ANDREW:
Hello, and welcome to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors' Network, the service created by and for cancer survivors. In Seattle, Washington, I'm your discussion leader, Andrew Schorr. I'm joined by my co-host, medical broadcaster Gina Tuttle. Gina, thanks for being with me.

GINA:
Thanks a lot, Andrew.

ANDREW:
Our topic today: breast cancer in women under 35 years of age. On the phone with us are two breast cancer survivors, one in the west and one in the east. They are both under 35, and have had breast cancer that has spread. Over the next few minutes, we'll discuss issues such as: preparing your young children for the possibility of your death and their future without you; finding others who are young or who went through a similar experience when they were young; facing the daily fear of recurrence and further cancer problems; and dealing with medical bias that leads to delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis in young women.

Let's begin. Joining us today is Leslie from Portland, Oregon. Leslie is 34, married, and has a 5-year-old son. Leslie has had a recurrence of breast cancer. She was first diagnosed in 1996, and then the recurrence was discovered just a year later. She's had a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, hormone treatments, and she continues on medication. Leslie, I know dealing with the fear and uncertainty of this disease is a very important issue for us to discuss, and to discuss with other women and families that are facing this. Can you talk a little bit about your feelings, and your experience in trying to deal with your very serious diagnosis?

LESLIE:
The hardest part is having a little boy, and knowing that I might not be around as he grows up. I think it would be easier to deal with if I didn't have that to think about. It's hard to just forget about it, which is what I'd kind of like to do when I'm not actively in treatment. I would like to just forget about it, and not have to even know that I have cancer. But that's not possible. I'm also in some pain, so that always reminds me that it's still there.

ANDREW:
That's the bone pain that you experience?

LESLIE:
Yes.

ANDREW:
And what have the doctors told you about your situation? What, medically, have they said you should expect?

LESLIE:
They haven't told me too much about what to expect, because everyone's different. We're hoping to just keep the bone pain to where it's tolerable. I take an IV every month of a bone strengthener. That should keep any bones that have cancer in them from breaking. Hopefully, the hormonal treatments will work for a long time. But down the road we're sort of assuming that, at some point, they'll stop working. I took tamoxifen for a year and a half, and that, just this past fall, stopped working for me. So I switched to a different hormonal medication. We're also going to have my ovaries taken out after Christmas. My cancer was estrogen-receptor-positive, and so they figured the less estrogen in my system the better.

ANDREW:
So, is it your view that you take one day at a time, with the hope that maybe medical science will be able to help you long-term?

LESLIE:
Yes. We hope that. At this point they can delay what's going to happen, but they can't prevent it really. But hopefully they are making a lot of progress with immunotherapy, and maybe something like that could actually turn it around. Because at this point there is nothing to cure it.

ANDREW:
Wouldn't it be great if it could be turned around? So, there you have a five-year-old son, and he was just about a one-year-old when this all started?

LESLIE:
He was two. I had just stopped nursing and noticed the lump in my breast.

ANDREW:
Tell us about this whole thing being diagnosed for the first time when you were very young, in your early thirties. It must have been odd, not just for you, but also your doctor. And then this whole idea that then it came back, and how shocked you must have been with that.

LESLIE:
It was almost kind of a joke at first, breast cancer. We joked about it, especially the fact that I'd just stopped nursing. We figured it was something to do with that.

ANDREW:
You felt a lump, was that it?

LESLIE:
Yes.

ANDREW:
And when you say you joked about it, was that you and your husband and family members?

LESLIE:
Yes. Because 32-year-olds just didn't get breast cancer. That's what we thought. We really didn't take it too seriously at first. It was scary going in for mammograms and things like that, but we didn't really take it seriously. It wasn't until after the biopsy that the doctor told us, and we really said, "Wow."

ANDREW:
And the doctors, prior to the biopsy, also made you think that it was highly unlikely that it would be breast cancer, correct?

LESLIE:
Very unlikely.

ANDREW:
So there it was. You get the diagnosis, and then you start this course of care, and you have a very young child. How did you cope with that, and then with the shock that it had spread?

LESLIE:
Well, my son has known me longer with breast cancer than without. It's always been a part of his life. We've never tried to hide it from him. He's always known that Mommy goes to the doctor, and Mommy goes in for radiation. I've been through radiation so many times that he probably thinks it a normal part of a woman's life. We haven't tried to hide it from him. He's known what's going on all along. He doesn't know how serious it is.

