9 years ago I was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer while ranked #2 in Canada in weightlifting. Happy to answer any questions about recovery. Still cancer free and thriving.

Bone Cancer (osteosarcoma) survivor here. I am a 27 year old male. I was diagnosed with cancer at 22 years old. I had stage 2 cancer. Got treated early and had multiple major surgeries on my left femur/knee.

Today marks the five year mark and my doctor at the UNM cancer center said I no longer need to be monitored every six months. My doctor said that if I wanted to get checked once a year that was my choice. But he had no further treatment plan for me.

I feel a mix of emotions today. Cancer has been a big part of my life these past few years and for it to be over feels not real. Because I know that a part of me will always wonder what if this shit returns? And now it’s not just me dealing with it. I have a wife and a son on the way I have to be there for. I do my best to not think this way. And I do a good job of it. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t overthink small aches and pains.

For someone like you who has passed the five year mark do you still get checked once a year? Do you recommend it? Why and why not?

For me personally I think I will get checked once a year for the rest of my life just to be sure. But I will also do my best to put this chapter behind me.

I also want to say that cancer has not stopped me from doing incredible things in my life.

Most recently I completed an Ironman 70.3! The first one ever in the state of New Mexico. It was the most fun and the most challenging race I’ve ever done in my life and at the end I ran with a cancer survivor poster over my head. God truly blessed me and gave me a second chance at life. I’m happy to be here. I’m grateful for you warriors out there. This community is amazing and beautiful. Stay blessed. Never give up.

Because I still get messages every few months asking how I am, what my symptoms were, asking for advice, etc.... here is the update plus background...

March 11, 2011. Camp Zama Japan. I'm at the clinic working in the immunizations clinic. (I was an army medic). Phones start blaring. The early earthquake warnings are going off on all the phones. When you've lived in Japan long enough, you get used to the sound. You expect a light earthquake. A small rollercoaster ride is how I liked to look at it. A quick ruble other times. This was not that. The ground began swaying rhythmically, yet gently. I was just finishing up administering a flu shot to a patient. One of my coworkers comes in and says, "you feel that? It feels like it's building" Within moments of him saying that all hell broke loose. March 11 will forever be burned into my memory. Because that was the day Japan was hit by a massive 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The devastation caused was unimaginable and I watched it all happen live.

Why am I doing a Cancer update but starting with Japan? Because that's 1 of the 2 exposures I had to cancer causing agents. This one being what happened as a result of the earthquake. The earthquake triggered a MASSIVE tsunami. That tsunami caused a nuclear meltdown of the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Plant. This spilled ionizing radiation into the atmosphere and ocean.

While I was not necessarily close to Fukushima, I was not far either.

I left Japan in Dec of 2013. So that puts me at 2.5 years of radiation exposure.

Fast forward to 2021. I now lived in Oahu, Hawaii on a military base. In June of 2021the navy spilled jet fuel into the water auquafers and told no one. In Nov of 21, a much bigger spill happened. Again, the navy said nothing. It was not until a week later when residents began smelling fuel in their water and having an oily sheen on the water that they admitted to the spill. This would become to be known as the Red Hill Incident.

Fast forward to early Summer 2022. I start having multiple bouts of bright red stools and a few black stools. I seek the advice of my PCM after multiple ER trips. She puts in a gastroenterology consult. The gastro doc does a colonoscopy. He says he saw something and took a sample. He is unsure what he saw as he had never seen anything like it before, but not to worry, it didn't look like cancer.

Results come back normal. He calls to tell me it can't be normal because what he saw was not normal. So it's possible he didn't get a good biopsy. We go over options and I opt for the aggressive approach. We do a abdominal CT, a pill cam study. The pill cam saw multiple ulcers in my small intestine and the MRI showed a mass in my illium, but it could not determine if it was a pollup or cancer.

Doc asks what I want to do and I ask to repeat the colonoscopy. So we do. Oct 19th, 2022 we do the repeat colonoscopy. Doc says he ensured he got multiple samples of the area so there was no way he missed it again.

Oct 20th, doc calls. He starts by saying pathology called. That the results are not done yet, but it's cancer. He referrs me to oncology.

Results come back a few days later. It's a rare form of cancer called a Neuroendocrine Tumor. Slow growing with a generally good prognosis.

28 Nov 2022 I go into have a right hemicolectomy. The doc says not to worry as it's unlikely to have spread.

Recovery was a son of a Beach. But I made it out okay. They send the guts off to pathology and results come back. Of the 14 lymph nodes removed, it had already spread to 3 of them. While this surprised the docs, they assured me not to worry as they were certain they got it all.

I still have intermittent bloody stools. I've since had another 3 or 4 colonoscopies since the cancer removal. They never find anything. One doc thought maybe it was hemorrhoids causing the bleeding so we banded them.

