By Mary O’KEEFE

When a person hears the word “cancer” from their doctor there are many different types of reactions. There is fear, anger, disbelief and dread. But imagine going to doctors and no one says it – even though you know it’s there. Then finally a doctor confirms what you already knew. Then a feeling of validation is thrown into the emotional mix.

Rosemary Estrada knows these feelings well. She went to doctors certain of her condition. Her mother had passed away from colon cancer when Estrada was 3 years old.

“I felt like my stomach was going to explode,” she recalled.

She said she had all of the positive characteristics of a cancer diagnosis, including about 1,000 polyps in her colon. And yet she felt doctors dismissed her opinion, even though she was a medical assistant and had an educated foundation for her concerns.

She eventually did have surgery to remove the polyps, but there was still no cancer diagnosis. There were more surgeries and each time she knew something was wrong. She felt doctors weren’t taking her seriously and, at one point, she reminded one doctor of her medical history. She was given several other reasons for her symptoms, including gastritis.

“Maybe because I was a woman or maybe they thought I was a hypochondriac,” she said of possible reasons why her concerns weren’t taken seriously.

Then she found her doctors at City of Hope and things changed. Dr. Slavin and Dr. Stephen Sentovich looked at her records.

“They told me I had the symptoms of [colon cancer],” Estrada said.

It was a dreadful relief. She felt that prior to coming to the City of Hope she hadn’t been listened to. With her diagnosis came treatment and more information on her pre-disposition for cancer. The doctors looked into her genetic make-up.

Genetic testing looks for inherited mutations in a person’s chromosomes, genes or proteins. This is Dr. Slavin’s specialty. Estrada had the cancer screening and found she did in fact have the pre-disposition for colon cancer.

Estrada feels the doctors she now have use their knowledge to protect her, and her child, who has also been found to have the genetic markers for cancer. Estrada and her daughter continue to be tested for other cancers.

Her daughter has “thick skin” when it comes to the follow-ups ups and treatments.

“She is a lot stronger than I am,” she said.

There is no cure for Estrada, only treatment and pro-active examinations, but she does have an amazing philosophy of why she has cancer.

“I was given this so I could save my daughter,” she said.

The one thing she does want to convey to anyone who feels they have something wrong is, “Don’t give up.”

She added that insurance companies also need to support people who want to be proactive with their health, who want to get tested early, and who want to get a genetic test.

“By the second colonoscopy it [can be] too late,” she warned. “We know our bodies better than anyone else.”

  Mary Okeefe