ANDREW:
What have you said to Evan, and at what point? What do you say to a child? What are your thoughts about that?

LESLIE:
Well, when I started chemotherapy, it quickly became obvious that I was not like all the other mothers, because I had no hair. We just explained that I was taking a special medication that made my hair fall out. He was two, so he never thought it was very different. And we've talked about it the whole way through. He would go to radiation with me and see what would happen. He understood that through the surgeries I need extra rest, and he actually thinks that's my job right now. Daddy has a job and Mommy gets better, so he thinks that that is my job. I take care of him, and I try to make myself as healthy as I can. He understands with the recurrence that it's still there. It didn't go away, it's in my bones, and he can't jump on me and I can't carry him anymore, and he doesn't really seem to be affected by it. He thinks it's just what happens in our family.

GINA:
Leslie, I'm wondering about what it's like to try to keep your reactions to him normal. I think about having children, and some days you just want to pick them up and squeeze them, you're just so glad that you've got them. But knowing how uncertain the future is, is it hard to just play with him and things?

LESLIE:
I always assumed that I would go back to work after a few years, when he was two or three. But then I was diagnosed, and I don't plan on ever going back to work at this point. I'm lucky that I don't have to, and that I can just spend all of my time with him, and enjoy him and play with him and not have to be apart from him. Because I'm never sure how long it's going to last.

ANDREW:
Leslie, how do you get through the day yourself? This little boy is so special to you, and I'm sure that helps. But in your own mind, someone at your age diagnosed with breast cancer and having it spread to your bones...I'd think there'd be a lot of anger, sadness, uncertainty about the future and, for some people, it would be very difficult to cope. You sound pretty strong on the phone today. At least in this conversation, you seem to have your act together and to have put this all in a place where you can deal with it. Am I right about that and, if I am, how have you gotten to that point?

LESLIE:
Well, that's today. I'm feeling pretty good today, and I think I generally feel pretty good about it. I do have my down cycles where I just say, "It's not fair, this should not be happening. I shouldn't be seeing an oncologist. I should be seeing an obstetrician, getting ready to have my next baby." There's a lot of anger that this is happening, and confusion. I don't know what to do with these feelings, and...There are some really hard days. Sorry.

ANDREW:
Leslie, for women who listen to this and who may be feeling it themselves, it's probably the hardest thing they've ever dealt with. With your husband, have you worked it out so that he can be a support to you as you go through this personally, and as you go through this as a couple?

LESLIE:
He is a great support to me. I don't think I could have gotten through it. I think our relationship is actually much stronger because of this, and I think together we try and concentrate on all the good things that we do have in our life. It's unfortunate that we have this one pretty big bad thing, and we do try and still joke about it, as serious as it is. We try not to let it dominate our lives. We try and sort of say, "It's just cancer." We'll put it on the back burner, and we'll concentrate on Evan, and we'll concentrate on our relationship. He is always there to talk to me, and to listen to all of my fears and worries, and together we can put them in perspective.

ANDREW:
Leslie, what's your husband's name?

LESLIE:
His name is John.

ANDREW:
So how long had you and John been married when this cancer diagnosis happened?

LESLIE:
Four years.

ANDREW:
So there you are, still relative newlyweds, and you get this diagnosis. Then a year later it's a yet more serious diagnosis. One could say that this cancer has at least challenged, if not stolen, your dreams of being together. Have you thought about it that way, and if so, how do you deal with that?

LESLIE:
We always planned on dying together at age 85 in a parachuting accident or something really exciting. We didn't expect that one of us wouldn't make it that far. But also, he rides his bike every day to work, he commutes on his bicycle, and there's probably a very big chance of him being hit by a truck on a daily basis. So we try to keep that in mind, too, that no one knows exactly how long they have.

ANDREW:
And that what you have together is today.

LESLIE:
Yes. We've taken a lot more nice vacations since the diagnosis, too. When you have cancer you get to go on great vacations, and you don't feel guilty about it at all!

ANDREW:
We're going to talk more about that and how you enjoy life together. You know, you're not alone. Unfortunately, there are other young women, across America and around the world, who are dealing with something similar. Gina would like to introduce us to our other guest today.

