GIST Patient Stories

I’m an 83-year-old U.S. Navy veteran. I smoked for twenty-odd years until I was 35 years old, which left me with some lingering COPD. Ten years ago I had a heart attack and had a stent put in. So when I received my cancer diagnosis, it crossed my mind that it might be time to go into hospice. But my wife Debbie was already battling breast cancer, and if she could fight, I felt like I could too.

When I met the physicians at Fox Chase Cancer Center who would be treating me, I knew right away there were no better hands to be in.

I am a breast cancer survivor, but my second journey with cancer started about two and a half years ago, when I started to experience two symptoms. First, I was waking every two hours during the night to empty my bladder. Second, I started having quite a bit of trouble moving my bowels. I put off seeing a doctor about these symptoms, but finally a friend of mine suggested that I go see a gynecologist to discuss what was happening.

Toward the end of 2019, I started having pain on my right side. I finally went to my primary care doctor in January of 2020, and she sent me to get a CT scan. It didn’t show anything, but the pain wasn’t going away, so she sent me to get an MRI with contrast. I was out to lunch with a girlfriend when my doctor called and told me, “Diane, I’m so sorry, but you have a tumor.”

Found by Accident

In 2014, I had just retired and was looking forward to traveling with my husband, Leonard. I had been dealing with a multiday headache that just kept getting worse, and at one point, I passed out. I woke up four days later to learn that I had suffered a massive brain bleed. As a result of this, my doctors ordered a complete CT scan to get an idea of what was going on.

In the spring 2005, I passed out at my home and was taken to my local emergency room. After describing my symptoms, an endoscopy was performed. Doctors found a mass in my stomach and performed laparoscopic surgery to remove it. My discharge instructions made no mention of cancer.

In April 2007, my symptoms were back, so I returned to the same hospital. The doctors asked me whether I followed up with an oncologist after my initial surgery. No one at my local hospital ever told me I had cancer, so I was confused and shocked by this news.