Marion on the phone offering her support to Australian Lung Foundation

Hi to you all,
Yes...I'm a lung cancer survivor too!

Here is my story:
On the 13 November 2005 I coughed up a few tiny spots of blood. This happened for two mornings in a row. Being a smoker for 30 years (I was 42 when diagnosed) I knew it wasn't a good sign because I had a cough for a few months in the mornings as well. I went to my GP and from that day the ball went rolling.

I was diagnosed with Non Small Cell Lung Cancer Stage 1T2. The CT scan and biopsy showed a cancer with the size of a tennis ball in my left lung. After a PET scan and a brain scan I found out that the cancer had not spread to other parts of my body but only surgery could confirm if the cancer was joined to the main artery of my heart as the specialists could not see this clearly on the scans. When my husband and I heard all this devastating news we looked at each other and in both our eyes we could see that we would do everything to get this cancer out of my body and survive, this would not be the end, but how would we tell this to our son who was only 16. The word lung cancer brought back memories from 16 years ago when my family had to watch my stepfather fight his battle with lung cancer for more than a year. This was a terrible time of our life. This was not something, I decided, that I wanted my husband and my wonderful son to go through.

We decided to take everything step by step and not think about the far future but think about getting back to happy living!!!

Also telling our family and friends wasn't easy. You must know, the 3 of us only came to this beautiful country Australia, 7 years ago. Leaving the whole family behind in the Netherlands wasn't easy but not being able to bring this sad news face to face and comfort them as well was even harder. My husband Henk did a great job in telling them and keeping them informed. Lucky for us we were able to build a good friendship with a lot of people here, who over the years, have been wonderful friends. The PET scan at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital showed that after the biopsy, my left lung had collapsed but I didn't feel this, I just thought that the biopsy was a bit hurtful.

On Friday the 13th of December (Yes....I always liked Friday the 13 th!! ) my left lung was removed completely and with it, the whole cancer and six of the closest lymph nodes. Only the first closest Lymph node had cancer cells all the others were clear. I was very lucky the cancer was not connected to my heart. I stayed in hospital for 3 days

And when the doctors decided I was fit enough (and coping with just one lung) I could go home. I am not a person who is sitting or laying down a lot. (I refused to use the morphine drip to ease the pain because I strongly believe you can't feel your body healing by covering the pain.) The nurses often had to look for me in other patient's rooms where I was having a chat with other patients or walking in the hall ways because I was determined to gain my physical and mental strength back as soon as possible. After being at home for my son Jay's 17th birthday, celebrating Christmas and New Years Eve I felt the luckiest woman on Earth. On the 18th of January 2006 I was given the choice to participate in a chemo trial based on my mental state, weight and overall health and fitness. This trial was already approved in the US and Europe and has a 5% better survival rate than normal chemo. I was given 2 x double and 2 x single chemo over 16 weeks.

After the chemo was finished I promised myself a ticket to the Netherlands (to show my family that I was still alive and kicking)! Almost at the end of the chemo cycles I needed a blood transfusion but overall I was doing extremely well and was making other chemo patients laugh when trying to do some pole dancing with my drip pole. I did not lose my hair, and only had a little bit of nausea. I was just tired - very, very tired because my blood counts were border line all the time, but hey....if that is all!!!

The positive thing that came out of all of this is that I quit smoking.

Once in a while I think about the whole ordeal and sometimes I'm a bit scared of a new cancer somewhere. I do not let it take over my life though. I love to party, dance, sing and overall be ME! I do not cover up my scar and if people ask I will tell about the lung cancer. I found out that people open up when you are open about it too. I've spoken with a lot of cancer patients (survivors and non survivors) and I think that sincere and honest compassion breaks even the most silent person into a person who DOES want to speak.

This is what I would like to say to newly diagnosed lung cancer patients. Please don't go into "hibernation" but go out and show people you are strong even when you're not feeling 100%. This is what your body and mind need..... you will feel a lot better.

I praised myself when during the chemo I could walk from one room to another but also when I could do some grocery shopping! I also found it very comforting to send a weekly email to 3 groups of people (Family, Dutch Friends and Aussie Friends) letting them know in English and Dutch, what had happened that week, how I was feeling, and sometimes funny and some sad notes. It was my way of letting people know because I found it very hard at that point to say the same thing over and over again to all the people who I knew, were very anxious to hear of my progress. As a result of this, I got lots of supporting emails back and the nicest thing was: I could read them whenever I wanted!

The Future

In 3 months time, it will be 2 years ago that I was diagnosed, had the surgery, had the chemo and got on with my life. It is not always easy because my body is still adjusting to the lung removal. My heart is now positioned underneath my left arm pit and my right lung (the only one that's still there) has expanded a great deal to compensate for the loss of the left one! My mediastinal structures have also shifted to the left which sometimes makes breathing a little bit difficult when I lie down to sleep. All of this prompted my cousin Rowan (10 at the time) to ask me....what if you need resuscitation? where do they push? - clever girl!

Since these times, a lot of people have told me they loved our openness and emails and they felt comfortable about keeping in touch. A lot of people get scared when you have cancer and back away! Even my new bosses who only knew me a few months (I'm a casual) were doing double shifts (for 7 months) because they wanted to keep my shifts open for my return.

The motto I live by is: NEVER give up without trying.

I am very inspired by:

My husband Henk, and my son Jay, who are my rocks.

Others who have been an inspiration to me and my family have been my GP; my Respiratory Specialist; my Cardiothoracic Surgeon; Staff Specialist Medical Oncology & Palliative Care; my Lung Cancer Nurse; all the nurses and staff in the Oncology ward and all friends, neighbours, family and extended family who have helped us through this ordeal, because cancer affects not only the patient, but all who love them.

I am also inspired by kids and young adults who have or had cancer and their families, because I think that what they are going through is even worse than what I went through. They are so young!!

With love

Marion