43
Boardman woman diagnosed with colorectal cancer now cancer-free
YOUNGSTOWN/WARREN
Colorectal cancer is the cancer that isn’t discussed.
Even though colorectal cancer, or CR, is considered preventable and is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States that affect men and women, it often flies beneath the radar.
“The key to survival is early detection,” said Dr. William Lee of Boardman, a board-certified general surgeon who is an advocate of the Colon Cancer Alliance, a national organization that helps raise awareness about CR cancer.
The number of people who are diagnosed with CR cancer and die of it can be reduced by appropriate and early screening, said Dr. Lee, also a ValleyCare Medical Group of Ohio physician and member of the staff of ValleyCare Health System of Ohio’s Northside Medical Center.
Among the CR screening tools is a flexible sigmoidoscopy in which the doctor puts a short, thin, flexible, lighted tube into the patient’s rectum to check for polyps or cancer inside the rectum and lower third of the colon. A colonoscopy is similar to a flexible sigmoidoscopy, except it checks the entire colon, and during the exam, the doctor can find and remove most polyps and some cancers.
“It’s important that we acknowledge colorectal cancer. The first step is to give attention to it,” Dr. Lee said.
Early detection was not in the cards for Jill Lewis of Canfield, one of Dr. Lee’s patients, who talked about her unexpected diagnosis in June 2014 of Stage 3 CR cancer.
There are several stages of cancer: Stage 1 is localized; stage 2 usually includes spread to the nearest lymph nodes; stage 3 usually indicates more extensive lymph-node involvement; and stage 4 indicates the cancer is widespread.
Lewis said her only recognizable symptom was persistent anemia that eventually led her to see her family doctor.
“In the back of my mind, I thought, ‘something is not right,’” she said.
She was right, but she was not prepared for colorectal cancer.
Her doctor referred her to a specialist, which led to surgery later in June at Northside done by Dr. Lee, who removed the section of her colon that contained the tumor and lymph nodes to which the cancer had spread. The surgery was followed by several months of chemotherapy, which concluded in January.
Now cancer free, Lewis discussed how the unexpected illness affected her life.
“It was a rough ride. I had to be brave. I was an emotional wreck for a while. I still have some numbness in my fingers and feet from the chemotherapy, but it is getting better, and I’m hopeful it eventually will go away,” said Lewis, a 1979 graduate of Ursuline High School and a graduate of the Ohio College of Massotherapy in Akron.
Lewis, 54, the mother of two adult children, Kevin Flora of Struthers and Corrin Nelson Flora in Mississippi, has been a licensed massotherapist for 20 years and owns and operates Jill’s Touch-Therapeutic Massage in Boardman.
“I had the dichotomy of being a healer and needing to be healed. It was very challenging for me to be sick,” she said.
As therapy, Lewis, self-employed, said she blogged about her cancer experience on Facebook.
“I got some pretty amazing comments,” she said.
Lewis said she had a tremendous support group and said her children were a “huge, huge, help.”
People who want to help Lewis with her mounting medical bills can visit gofundme.com/killJillsBills and click on the donate prompt.