Inter-Mission: Life between cancer remissions

Casa de Caridad formation community members, left to right: Romina, Janet, Denise, Peggy, Whitney and Carol. (Courtesy of Romina Sapinoso)
Casa de Caridad formation community members, left to right: Romina, Janet, Denise, Peggy, Whitney and Carol. (Courtesy of Romina Sapinoso)

by Janet Gildea

Contributor

View Author Profile

Join the Conversation

Send your thoughts to Letters to the Editor. Learn more

Janet Gildea, SC, has been a contributor to Global Sisters Report, writing on immigration and other topics from the U.S.-Mexico border. Janet began chemotherapy for recurrent ovarian cancer on October 6, 2015, an experience that she will be sharing in GSR over the next several months.

______

Most cancer survivors will admit that they never quite stop looking over their shoulders to see if a recurrence is creeping up on them. Having been caught by surprise once, nobody wants to be blind-sided again. My initial experience of ovarian cancer came in February 2008 when I was 52 years old, a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati practicing family medicine at the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas.

Stage IV at diagnosis, everyone including myself was amazed that I went into complete remission after surgery and an initial course of chemotherapy. Six years a survivor, I never tired of hearing people say, “You are a miracle!”

Read the full story at Global Sisters Report.

Latest News

Advertisement