GINA:
She is Lisa. Lisa's 33, she's married, and she has a five-year-old, too. She has a daughter. Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995. She's had chemotherapy, a lumpectomy, and a bone marrow transplant. Lisa, I understand you went back for a modified radical mastectomy and radiation. As I understand it, you had trouble getting a proper diagnosis and by the time you did, it had already spread. Tell us about that.

LISA:
I was trying to nurse my daughter. She was a newborn when I discovered a lump. She was getting dehydrated and so I was trying to use a breast pump. That was when I discovered my lump. I went to my female OB/GYN and she said that yes, she felt something, but I wasn't supposed to worry about it because I was too young for cancer. And I didn't worry about it for awhile.

GINA:
She let it drop there? She didn't go any further?

LISA:
Right, even though I said I'd feel better if she had sent me for a mammogram. A few weeks later I called her back and I said, "The lump is still there." She told me not to worry about it. After awhile, I was calling her almost weekly. It was changing shape, it was feeling bigger, and she kept telling me I was making a big deal about nothing.

GINA:
This was going on for a couple of months?

LISA:
For three months. Finally I told her that I was going to find another doctor if she wouldn't send me for at least a mammogram. And she did. I was home for about an hour when she called me back, and said that there was a suspicious spot in my mammogram, and that I needed to see a surgeon for a biopsy.

GINA:
It sounds like you were worried enough that you knew that might be a possibility.

LISA:
Sort of. My mother-in-law, who had been staying with us when I discovered my lump, was calling me repeatedly asking me to go for a mammogram, but I never thought that it was a possibility.

ANDREW:
Listening to this story, though, here's the doctor who says, "Oh, it's nothing, it's nothing," and then calls you and says it is something. What comment did the doctor make then? I would think any woman would be absolutely enraged.

LISA:
I was very upset. As a patient I depended upon her to take care of me. I kept asking other doctors, "What can I do, so that this doctor doesn't do it again?" At the time, there was really nothing I could do. I needed to concentrate on my treatment, because it was very aggressive.

GINA:
Did the doctor apologize?

LISA:
Due to circumstances with my treatment, we had moved, and she wasn't able to find where we were living.

GINA:
That must have been really hard for you, Lisa. I'm thinking about, you know, you go to a doctor and they say, "Don't worry about it." And then you make a follow-up call and say, "I'm still concerned," and they say, "Don't worry about." After that, it's hard to keep pressing. It's hard to advocate for yourself that much, isn't it?

LISA:
It was hard. Because I was taught, from early in my life, that doctors know about your health and your doctors will never hurt you. I was taught to trust my doctor for medical advice, and so I felt very violated, very betrayed.

ANDREW:
Lisa, I just want to understand, when the doctor called you and said that there's something suspicious, did the doctor apologize then in that phone call and say that maybe you were right?

LISA:
No, nothing was said except that I needed to see a surgeon for a biopsy.

ANDREW:
And my understanding is that you later learned that that delay of three months allowed your breast cancer to spread.

LISA:
Yes. The day I was diagnosed I had a five by seven centimeter tumor, and one week later I had an eight by nine centimeter tumor. It looked the same on both sides and I had no pain. I had a baseball-sized tumor and it kept growing.

ANDREW:
So this was a very aggressive cancer that, had it been caught earlier, it could have made a difference.

LISA:
In lots of ways. I would not have needed a mastectomy. It would not have metastasized, and so my prognosis for the future would be much better.

GINA:
It was into your lymph glands by the time they found it?

LISA:
They could feel it in my lymph glands, but based on the aggressiveness and the size of it, they knew it was growing elsewhere in my body also.

ANDREW:
So you had one of the most major treatments for breast cancer, and that would be bone marrow transplant, because your breast cancer had already spread.

LISA:
Right.

ANDREW:
That must have been a very tough experience, especially having such a young child. It's a tough experience for anybody, but we were talking with Leslie about having a child, and explaining things, and here you're going through among the most traumatic treatments you can go through. Tell us a little about that.

LISA:
I was very scared. The doctors wouldn't tell me a whole lot because, after my treatment was all finished, they told me that they hadn't expected me to make it due to the chemistry of my cancer and the fact that it was so big and so aggressive.

GINA:
How did that make you feel? Did you feel relief that you had made it, and a success, or that, "Oh my gosh, it's even worse than I thought?"

LISA:
A little of both. I knew it was serious, but I didn't really let myself dwell on it too much, because I was afraid that, you know, I wouldn't get through the treatments.

