Trini Parsons—Cancer Scare Strengthens Connection to God

Trini Parsons has seen her share of women with breast cancer. As an x-ray technologist at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, that's hardly surprising. But in the summer of 2005, she came across a cancer patient in an unusual place—her own mirror.

What Parsons has learned about herself since then has been enlightening. “I am much more upbeat,” she says. “I don't let things get me down. I am much calmer about many things.”

Diane Schooley-Pettis—Never Give Up

BSU PROFESSOR OVERCOMES BOUT WITH PANCREATIC CANCER

Diane Schooley-Pettis was looking forward to the basketball game in San Antonio more than five years ago, where she would get a chance to see Michael Jordan play in person. But the Boise State University (BSU) associate dean and finance professor wasn't even able to make it through the entire game.

“I told my husband I had terrible pain, and I couldn't tell if it was in my back or my abdomen,” says Schooley-Pettis. The pain marked the beginning of a tough road ahead for Schooley-Pettis. Upon her return to Boise, the 41-year-old was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer.

Tammy Sherner—Over the Edge

THE GIFT
Like most women, I know the importance of breast cancer screening. For each birthday I give myself a little “gift”, my annual mammogram. In 2007, my “gift” came with a pink bow - I had breast cancer.
I’ve been a nurse at Saint Alphonsus for eight years, mostly with the inpatient Behavioral Health Unit. Lately I’ve spent more time in meetings than using my nursing skills. Through my work with the Nurse Council, on Magnet and other projects, I have come to know nurses all over the hospital. Those relationships would prove invaluable with the arrival of my cancer.

Still Flying: The Larry Grimmett Story

Like Father

As Larry heard the doctor’s diagnosis, memories of his father came back. He remembered that his had died from prostate cancer only a few years earlier, and now he has prostate cancer. Larry Grimmett, a 56 year-old financial advisor wasn’t ready for what he saw his father go through. “I was scared,” confessed Larry.

Like most men in Larry’s situation, there’s fear of the unknown, fear of life-altering side effects from treatment, and the fear of a slow death like his father. Fortunately for Larry, the past several years have brought new treatment options that his father never had. Larry just had to make a decision.

According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the most common non skin cancer in America. While 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, men with a single relative with a history of prostate cancer are twice as likely to develop the disease. As the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer, about 1 man in 36 will die of prostate cancer.

Carl Engle—A Modern Miracle

Amazingly, two weeks after surgery for prostate cancer, Carl Engle hiked five miles in the Boise foothills. To his buddy, who also had prostate cancer surgery, and has a 4-inch scar across his belly to prove it, that was a miracle. To Carl, that was only part of the miracle.

It was a day in 2001, when he heard Saint Alphonsus announcing free prostate screenings. A native Idahoan, and co-owner of CJ Precision Machine in Boise, Carl is a baby boomer who, like many of his generation, spent most of his life taking his good health for granted. But on this particular day, he felt urgency from within to take up the free offer and have a prostate check-up. Being an active kind of guy, Carl expected a clean bill of health.

Janelle Sweaney—Looking Back, Looking Forward

A patient recalls her cancer experience and those who helped her get through it.
You've heard them called “the good old days.” Maybe they were those idyllic, childhood moments spent playing in the afternoons; maybe they were Spring Break road trips when gasoline was less than a dollar (or two dollars) a gallon.

For Janelle Sweaney, the good old days weren't that long ago. Just three years ago, she was 23 and working, having fun and being carelessly happy. “I was out just enjoying life, not thinking of consequences and not having a care in the world,” she says. But those so-called good old days took a sudden turn.

A Very Good Number: The Jack Floegel Story

The C Word
“When the doctor told me I had cancer, I just glazed over,” Jack recalled. “He was telling about my options for treatment, but I didn’t hear much after he said the ‘C’ word. That word just kept going over and over in my mind.”

Jack Floegel was 62 when an elevated PSA score was discovered during an annual exam. Six months later his score was checked again, and it was higher. Jack’s physician referred him to an urologist who performed a needle biopsy on his prostate. That’s when it was confirmed he had cancer.

