Gloria’s Survivor Story

Hello,

 

I am a thyroid cancer survivor of 19 years. My story: I was 33 yrs old, the mother of a 10 yr old at the time. Diagnosed with papillary carcinoma. I found the nodule myself and had a sore throat that wouldn’t go away. I went to the doctor and they gave me antibiotics and sent me home saying come back in 3 months, we will just watch it.  I couldn’t sleep that night worrying about it, so the next day I returned to the doctor insisting we remove the lump. He resisted but finally decided to do a ultrasound. He said that the ultrasound looked benign; I still insisted the nodule be removed. We scheduled surgery within the week, which was to take about 30 min. Well 6 hours later I awoke to find out it was cancer. The nodule was touching a lymph node; so we needed to see if it had spread. Fortunately it had not spread! Grateful I didn’t wait the 3 months suggested by the doctor or my story may have ended differently. Within the next year I had to have RAI twice; high dosage. I’m now 52 yrs old and still cancer free after 19 years! I take my synthroid daily & I’m living and loving life. I hope anyone diagnosed with this cancer will trust the process and their own instincts, keep positive attitude and share their stories with others. There were not many people for me to talk to back then, glad that there is more Info  now. I send positive energy to all fighting this fight. You can win it! Thanks for letting me share my story.

 

Thank you,

Gloria