Two survivors share their stories
Martha Alston is a modern day medical miracle.
She is 90 years old now, and would rather talk about her homemade apple pie than her bouts with cancer.
But bouts she has had.
She was 63 years old when she first started feeling pain in her stomach as well as constipation. “I didn’t pay much attention to it,” she said.
Her doctors did. They discovered that she had colon cancer.
Surgery took care of the problem, but in some cases, the cancer can reappear. For 21 years, Alston was cancer-free until she experienced the same pain in her stomach.
She was 84 when colon cancer struck again, but that is not unusual. According to the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Program of the National Cancer Institute, between 2001 and 2005, the median age of diagnosis of cancer of the colon and rectum was 71 years of age, and almost 84 percent of the cases occurred after the age of 54.
For the next two years, Alston had two surgeries and so far so good. She has been cancer free for the last five years.
And that’s the good news, according to Dr. David P. Ryan, clinical director of Tucker Gosnell Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers at Massachusetts General Hospital. Deaths from colorectal cancer are decreasing, not only due to increased screening, but also because of improved treatment and medications.
“Colorectal cancer is highly curable in early stages,” said Ryan. “Even in advanced stages it can often be cured.”
Part of the reason for Alston’s clean bill of health is regular checkups and colonoscopies. The other reason is her children. She had eight of them, and based on her experience, they too are cognizant of their risk factors.
In fact, one of her children, Lorraine Hector, 58, has already started her regimen of regular colonoscopies. Hector’s older daughter has as well. She started at the age of 40 — often the recommended age for those who are at high risk of colorectal cancer.
Willie Foreman is equally disciplined when it comes to regular screenings. He had little choice.
He’s been driving a truck for more than 30 years and believed that he could take care of himself regardless of any situation.
As he learned the hard way, that wasn’t true.
Five years ago, he began experiencing sharp stabbing pains on his right side. He also began seeing blood in his stool, a common sign of colorectal cancer. He overlooked this symptom because the pain took most of his attention.
The pain persisted for four months. He said he initially thought it was his appendix and self-medicated by taking an antibiotic left over from a previous illness.
The pain subsided for a while, but of course, it eventually returned. It was so bad one night that he pulled his truck over at a rest stop and curled up in a fetal position for about an hour.
“Lord, just let me make it home,” he recalled praying that night.
He made it home. But that didn’t provide any respite from the pain. He went to an emergency room with his wife, Beverly, where tests later showed that he had colon cancer. They also told him that his appendix was affected. He was 50 years old at the time.
The cancerous tumor and his appendix were removed during surgery, and the doctors said they believed they had gotten all of the cancer that they could see. But sometimes tiny cancer cells can be hidden in other parts of the body. To give Foreman the best chance of being cured, doctors recommended chemotherapy to get any possible cancer cells that may have been left behind.
Foreman readily acknowledges that those treatments were tough. He stopped after six long weeks and said to himself, “If God wants to take me now, I’m ready.”
He survived and has changed his lifestyle accordingly.
He started exercising. Every morning, he walks three miles and lifts weights. He also changed his diet. He decreased the amounts of fried foods he eats, eats more salads, drinks plenty of water and takes vitamins.
He got a clean bill of health during his last exam; his colonoscopy showed no signs of cancer.
“I hope to give myself a few more years,” he said. |
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Lorraine Hector (top) has been vigilant in timely screenings for colorectal cancer since the diagnosis of her mother, Martha Alston (bottom) several years ago. Colorectal cancer can run in families.
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Willie Foreman (right) shown with his wife, Beverly, now works with the National Cancer Institute Community Networks Program to help reduce cancer health disparities.
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