Jack was now among the 200,000 American men every year diagnosed with prostate cancer. And like the others, he needed to make a tough decision on a course of action. He didn’t want to join the other group, the 32,000 fatalities annually from that disease.

Ugly Options
An engineer by profession, Jack attacked the situation with research. He wanted to learn all he could about his disease and his options for treatment, or even if treatment was needed. “I went to the internet first, which is the worst place to get information, unless you want to read horror stories,” Jack said. “The library provided much better information.”

His research showed that some men choose to do nothing, hoping the cancer doesn’t spread beyond the prostate. “The the course my father-in-law took, and he died at 60,” Jack said. “I’m not going there.” Then there is the option for radiation treatment or radioactive seed implants. “I want the cancer out,” Jack stated firmly. “And that that meant surgery.” The best change to get rid of all the cancer would be to have the entire prostate removed - a prostatectomy.

Real Miracle, Healing Stories: Cancer

Friendly Advice

Hal remembers his friend’s words. “He said he would’ve been okay if he would’ve had regular prostate exams,” Hal recalls. So after his friend died of prostate cancer, Hal Harris, a 45 year-old cattle rancher, began to have regular physical exams. That decision may have saved his life.

Annual exams for men Hal’s age typically include a PSA blood test and a physical exam to check the prostate. An elevated PSA score can be an early warning sign of prostate cancer. While Hal’s PSA scores were consistently low, a physical exam of his prostate raised concerns.

Second Opinion
“My doctor found bumps on my prostate,” Hal said. “I didn’t know what that meant, but I was referred to an urologist for a biopsy.” The needle biopsy results came back revealing that Hal, now 53, had prostate cancer.

“I knew God would get me through this,” he recalls. “I ask the doctor what my options were so I get on with it.” Hal’s urologist gave him two options. Both were open surgery solutions. “He told me that with either approach I would need to give blood before the surgery, because there would be a lot of blood loss, and he said I would be laid up for some time.”

While Hal was considering his options, a friend who had just had prostate surgery learned of Hal’s situation. The friend had prostate surgery performed by David B. Rice, M.D. with Idaho Urologic Institute. But what got Hal’s attention was that the surgery was performed at Saint Alphonsus using a surgical robot called the da Vinci.

A Cancer Healing Story - Full Responsiblity By Elizabeth Hepburn

One day, in the 1970s, I had what was—for me, at the time—a revolutionary thought. I was about four years into a bout with cancer. I’d had six surgeries and was beginning a chemotherapy regimen that, unbeknownst to me, would last for three years. I was a working singer/actor, and was tap dancing as fast as I could to keep my illness quiet so I’d still get hired in theatre. Neither my doctors nor the few people I’d taken into my confidence could explain why this was happening. I took better care of myself than anyone they knew, so why was I in the hospital every 20 minutes? My medical team was terrific, and they were doing all they could to restore my health, but I began to feel that it wasn’t enough. I knew that something inside of me had to shift. And then out of the blue came this insight: I must take full responsibility for my own well-being. Although I was unaware of it, this was one of the axioms of the then-emerging human potential movement, and the energy was in the air. From that moment on I was fully committed to being responsible for my own wellness.

Ginny Walden’s Miracle

excerpted from The Cancer Healing Journey of A National Champion Swimmer

... when they told me I had had cancer 8-10 years I couldn't connect with the illness. I told my doctors that just because I now knew that I had cancer for ten years didn't mean I was going to stop being happy! So I began treatment with a positive attitude...

Being mystical by nature but also having an inquiring mind I was praying to the Universe that I would not have to go through treatment and was searching through alternative therapies. The doctor was strongly against this and said I would be dead if I chose alternative. That was a strong fear message and I wondered why he didn't just say "let's try everything!". He said I had an aggressive cancer and needed surgery, 3 months of chemotherapy (Adriamyicin and Taxol, a bit higher than normal dose), stem cell rescue and 6000 rads of radiation. I started praying and decided to begin acupuncture. My acupuncturist (I called him my "real" doctor) knew how to treat cancer patients. He suggested I lower my high stress levels by taking his Mind Body Stress Reduction program which entailed a little yoga, meditation and a body scan (1 hour a day). I brought my stress levels down 60%.