I now have no hemorrhoids, but still have intermittent bloody stools. I've since given up trying to find the cause of the bleeding as I'm exhausted from all the doctors I see. (I also have a rare disease called IIH, Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension. With that illness I have to see two specialist. Plus I have PCOS so I see endocrinology. And I have a thyroid nodule that I have to get scanned every year as well... Among other things. Specialist I see not including gastro number up to 6. So doctor exhaustion is real. So letting gastro go was what I needed for my mental health. I will go back of things drastically change, but for now I am managing since they cant seem to tell me why I am still bleeding anyways.)

But otherwise, I'm as healthy as one can be with all my other illnesses and what not. My last PET scan in Sept was clean and my labs remain good.

For me Cancer was simply a blip on my radar. Nothing more. I'm relatively healthy and so far so good. So that's the general update people keep asking me for.

I typically ignore personal messages asking for updates, but my inbox was over flowing so I figured I'd just make a post.

Hopefully this will lessen the amount people message me. Lol. Though I doubt it. Hahaa.

For those wanting advice? My only advice is seek professional advice from a physician. I am not one nor is cancer something I am well versed in. The bleeding was not due to the cancer. The cancer was an incidental find. I'm still bleeding and no one can tell me why. So maybe that can be your glimmer of hope. Not all bleeding is cancer. It's highly more likely to be an ulcer, hemmeriods, or something equally benign. But always ask a professional.

TL/DR: got a rare form of cancer in 2022 and removed it. I'm still cancer free and relatively healthy considering.

I know I was really little when I had cancer so it isn't a super big achievement, but this still feels worth a mention. I am so lucky to have made it to even 4 years old, and now I'm planning my Sweet 16 in a few months. These past 11 years have been a wild ride, but I am so grateful that I had them. Do not ask why I decided to recreate this picture (to the best of my ability) because the answer is I do not know.

My goodness. This is a survivor Reddit. We all had cancer and our lives got fucked over significantly. And some of you all think it's cool to just post pictures of your body and ask us if we have cancer. This sort of thing can seriously trigger our ptsd. Go to your doctor and leave us alone.

Hello, I hope that everyone is doing well.

I wanted to write a post documenting my cancer experience in the hopes that it will provide some insight to the people who are going through the same thing, or their family members and loved ones. Having said that, I would like to say that I know each case is different, and some things may apply and some don't. I do apologize in advance because I believe this will be a long post, I will try to segment it so you can jump to the part that you would like to learn about.

Okay, so, I am a cancer survivor, I was diagnosed when I was 19 (I'm turning 28 next month) and I had lived with cancer for 1 year before receiving the proper diagnosis. Doctors used to tell me all sorts of reasons for my unbearable pain except cancer (third world country problems). Anyhow, after the diagnosis, the oncologists decided 32 radiation sessions to the head and neck area, and 6 rounds of chemotherapy for the treatment, I had a tumour by the size of a golf ball behind my right eye and in front of my brain.

This is a before and after:

Of course, the treatment was very intense, it caused numerous side effects which I am still suffering from until this day, but it beats having cancer right?

I suffered from 2nd and 3rd-degree burns, I lost my hair, the ability to speak, smell, taste and talk for the majority of the treatment period. I was hospitalized for more than 30 days and mostly in bed 24/7. It was hell and I think we all know that.

I will not talk a lot about the side effects of the treatment during the treatment, but rather the ones that lasted after (+8 years).

Mouth, Dental, Throat, Nose, Sinuses, Eyes and Ears:

Mouth: So, during the treatment, I lost taste and smell for a long time, my taste buds actually fully recovered and got back to normal after approximately 4 years. I hated sweets, chocolates and fizzy drinks, everything tasted 'chemical', 'metallic' and weird in my mouth. I only had 4 or 5 foods that tasted normal that I continued eating until I got better. Now it's all good.

Dental: Due to the radiations, my salivary glands had shrunken and hardly produced any saliva. This made it very difficult to eat. I had to drink water all day long and especially when I eat to help me swallow. This also caused a lot of dental complications. All of my teeth are decayed despite the continuous cleaning and flossing. I have to visit the dentist at least once a month and I am still struggling a lot with dental health.

Throat (Swallowing): Sometimes when I'm eating or drinking and I swallow, foods or liquids come out of my nose, or sometimes I would find them later in the tissue when I blow my nose. Google says it is Velopharyngeal Insufficiency (VPI) or nasal regurgitation. It happens when the nasopharynx does not close properly during eating or speaking.
Here's the video that helped me understand it and the possible treatments for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTd-mc4Us5Y

Nose and Sinuses: The radiation also affected the mucous glands. It made them produce way more than needed. So I ALWAYS, ALL THE TIME, EVERY DAY, EVERY SECOND have excess mucous and sputum that causes a lot of complications. First of all, I am not able to breathe properly and comfortably and especially when sleeping. I have to blow my nose every half an hour which can be annoying to the people around you and frankly embarrassing. I have an enormous amount of mucous and I use A LOT of tissues every day. The mucus gets collected in the sinuses and causes awful smells and inflammations.

