Patient Story ID: 1401971

Background

Eight years ago, I was diagnosed with kidney cancer. I was a single mother of a 7-year-old and all alone. I was fit, a nondrinker, nonsmoker, and a youngish women. My entire life changed overnight. I had zero support system and had to navigate my treatment options on my own. My family was nowhere to be found and basically dismissed my cancer as being a mistake, not real cancer, etc. I was even told because I didn’t receive chemo it wasn’t real cancer. I luckily had a friend who was an oncology nurse who helped me to navigate what I needed to do to get treatment. I interviewed 3 surgeons and chose Dr Michael Palese because immediately I connected with him and believed he would be the person to effectively treat me. The hardest part for me was after surgery, the fear of the cancer not gone or coming back, not knowing what to eat, not having anyone to talk to, keeping up with my job, and raising my daughter.

Approach

I was diagnosed with stage 1 and had no understanding of partial vs radical, open vs robotic/laparoscopic, clean margins, etc. I knew nothing. I did research, spoke to my care team, and learned that the hardest part was the aftermath. I had zero family helping me or emotional support so I focused my time and energy into exercise and building my career at my new job at the National Kidney Foundation. My mission was now to use my own experiences to help others. I have created initiatives, resources, etc, with the help of industry, to educate and provide the resources I wish I had had myself.

Maintenance

I am scanned yearly by my urological surgeon. I decided my medical oncologist wasn’t a good fit to oversee my ongoing care. I did not believe getting scanned every 5 years as he and the guidelines suggested was right for myself and my daughter. I exercise, eat well, and maintain as healthy a lifestyle as I can. I think psychologically this is what keeps me unafraid.

Quality Of Life

I ended up working for the National Kidney Foundation, where I have built out the kidney cancer focus. I am now able to work on initiatives, educational programs, professional programs, etc, in order to bring to fruition the many tools I wish I had had when I was going through my journey.