认识艾琳

艾琳-阿尔加泽，幸存者

加利福尼亚州君主海滩

艾琳的故事

癌症的讽刺I am 67 years old and have survived colon cancer four times:  stage 0 in 2001, stage 4 metastasized to the liver in 2008, further metastasized to lymph node on liver in 2012 and now in a cluster of six nodes in the abdomen. After major surgeries with complications, grueling chemotherapy, loss of my hair, my body parts and my marriage, I’m still here.

My mother died of breast cancer when I was 10 and my brother Kenneth was eight. I knew Ken was afraid to lose me to the same enemy.  My brother was born deaf. I always was very protective of him.

Going to doctors were out of Ken’s comfort zone. Only once he actually asked me to take him to urgent care due to recurring stomach pain. The diagnosis was a bleeding ulcer, but with our family history, the doctor told him to get a colonoscopy as soon as possible. He promised me that he would take care of it. He didn’t.

At the end of August 2010, Ken hadn’t answered emails for over a week. I was so concerned that I was going to over to his place and bang the door down. My daughter and sister assured me that one of them would go after work -- to protect Ken from my power trip, and save his apartment door.

My sister found our brother on the floor next to his couch. The television was on and a bottle of antacids lay on the coffee table. Details of the coroner’s autopsy report were more shocking than my brother’s sudden death. A relatively small - 4x3x3 cm  - tumor caused “complete blockage of the descending colon.”  The coroner told us that many men who live alone ignore symptoms and avoid doctors.

我请我的肿瘤学家查看了尸检报告。他解释说，我哥哥的癌症是非常早期的，是可以治疗和治愈的，但这个小肿瘤的位置导致了他的死亡。 I was told that sometimes single men are in denial of health issues.  Maybe it's pride. Who knows. But, survival guilt is sometimes worse than surviving.

艾琳的建议

关注自己的身体，享受质量而非数量。

一百万强对艾琳意味着什么？

胜利者，而不是受害者。