ANDREW:
So, Lisa, this bone marrow transplant was about four years ago now.

LISA:
Four and a half years ago, yes.

ANDREW:
So, here you are living with cancer that had spread. How are you doing today?

LISA:
I have not had any new signs of cancer yet. My chances of survival are still not 50 percent, because of the kind of cancer, and the fact that it was so late-stage.

ANDREW:
What's your daughter's name?

LISA:
Her name is Marissa.

ANDREW:
Marissa. We spoke to Leslie a few minutes ago about little Evan. What about you and Marissa? What have you said to her? What is her understanding of what's going on with Mom?

LISA:
If I have a pain that doesn't go away, or if unusual things happen to me, I have to panic right away, because I'm at risk for so many other kinds of cancers. And, as Leslie can understand I'm sure, we're at the doctor's a lot. We have lots of bone scans and CAT scans and all kinds of tests. Like Evan, Marissa doesn't know any different. It's just a way of life for us. We're very open with her about almost everything. She knows I was very sick when she was born, and she knows that I could have died, and that I still might die.

ANDREW:
She does know that?

LISA:
She does. But we try to focus more on the positive, and we emphasize that I fought very hard to be with her today. And if I sit and feel sorry for myself, or if I worry about it all the time, then the treatments I went through were for nothing.

ANDREW:
So you celebrate every day that you have with her, just as Leslie does with Evan.

LISA:
Yes.

GINA:
With a five-year-old, what is her understanding of what the possibility of your dying means, do you think?

LISA:
I don't think she realizes how serious it is, because a five-year-old lives in the here and the now. She does become afraid of certain things, but I don't want her to grow up afraid all the time. I just want her to grow up appreciating what she has.

ANDREW:
It would be easy to be angry. Leslie shared a little bit of her anger along the continuum of emotions she's experienced. It would be easy to feel angry, both about what's happened to you, the lack of proper diagnosis early on, and also that your kid is going through this. Have you felt that?

LISA:
Yes. Angry. I feel robbed in some ways, because I can't live a life that a woman in her thirties should be able to live. You know, young people like to go through life thinking that nothing bad can ever happen to them, and that's been taken away from us. But at the same time, because we know it can be taken away, we can appreciate it more. So in that way, it's a gift.

ANDREW:
Tell us about you and your husband. What's his name?

LISA:
His name is Rick.

ANDREW:
How have you and Rick taken this gift in your life, and made that work for your relationship? Rather than feeling that the promises of a certain future, if anybody could have a certain future, to grow old together, is not certain.

LISA:
Well, I'll be honest. I had a hard time with it for a long time. We go for lots of walks and we've been known to sit on the sidewalk and watch the ants crawl across the sidewalk. The neighbors think we're nuts, but to us it's really exciting. So, in that way, we have the excitement of a child.

GINA:
It sounds like your parents-in-law also help ease your mind. Tell us about how that happened.

LISA:
When I was first diagnosed, all I could think of was how in the world was Rick going to be a single dad. I knew he would have a really hard time, as anybody would, but Rick especially would have a very hard time, because he was very career-driven. And I didn't want our daughter to grow up in that life. I wanted her to be able to talk to somebody about, you know, what kind of clothes to wear. When she starts her period, I wanted her to be able to talk to somebody about that and, at the time, I wasn't certain that Rick would be able to handle all of that. Then my mom- and dad-in-law called one day and said that they had talked, and they had decided that if I didn't make it, that they were going to sell everything and move. They live several hundred miles away from us. They were going to come down and move here and take care of Marissa with Rick, so that Rick wouldn't be doing it on his own. When they told me that, I knew that they were going to be okay. So I was able to focus on myself and take care of myself.

GINA:
Did that also help you in your relationship with Rick, then, that you weren't quite so worried about that?

LISA:
When I was going through my treatments, I didn't realize that we were drifting away from each other. In my mind, he was very supportive at the time. It was when it was all done and over with that I realized how far away from each other we were.

GINA:
And how did you get closer?

LISA:
We did a lot of praying. Our faith has really been what's gotten us through all of this.

GINA:
How long had you been married before you were diagnosed?

LISA:
Six and a half years.

ANDREW:
Leslie, you mentioned that your relationship has been pretty strong, but certainly it was tested like Lisa is sharing now. What did you do to make sure that it could get stronger rather than growing apart?

