The Milan News-Leader
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Clark shares cancer survival story
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month
By Jeremy Allen, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: March 22, 2007
Teresa Clark is a wife, mother of two, full-time licensed practical nurse and two-time survivor of colorectal cancer, a type of cancer that causes more than 57,000 deaths every year.
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In the summer of 2004, she began to notice a change in her bowel habits and noticed small amounts of blood in her stool. Initially, she attributed the changes to her increased activity and the change in her diet during the summer months.
"I didn't think about it too much because in the summer you're always eating different kinds of foods and doing a lot more than you'd normally do other times of the year," Clark said in an interview last week as part of Colon Cancer Awareness Month. "Plus, I was pretty healthy and had never been really sick before."
But as those symptoms became more frequent, she didn't waste time before contacting her doctor.
Three months after she first noticed the changes, Clark was prescreened for symptoms of colorectal cancer. After a series of tests, doctors found a cancerous polyp in her colon and an ulcerated mass in her rectum, and decided that surgery would be the best treatment.
"The doctor said that my cancer was found early. It was a stage B1," she said.
A cancerous polyp or tumor at stage B1 is usually well-developed and has most likely penetrated into the bowel wall. More specifically, stage B1 is restricted to the outer muscle wall of the colon.
Clark was advised by her surgeon that chemotherapy or radiation were not necessary because her cancer had been detected early enough. Instead, surgery would be a better solution. In November 2004, she had surgery to remove the polyp.
"The surgery went great. I was following up with the doctors religiously as far as my blood work and my three month checkups," Clark said.
Despite her surgery and extensive post-surgery checkups, her cancer resurfaced again in the same area only one year later. This time, Clark's doctors said that chemotherapy and radiation were necessary in addition to a second surgery.
"The chemo and radiation was quite an ordeal to go through. But I worked through it the whole time," she said. "I would get up at seven in the morning, do my radiation, and then go to work at the hospital, all while I was wearing a chemo pump. (Going to work) really helped me keep my mind off of everything."
Her second surgery, like the first, successfully removed her cancer, but this time it followed with an additional four months of chemotherapy. Clark now wears a permanent colostomy bag to reduce the possibility of a third recurrence.
Since the chemo treatment ended, she has had a clear CT scan and colonoscopy and has also had very positive consultations with her doctors. Her cancer is currently in remission.
As a cancer survivor, Clark has since become a member of the Washtenaw County Colorectal Cancer Awareness Network, an organization that advocates early detection and prescreening of cancer. She considers herself lucky and reminds herself of how glad she is to be able to call herself a survivor.
"It doesn't matter how old you are. I was only 46 when I was originally diagnosed, and 47 when I was diagnosed again," Clark said. "It doesn't matter if you have a family history of the disease. It's just important to get screened."
Aside from being a wife, mother, full-time licensed practical nurse, a two-time survivor of colorectal cancer survivor, and an advocate for CRAN, Teresa Clark spends her time at Maplewood Lanes, where she and her family are in a bi-weekly family bowling league.
"I'm not that good," Clark said as she laughed. "My kids tell my husband and me that we need to take up new hobbies."
Visit www.cancer.org for more information about prescreening or early detection symptoms.
Jeremy Allen is a freelance writer. He can be reached at jeremy_allen@go.com.
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