Stories of Hope

Tiffany Haugen Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Diagnosed in 2000 "There is much beauty in life to embrace, much laughter to share, much love that is coming your way."

I am a nonsmoking female who has been fighting nonsmall cell lung cancer for 6 years. My cancer was found accidentally in February 2000 when I went in for an ultrafast CT scan to look at my arteries, since heart disease runs in my family (cancer does not). Two months before this, I had a physical and pronounced cine in December 1999. Chest x-rays are no longer part of physicals--which is a shame since so many of us nonsmoking women are being diagnosed lung disease. I was diagnosed with a stage IIB tumor and underwent a thoracotomy at Mayo Clinic in Rochester in February 2000.

I followed up with tests at the other Mayo Clinics in Scottsdale and Rochester over the next few years. I started having back pain about 2 years later, and this made no sense to me since I was very active and did yoga. The doctors kept telling me it was something physical, which made no sense given my level of fitness. My complaints were being largely dismissed. When finally a radiologist did a scan which was not prescribed, (since he felt that a woman wouldn't be complaining if she didn't have pain) another tumor was discovered, and the disease was now at Stage IV in May of 2004.

ALL the doctors gave me 6 months to live; perhaps a few months more with chemotherapy. My husband Bob was also in shock. I went to MD Anderson in Orlando for radiation on the spine tumor; little did we know that this type of radiation only suppresses tumors for perhaps a year. Then I had a chemo with one dose of Gemzaar, which my liver couldn't process. Months later I had taxol and cisplatin, ending in December of 2004. I was exhausted, and the pleural disease had spread.

I saw a naturopath, Lynn Patrick, who prescribed some supplements including one with mushroom extracts that the Japanese use to fight cancer, as well as some chelation to get heavy metals out of my body. She referred me to a site called scorecard.org, which shows by location what chemicals and pollutants you have been exposed to throughout your life. I was surprised at how many thousands of superfund sites there are in the U.S!

In 2005, the back tumor started growing and I had two surgeries (one unsuccessful) on my back to fight the tumor, and then finally cyberknife radiation, which more precisely kills tumors and was the least exhausting procedure I had.

It is now mid-2006, and I have exhausted all allopathic treatments. I have worked hard at trying to build up my own immune system to fight the cancer, and it has helped a lot. Patrick Quillan's book: Beating Cancer with Nutrition, is a must read.

Plus I have had the most incredible support from my husband, who has had to not only run our business but take care of absolutely everything in our lives, from doing all the cooking and most of the cleaning to learning how to take care of my extensive gardens and feeding the birds. He even built me a website, connectingwithtiffany.net, so that he could communicate with friends and family as well as tell people about my life.

For others who are fighting this disease, I would recommend that they gather all the information they can before acting: lungcanceronline is a tremendous resource. Gather around you true friends. Watch funny movies and TV programs. Look into holistic treatments and make sure your caregiver can help you get supernutrition. And don't listen to the doom and gloom forecasts. Your body itself is a powerful force. There is much beauty in life to embrace, much laughter to share, much love that is coming your way.