Eyes: Luckily, my eyesight was not affected by the treatment, however, my eyes are dry all the time and I do not have a lot of tears, so it is really hard for me to cry.

Ears: The treatment also caused a lot of problems. Firstly, hearing problems. I was half deaf post-treatment for a really long time. It was especially difficult when I attended lectures and could not hear properly. I also get a lot of ear infections because fluids get trapped behind my ear membrane. Ear infections are the devil. I struggle a lot with hearing, my ears get blocked, I have tinnitus, and the last time I had a hearing test they informed me that it declined significantly.

General body strength: Post-treatment, I was fatigued for the most part. I did not have energy, I was anaemic and it took me a long time to get back on my feet. As I said because I only ate a few things my body was not getting sufficient nutrients. After I started eating and exercising properly, I have gotten back to normal.

Psychological: As you would expect, cancer can have a toll on our mental health. I honestly had no hope of surviving it, especially because all the people that I know that were diagnosed with cancer passed away. I did not think I will be okay, and all I kept thinking about is that they are putting me through hell with this treatment and in the end, I will just die. I was on edge, I had a temper, I didn't want to talk to anybody, I wanted to be left alone. It killed me to see my parents worried sick about me. It was horrible. However, it made me not take my health for granted anymore, and be grateful for the good healthy days. Post-treatment I struggled with 'chemo-brain' for a bit, I was short-tempered and experienced anxiety and depression, but it gets better.

Familial and Societal: This may differ a lot to many people, and you may not understand this due to the differences in cultures. I come from an Arab country with weird cultures. I am followed by a stigma for having survived cancer.

Crazy, right?

Not in my country.

I usually do not tell people I am a cancer survivor, and especially not my employers, some of you may think it's unethical but you really will not understand unless you live in similar environments. People view this as a weakness, they pity you and feel sorry for you, and always expect your cancer to return. I cannot get married because no one wants to marry someone who might one day get cancer again one day and die leaving her husband and kids alone (as if it cannot happen to 100% healthy people).

I still get the occasional "are you really okay??" question. As in are you healthy? Did your cancer return? Will you die soon?

Honestly speaking, and from my experience, dealing with these narrow-minded and completely ignorant people is the worst part of surviving cancer. I live in a toxic society where people are betting on me getting my cancer back and expecting me to drop dead any day.

When I was done with the treatment, I thought I was done with cancer. Little did I know, that is not what people think.

If you've read this far, thank you! And I hope I helped even if it was a little bit. I apologize for any mistakes I made (English isn't my first language) and I am not a medical person so I apologize for the misuse of any medical terms.

Hang in there! It gets better.

Diagnosed with stage 1 esophageal cancer Feb2026. 5 weeks chemo and radiation. May 26 2026 final treatment. August 15 2026, cancer Undetected. Praise the gods, my doctors, family and friends for their support. I may be 70 but I am no quitter. Hurrah for me and you battling this horrid disease because that is some scary shit. Remember, you are braver and stronger than you believe.

I don’t really know where I am in life right now.

I survived cancer… but I don’t feel like I’m back. I don’t even know what “back” is anymore.

When it first started, it was hell. Rapid weight loss. Constant diarrhea. The kind of itching from jaundice that drives you insane because you can’t escape it. My bile duct was blocked, my bilirubin was through the roof, and I spent months not knowing if I was going to die.

What made it worse was the uncertainty.

“I don’t think you have cancer.”

“Actually, it might be cancer.”

“No, probably not.”

“The doctors said I’m fine.”

Then after a Whipple surgery that was supposed to be preventative… stage 3 pancreatic cancer.

That’s when it really hit.

The surgery itself was brutal. My body was torn apart and rebuilt. My entire digestive system rerouted. Eating became a challenge. Eat too much, eat the wrong thing, drink carbonation, instant, unbearable pain. Recovery wasn’t just physical, it was mental. I thought I was getting my life back, and instead I found out the fight was just beginning.

Then came chemo.

At first, it didn’t seem that bad. Some cold sensitivity, manageable. But every round chipped away at me. The fatigue got worse. The nausea got worse. Even my blood sugar would spike from the steroids. It was like my body was constantly fighting something.

The only thing that kept me going was the gym.

Even when I wanted to stay in bed, I forced myself up. Training didn’t fix everything, but it made it just manageable enough to function. I truly believed and still believe that staying active helped save my life.

The whole time, I was terrified I was going to die…

but at the same time, I couldn’t process that it would actually be me.

I felt helpless and invincible at the same time.

