“I’ve been part of Relay for Life as a volunteer and supporter for eight years. My pastor who was like a father died of cancer. Co-workers who were like family died of cancer. It was all around me. We have a long history of diabetes, kidney failure and heart disease in my own family, but I’d never heard of cancer affecting any relatives.

“After having female problems for a long time, I finally had to go to the doctor. They did an intrauterine biopsy, and it took several weeks to get the results. Finally, the doctor called and said, ‘Glenda, you have stage one uterine cancer.’ And I just broke down crying. It was a real blow. I already have heart problems, diabetes and a number of other things. None of those surprised me because my parents had it and their parents had it. But cancer? I wasn’t expecting that.

“They said if I had an operation, I’d be high risk. So they want to try radiation or chemo. Right now, my finances are suffering because of different things. I’ve had to push back some doctor’s dates. When you’re low income, it can be pretty challenging. When you have to pay for parking at the hospital, you can’t always afford that. But I’m going to get treatment. I know this can spread.

“Being involved with Relay for Life and seeing how cancer affects people, and suddenly you’re one of them, it’s a shock. I know I have people who support me. And I know I’m going to get through this. But I still get depressed, frustrated and angry at times. It can get pretty overwhelming. This year when I walk my first lap as a survivor, I just hope I don’t go to pieces.”

— Glenda George (Anahuac)

(Note: Glenda George passed away on April 7, 2020.)

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The post Relay for Life volunteer dealing with her own cancer appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“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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The post ‘Tough old bird’ survivor of rare carcinoid cancer appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I’ve been involved in Relay for Life since 1999. I showed up at the Lee College relay that year and ran a marathon just for fun. After that, I got hooked and started raising money. Every year I would raise more money and run more miles. I got up to 75 miles. It used to be a longer event, but now it lasts eight hours so I run 20 or 25 miles. I’ve raised as much as $25,000 for one relay. Overall, I believe I’ve raised about $160,000.

“Besides the fact that I enjoy running so much, the relay is important to me because my sister almost died from cancer. She had bone cancer when she was 14 years old. It was pretty touch and go for a while. They used immunotherapy, which in those days was a very experimental treatment, but it worked. Her leg had to be amputated above the knee, and she has an artificial limb. But the treatment worked. She’s alive today.

“When I run for that event I think about my sister and my mother-in-law, who had both breasts removed in 1977. She also had a form of leukemia when she died of old age at almost 96 years old. She lived until 2010. That’s a real survivor. She was so inspiring.”

— Bob Botto

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The post He enjoys running for a cancer-fighting cause appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I got the card in the mail that said it was time for my checkup. I ignored it. I got another card. I ignored it, too. Then I had to go in for something else and I was like, you know what, I may as well get my mammogram since they’ve been bugging me about it.

“Afterward, they said there’s something they wanted to look at again. So I thought, OK, no big deal. Even when I got my biopsy I thought, this happens to a lot of people, it’s probably nothing.

“Well, they caught it very early, so I didn’t have to have chemo or radiation. I had a mastectomy. Immediately I said, just take it. I want to get rid of it. So I didn’t have to have any follow-up treatments. I was extremely lucky.

“The first few years when people would make a big deal about it, I didn’t understand why. I never thought that I wasn’t going to still be around, so I tried to downplay it. When the fifth year came, they really made a big deal about it. They said five years is a milestone. I guess that’s when I started feeling a little like a survivor.

“Because I didn’t go through chemo or radiation, and I didn’t have any major pain, it was like a little blip on the radar. It’s not that I feel like a fraud. But when I see other people who struggle with their cancer experience I think, those are the real survivors. They should be celebrated. Me, I don’t feel like I’m in that category because I didn’t suffer like they did.”

— Tammy Adams

The post She beat cancer, but didn’t feel like a survivor appeared first on The Baytown Project.