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“I have stage 4 lung cancer and my girlfriend Penny has small cell lung cancer, we both know our time together will be cut short because of this deadly disease. Lung Cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women in the United States. I support Team Draft because they are bring awareness and helping to put faces to this tragic disease. We can’t do this alone; we need your help in eradicating this deadly disease that touches so many of our family members, please support Team Draft. ”
In September of 2006 I was doing volunteer work at a local prison and went in for an x-ray for a standard TB test; they saw a shadow on my left lung.
I was diagnosed with non-small cell (Adenocarcinoma). Since June of 2009 I have had 15 treatments of radiation, six cycles of Taxol, Carbo and Avastin, and then the cancer spread to my liver. I then did six cycles of Genzar along with Tarceva. My liver CT scan came back clean after three cycles of Genzar and my lungs were stable. I have been on 150 mg of Tarceva since 1-23-2010, my last CT scan was 12-26-2012 and I am still stable.
When I was first DX with Stage 4 Lung Cancer I immediately went to the internet and found statics on my type and stage of cancer. The news was not very exciting, eight months to a year was what I was reading. You need to know these stats are five years old and before the introduction of a lot of new targeted therapies. I was DX with an enlarged heart in 1998 and told I would need a heart transplant within two years. I started making plans for a new diet, exercise and a new supplement, Co Q 10. I reversed the condition within 18 months. I am still living with the same heart, so I knew if I couldn’t beat cancer I could give it a run for the money.
The last few years have been some of the best years of my life. In 2009 I started getting all my affairs in order and took care of my cremation, prepared my will and wrote out all my wishes to my children.. So I finished and I thought now what? Everything is in order treatment is going well and I am stable. I have no more worries about having enough money for retirement, so I decided to go out and live life to the fullest every day. I am and was an avid hiker and mountain biker, so I continued those activities; even though there were times during chemotherapy I thought it would kill me.
I look back and am sure a positive and a drive to continue exercising has contributed to my stability this last four years. I met a wonderful woman Penny Blume on a cancer web site in October of 2010. Penny is a survivor of small cell lung cancer (extensive) we have taken turns traveling from California to New York to be with each other this last 18 months. If it weren’t for cancer I would have never met the love of my live and truly understood the meaning of living life to the fullest one day at a time. Don
from:http://www.teamdraft.org/survivorstories/don-stranathan-and-penny/
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