After four years of marriage, Angela and her husband decided they were ready to start a family. During an appointment with her Ob/Gyn, however, Angela discovered that her pap smear test results were abnormal. Further tests confirmed her fears that she would have to put off getting pregnant due to cervical cancer.

Angela, crushed at the thought of never living her dream of motherhood, met with David P.Warshall, MD, Head of Gynecological Oncology at Cooper, who shared with her the option of a surgical procedure which could remove the cancer, but preserve her ability to have a child. Angela soon underwent the procedure, known as a radical trachelectomy. Six years later, she is cancer free and enjoying the joy of motherhood thanks to her beautiful, two-year-old daughter.

Here is her story…

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Michelle was 38 years old when she went for a mammogram after her sister, Barbara, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Michelle soon learned that she had cancer and the two sisters fought their battle together, side by side, through surgery and chemotherapy.

The rest of their family decided to pursue genetic testing for cancer, which showed the women carry a gene mutation for breast cancer. The disease, which had been passed on through generations of women in their family, has devastated them, but has not broken them.

Today, they stand tall and proud – with knowledge and the power to help the next generation of women in their family beat breast cancer. This is their story.

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I am writing to thank you and all the dedicated doctors, nurses and technicians at Cooper University Hospital at Camden for the outstanding care I received during my recent stay.

In late July, I was admitted to Cooper’s ninth floor Oncology unit, room 910. I had breast cancer and required a mastectomy. I also have osteogensis imperfecta (O.I.) type IIII, which, as you well know, has its own problems.

I had a wonderful surgeon, Dr. Karen Hendershott. She, along with Christina Hunter, RN, Nurse Educator, put together a plan for my care. Nurses and technicians were asked to volunteer to take my case. They all learned the Dos and Don’ts of O.I. patient care, so I didn’t have to worry about someone coming in my room and pulling an arm or leg and maybe causing a fracture.

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The Courier-Post recently published an article featuring several South Jersey women who made their breast cancer diagnosis a reason to live fuller, creative lives by turning to the arts for enrichment to help them heal.

One of the women featured in the article is Norma E. Roth. She  always loved to write, but with three children to take care of and work responsibilities, that passion was pushed aside. It wasn’t until she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 at age 41 that her passion for writing gradually returned. Pink Ribbon Journey: Stories From the Heart, now in print, is Roth’s riveting story about the sisterhood of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer and the bond they forever share.

“Ironically, I had been enormously reassured, after having genetic testing in a wonderful program at Cooper hospital in 1997,” says Roth of Cherry Hill, who participated in BRCA gene study for Ashkenazi Jews. “I was not a carrier of the mutation and I felt relief that I couldn’t even put into words.”

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Having cancer once is more than enough for some to bear, but by the third time Joel heard the words “it’s cancer,” he didn’t know if he could mentally and physically go through it again.

Lung cancer can be one of the most difficult cancers to treat. Thankfully, Joel’s wife had recently been reading about CyberKnife™ treatment in a local newspaper, which provided him with the hope he was desperately seeking. After having undergone two prior surgeries for cancer, the prospect of a non-invasive approach to tumor control offered by the CyberKnife™ was an easy choice.

Now, more than two years later, Joel is working and enjoying his life to the fullest. Having made a remarkable recovery, he shares his story of triumph over lung cancer with Tamara A. LaCouture, MD.

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