Jamie Gonzalez

Recovery is not easy but the worst part is now over. Wishing you the best.

Congratulations on being cancer free. Positive is the only way to be. You should really look into the Determa RX for yourself as well. It's for us patients that have had early stage lung cancer. It just gave me a little more peace of mind.

I was diagnosed with Stage 1B Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer 10-years ago. Lung cancer was not my first diagnoses. I was missed diagnosed with Pneumonia and then Tuberculosis. I was told I didn’t have lung cancer because of my age. It wasn’t until 5 months later after a lung biopsy I received the diagnosis of Stage 1B Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. It was a shock to me and my family as we do not have cancer in our family, and I do not smoke. I was 35 years old at the time and had my stepdaughter in her senior year in high school and two younger children in elementary school. My life changed the moment I received my diagnoses. Having to tell my husband and parents the diagnoses was the hardest thing to do. My kids were young and didn’t understand. Was I going to be around for my kids and grow old with my husband? Next was to just do what I needed to do to move on with life and live everyday to the fullest. I met with my surgeon and oncologist at UCSF a couple weeks after my diagnoses. Surgery was scheduled a week later. Going into surgery was the scariest and most unknown experience in my life. I was not sure I was going to wake up after the surgery to see my kids and not knowing if they would understand what happen to me? As you know I made it through the surgery and recovery. Recovery after having my lower right lung removed was painful. All I wanted to do was get home to my husband and children. I was told I was cancer free but it was still very scary to think I could get cancer again. And was told people that have had lung cancer and get the reoccurrence of cancer don’t have much success of survival. The most important thing and the reason I feel I just celebrated my 10 years of cancer free is because of Determa RX. I truly believe if I was not offered this test I would not be here today seeing and living all the milestones in my life and my children’s life. Determa RX has given me and my family a piece of mind that I have done everything possible to live a long life. To be offered this test was amazing and a no brainer to have it done. You have to do nothing. They use the cells they already have from your surgery. What this test does is determines if you need to have chemotherapy or not. If it comes by high, you need to have chemotherapy to kill all those cancer cells in your body. If it is low, the chances of you having the reoccurrence of cancer are slim. Of course, mine came back high. I had four rounds of chemotherapy after I recovered from surgery. It was not easy but I did it so I would not have to live and go through cancer again. Not just for me but for my family too. It was not just me that went through cancer my whole family lived through this traumatic time. There are things I don’t remember about it but if you ask my husband and mom they remember every moment. Determa RX is the reason I’m here today and why I can share my story.