Anxiety when you hear about people who lose their battle to cancer

[catlady91]

I just read today that John Travolta's wife died of breast cancer. Even though it's not lung cancer I still have anxiety as breast cancer is supposedly one of the easiest cancers to treat and cure. John Travolta and his wife were rich enough to afford the best care and treatments yet she lost her battle. I just feel anxious and makes me worry about my mum. 

[Lin wilki]

I am in complete agreement with you!  I worked with a woman who after 6 years NED from breast cancer had a recurrence. She died a few months ago. She was only 60

All I can say is hold onto your faith and when it’s your turn to go, you will be ready 

[Rower Michelle]

Hey Ladies,

I was thinking the same thing this morning then I went out for a walk and came back with a very different perspective.  I am still standing!   Even with a Stage IV lung cancer, I’ve now survived longer than some with other “treatable” diseases.  
My heart did break when the media reported the Travolta family elected to keep the fight private, I can only imagine the love and support would have poured out.  
Lin’s got it right.  Faith over fear.  

[Tom Galli]

This is my prospective on our battle for life.

Stay the course.

Tom

[catlady91]

It's very sad when people loose their battle. I believe it's so important to stay strong and not give up, even when the situation looks bleak. I'm not a religious person. I'm Jewish and I believe in God but I'm not religious. I don't believe that God performs miracles as such, but gives people power and strength to beat their illness. I feel that action and faith go hand in hand. No one gets cured from cancer by sitting around and waiting for God or Jesus to cure them. Faith for me is believing in the doctors and scientists who work so hard to treat and cure people and faith is strength of mind and not giving up. Some of the greatest things that have been achieved weren't thought possible. Some of the greatest people were expected to amount to anything yet they went on to do remarkable things. 

It's hard to be positive all the time, we're all human but I believe that positive energy is important. If you're surrounded by negativity then that doesn't exactly inspire someone to get better or to have a zest for life. 

Obviously it's not that simple as there are people who were positive who still lost their battle. Every case is different and every person, their body and cancer is different. However I think it's important to keep the mind and body strong. 

 

[Lisa Haines]

I think anyone living with cancer (especially) metastatic cancer always feels anxious and upset every time we hear of some one who did not survive and it's hard.  And for me now there are also times where I have what is known as "Survivor's Guilt".   I see very young patients who were diagnosed after me who do not have a good response to treatment and over the last 5 1/2 years since my diagnosis I've lost "several" cancer friends to this awful disease.  I makes me wonder "why" them and not me?  What made me the lucky one and why did they have the same treatment and are now gone?   I became a LUNGevity Support mentor to a newly diagnosed patient last year and we were both about the same age and had many other common interests.  Once she learned my cancer story she was very inspired and we both hoped she too would have a great response to treament, but after her full biopsy came back, she learned she also had a fairly rare mutation and they were struggling to keep her cancer stable, and it was quickly progressing.  She left conventional treatment and entered a clinical trial which had just started and it was to target her mutation.  Sadly it did not work for her and she had several side effects and was hospitalized 3-4 times all in a fairly short time frame.  I felt so bad for her and hated "sharing" any of my good news, because I was doing well and having good scans and I knew the treatments that had worked so well for me, were not helping her and would not likely  help her because of that mutation.  I watched her quickly become very ill and then just stopped hearing from her  --  We had always keep in touch via email, so I had no other contact info and then found her FB page had been closed.  I new her full name and location and was then able to search online and found out that she had passed away.   It was so hard and so sad.  She was my first mentor person and we really had much in common.   It made me realize just how lucky I was that I did not have the mutation.   But -- Why her and not me?  

I have no answers for any of this or why we feel as we do.   I also felt  sad when I hear about Kelly Preston and have many friends who have survived breast cancer including my own Mom who is now a two time survivor.  She too was lucky and her cancer was found early in both cases and was able to be surgically removed.  She had Radiation, but never needed chemo.  Yes, we lost my Aunt at 44 (my Mom's younger sister) to breast cancer, so we know how many lives it does take. 

But, now we also know that Lung Cancer takes far more lives -- more than Breast, Colon and Prostate combined and this too was a fact I never had any clue about until I became a Lung Cancer patient.  I always thought I'd likely be more prone to get Breast Cancer and never dreamed that I'd end up with Lung Cancer?     Go figure???

[Lin wilki]

Lisa. Yes I agree with everything you said!  I actually feel I might be like the friend you talked about. Having a rare mutation is a game changer. I read many success stories of those with EGFR - they do so well!  Other well known mutations have more options and more success
I know my HER2 amplification is rare and I believe the prognosis is not great. I know the target that I’m on Kadcyla certainly does not have great response in everyone. I hate to be negative and maybe after my next scan I’ll change my attitude. I just know my scanxiety is high since this was my best chance

All any of us can do is HOPE for the best but I do wonder why some die so quickly and others last for years.  
You should never have survivor guilt — we need lucky ones to keep our hope alive

[Lisa Haines]

Lin,

   I sincerely hope that you will do well in treating the HER2 amplification, I do know it's rare, but  believe they are making advances in treating this and if I remember correctly they was recently a brand new clinical trail for this, different from Kadcyla.

   I also know that deep inside and in many ways most of us have terrible scanxiety and when it comes to scan time, at least for me, I always worry it's going to be the one where they tell me the cancer is back and then I start all over again.  I've been through major progression once and it's scary and if/when that day comes, I will then have full genomic testing done and know that I too could find I have some rare mutation as well.  Currently I have KRAS, but mine is 12v (not 12C) that is looking like Amgen may have a drug that can finally target.  KRAS has always been such a challenge, but thankfully, so far I'm doing okay.  I've yet to take part in any trial, but at this point, I've used up other options, so that would likely be next for me. I just hope it's not anytime soon.

  I'll be thinking of you and really HOPE this will work.  Best wishes for success -- I feel for you and truly understand what you are saying.