Jaimie Mattes is a remarkable 39-year-old colon cancer survivor. I say remarkable, because Jaimie has not been silent with his recovery. He has been loud. In 2008, he won the Get Your Rear in Gear Advocacy Award from the Colon Cancer Coalition. He also modeled for the 2009 Colondar and volunteered for a Minnesota Cancer [...]
My journey with cancer began in March 2007 when I ended up in the emergency room surrounded by nurses and doctors who were telling me they were surprised I had not had a heart attack because I was missing two thirds of my blood volume.
Many people feared the end of the world as we know it would occur at the Millennium. Massive power outages, computer network crashes, natural disasters, geopolitical crises and other mortal blows to humankind were all predicted; yet none came to pass. Except for me.
At age 50 I was diagnosed at stage 3B colon cancer in May 2008. This, after years of colon issues (that my MD dismissed for 10 years straight!)- I wish I had known then what I know now and I do wish I had understood that a colonoscopy is the ONLY way to rule out colon cancer. Oh how different life would be if we all had those chances to go back and take different paths.....
In the spring of 2008 things were looking pretty good. I was a 46-year-old, divorced, single mom of a then 20 year old, working full time and part time and was just enjoying life.
I turned 40 last October and thought that would be the worst thing to happen last year, since I was not looking forward to getting old!
This is my story, and luckily for me, it is a long story. It begins in 1981 when I was 31 years old. With my husband Joe and my two children, Michael (5) and Helene (3). I had just moved back to Cherry Hill, New Jersey and was settling in with a job, day care, and resuming friendships in the area.
It all started around Christmas 2006. Shawn started to show signs of being ill. Late one night I drove him to the hospital, the attending physician could not properly diagnose him except to say it was possibly gastritis. After prescribing some antibiotics he sent us home. A month later at the end of January he [...]
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to bring to you the experience of my life. Despite all the difficulties and challenges I have faced, this is a gift within a tragedy. I welcome the chance to influence one person and maybe other lives everywhere someone's mother, someone's sister or someone’s child to create an instant wherein someone realizes that, despite the fact that he or she is not over 50, a colonoscopy is needed and it could save a life.
I was diagnosed with Stage III rectal cancer, signet ring cell type, in September 2007 at age 41. I underwent six weeks of chemo and radiation that fall and had surgery in January 2008. My tumor was very low in the rectum so everything was removed and I now have "Fred" my permanent colostomy.
