‘Tough old bird’ survivor of rare carcinoid cancer
Saundra Smith’s weight problem took a back seat to carcinoid cancer.
“I was tiny as a kid, and I was athletic growing up. I did not have the problems that obese children have. But when I quit being physically active, I started gaining weight. Then I went into a depression after my mother died of cancer, and I gradually gained more and more through the years.
“By the time I went in for the gastric bypass when I was 56, I weighed 386 pounds. When I woke up, I learned that the doctor had found tumors on my stomach, liver and pancreas. But I didn’t give myself time to be depressed about the cancer. I was too irate about him not doing the bypass.
“After being released from the hospital and having tests, it was decided that I would die sooner from being obese — I also had high blood pressure and diabetes — than from this rare carcinoid cancer. So I ended up getting the gastric bypass, at which time they also seared the tumors.
“Once I was on solid food, the doctor told me that my cancer could be controlled with an injection once a month. I saw that as no big deal, and I went on my merry way.
“I started participating in Relay for Life, but felt odd doing so. I almost felt guilty saying I had cancer or that I was a survivor. It was like I didn’t have the right to be there since I had no real symptoms of cancer the way others had. All I did was take a shot. I had no radiation. I had no weeks of regular chemo. So I just concentrated on being there for my mother and her five siblings who had died from various cancers, and for friends who died or were going through cancer treatment.”
After a rough few months dealing with side effects from an oral chemo drug, she recently learned from a liver specialist that her tumors are significantly reduced.
“My cancer is never going away. It travels the blood system and the lymph system, and we deal with the outcrops of tumors. But I’ll take that. Because back in 2005 when we started all of this, I was told by one of my doctors that because of my obesity, the cancer and my other health problems, they didn’t really expect me to still be living today. They tell me that I’m a tough old bird. I gladly relate to that.”
— Saundra Smith
(Note: Saundra Smith passed away on June 24, 2021, at age 72.)
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