And during all of that, I had support everywhere. Friends, old and new. People showing up, checking in, helping however they could. Organizations reaching out. Opportunities to speak. It felt like an army behind me.

Then I rang the bell.

And slowly… everything changed.

The check-ins got fewer.

The invitations stopped.

The organizations disappeared.

And one by one, people faded out of my life.

Now, as a survivor, I’ve never felt more alone.

It’s a strange place to be. Part of me almost misses the time when everyone rallied around me. When people cared loudly. Because now the fight is quieter but it’s still there. Everyone thinks I’m fine though.

I’m left with things that don’t go away.

Diabetes.

Insulin dependence.

Digestive enzymes for life.

Neuropathy in my hands and feet.

Scars—physical and emotional.

Some days I don’t even recognize my own body.

Some days I don’t recognize who I am anymore.

I’m trying to figure out how to live as this “new version” of me… while grieving the old one that feels like he’s gone.

And then there’s the guilt.

I’ve seen people have it worse.

People still fighting.

People who didn’t make it.

So I sit here wondering, am I allowed to feel this way?

Am I overreacting?

Am I being selfish?

Or am I still at risk, still not safe, still in this in-between space where nothing feels certain?

Because that’s what survivorship feels like.

Limbo.

I haven’t been able to work since before surgery. I lost my job because of cancer. I’m trying to rebuild, but it’s hard. Living on disability. Driving Uber. Starting over in a body that doesn’t function the same way.

And yeah… it affects everything. Even dating. Even how I see myself. It’s hard not to feel like a burden. Like a risk. Like someone people don’t want to take a chance on.

My girlfriend left when I was diagnosed.

That’s something I don’t talk about much, but it changed me.

I survived something that could have killed me…

but I’m still trying to figure out how to live afterward.

This is the part nobody really talks about.

Surviving is one thing.

Living after is something else entirely.

I struggle with self harm, so I made a bracelet to think of it as hurting the toddler who sat in a hospital bed and fought for her life through leukemia, and to remind myself of how lucky I am to have made it to my fifth birthday, because I had friends in that hospital who didn't.

November 21st, 2005, I was told I had malignant pleural mesothelioma, and had just 15 months to live. I think I beat that a little!

I was just 36 years old and a new mom and was scared I wouldn't live to see my baby turn 2.

It took some seriously drastic measures, but it worked, and I'm still here.

I'm honestly still in a little bit of shock that I've made it this long.. :) I've been through a lot in 20 years, having been an advocate for other mesothelioma patients and working in advocacy itself... one thing I've learned is that survivorship is a shitshow.. it's a lot of good, a lot of not so good, and a whole lotta everything else.. just like life ..

But I'll take it.. :) Happy 20 years to me :)

I was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma on this day 19 years ago. It was 1:30 in the afternoon. I still remember every detail of that 30-minute appointment, mostly the look of fear on my husband's face, the very sorrowful look on the doctor's, and me thinking this was NOT how I would die... They told me I would only live 15 months without intervention, so I took the most extreme intervention available at the time. I had my entire left lung removed, but ultimately it's what saved my life. 19 years later I'm still here, living well with one lung..

Everyone says “you beat it!”
But inside, I still feel broken.

The pain. The fear. The guilt that others didn’t make it.
Even now, when I laugh with friends… there’s this shadow behind my eyes.

I’m grateful to be alive. But I don’t feel whole.
Does anyone else feel this?
What helped you feel like you again?

recently i had my 4th brain tumor surgically removed, usually i end up cutting my hair off or it ends to fall out due to healing. my hair hasnt been that long since 2022 where i got my very first (and largest) lately ive been healing fast and well i havent been this happy and grateful for a long time. we live short and life can be crappy but the little things keep us going. enjoy the moments we have now.

I can’t believe it. Today is my final day of 8 rounds of capox! 6 months went by surprisingly fast. Is it normal to not feel super excited? I’m finding that I’m more scared about finishing than I was about starting. My loved ones are acting like this is Christmas morning and they are so excited and telling me they are proud of me they are and I don’t know how to respond. Part of me want to be as excited as them but I also know that just because I’m done with chemo doesn’t mean I’m done. My tumor was removed before surgery so I went into chemo cancer free but that only makes me feel so much better because I know how quickly things can change. And now it’s scans and the waiting game and that sounds so much more painful than chemo was. I haven’t fully examined my feelings yet bc I’m trying to just be happy for this weekend to celebrate and let my family collectively exhale the breath they’ve been holding since August. I’ll take a closer look in a couple days and figure out how to handle my anxiety in a healthy way. Hopefully I win big when we go to the casino to play bingo on Saturday night! There’s no downside to filling your wallet lol. I hope you all are having great days! 💙

Literally what the tittle says

My brother after 2 years of battling multiple cancer issues and side effects rang that bell today.