball regularly with his group of longtime friends.
"I think the term 'cure' still has meaning," says the 57-year old Bromfield. "It's not for me, in my situation, but I know a number of people who could be considered cured – they have no recurrence of cancer after some substantial number of years."
For himself and many others, Bromfield uses the words "successful treatment." This means, he says, "successful in the sense that you can live your life as normally as possible and you don't have the sense that things are getting worse."
When Mieko Komogata's mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer 25 years ago in Japan, doctors told her family but purposely hid the diagnosis from the patient. She had successful surgery and to this day thinks it was for an ulcer.
Mieko herself, a software developer who lives in Stow, Mass., developed a stealthy form of stomach cancer that took years to diagnose, and in 2002 surgeons removed her entire stomach. She was then treated with chemotherapy and radiation.
She has been free of cancer since then, and the 48-year-old Komogata says she's been told that her chances of having a recurrence are becoming smaller as she continues to have normal tests.
"Still, the chances of recurrence are not zero – there is no single cure," she says. "But I feel healthy and happy. Doctors are making progress, and I am very hopeful that risks of cancer can be reduced. I want people to know that cancer is not a death sentence."