LESLIE:
We just stayed very open with each other, and discussed all of our fears and everything we were thinking. We tried not to hide anything. We feel that however we're feeling, we can discuss it together.

GINA:
That impressed me, Leslie, when you were talking about being able to share your fears. Because I think sometimes you might want to be strong for each other. So it could be hard to admit all the fears that you have, but you were able to talk that out with him, and still are?

LESLIE:
Very much so. More than anyone else. I think with the rest of my family, we'll discuss it a little bit, but they're so worried. They don't live here in town with us either, so they don't see us on a daily basis, and they're so worried about what's going on. I think we do try and keep up a strength, and we're not as open with them as we are with each other. But we always have each other to talk to and we always know that.

ANDREW:
Let me ask you some questions about being diagnosed with serious breast cancer, and being in your mid-30s. If you were to go to a playground with your young children, both of you, it would be very unlikely that there would be someone else, another mom who has a five-year-old, and who has something as serious as this. How do you get support from other women your age? Or can they even fathom it, and do you even bother discussing it with other women? Lisa, do you want to try that one first?

LISA:
I do discuss it with other women, but not because I'm seeking support. It's more because I want young women, especially, to be aware that this is happening more and more to young women.

ANDREW:
And not to wind up with a doctor like you did early on.

LISA:
Right. I guess I get my support through my family and my friends. They haven't been through what I've been through, but I'm very blessed that I have good friends and a wonderful family. You know, support groups help a lot. Unfortunately, there are several young women in our breast cancer support group who have gone through the same things that I have.

ANDREW:
So you have found a support group with other women your age, even as unusual as it is, who are dealing with something similar?

LISA:
Right.

ANDREW:
And how did you find that support group?

LISA:
I called the American Cancer Society. And they happened to have one in my town.

ANDREW:
Has that connection with other young women dealing with cancer been a help to you?

LISA:
It has been. Because they have young children and they're dealing with issues like, "Who's going to take care of my children?" They're not dealing with issues that women who have finished having their children are dealing with. There are different issues.

ANDREW:
Leslie, in Portland, Oregon, have you made a connection with other young women dealing with breast cancer?

LESLIE:
I have met some through the support groups. I didn't find very many. Actually, I hadn't found any other young women with children who were going through it, until I found a woman that I had known through Evan's playgroup from several years ago. A mutual friend called and said this woman was diagnosed with breast cancer, too, and she has a son the same age as Evan. So I tried to impart all my breast cancer wisdom to her, and we talk about it quite frequently.

ANDREW:
So, speaking out about it has been helpful for you?

LESLIE:
Yes.

ANDREW:
Lisa, you too? Has the idea of just getting it off your chest and talking to someone else, has that been positive? Because there may be other women who say, "Oh, I'm just going to bottle it up inside." But Lisa, you found it's been good to talk?

LISA:
Well, for me it was because, when I was diagnosed, I wanted the whole world to know that it was happening to young women. So for me, it's because I just want people to be aware of it.

GINA:
I'm wondering about your husbands. Leslie, it sounds like the two of you talk very much with each other. Does he also have a friend or someone that he can discuss things with? It seems like the spouses would have issues, too.

LESLIE:
I think he does have issues. We mainly talk about it together. I really can't think of someone outside of the family that he talks to.

GINA:
And he can tell you his fears, too?

LESLIE:
Yes.

ANDREW:
Do you think he's honest about it, Leslie, or do you think he edits it because he doesn't want to make you feel bad if he's down?

LESLIE:
No, I think that he's honest about it, and tells me what's bothering him.

ANDREW:
Lisa, how about you, with your husband? Do you feel that he confides in you, or do you encourage him to talk to others to get support? How does he take care of himself?

LISA:
I'm not really certain. Sometimes he'll talk about it, usually it's after I've tried to encourage him to talk. But he treats many things very objectively, in that he says it's in the past, and he just doesn't want to think about how serious a threat it is for my future. He prefers to take things on a day-to-day basis. He'll deal with it if and when I have a recurrence.

ANDREW:
Lisa, you mentioned that you moved from where you originally had that doctor...the one who wouldn't be on our top ten list, for sure. And you moved to Medina, Ohio. Did you have friends and relatives there? Or were you in a whole new place where you really didn't know anyone, and here you had a serious diagnosis.

LISA:
I still live far away from my family. We were away from our family when I was diagnosed, and we moved because we needed a bigger place to live. But yes, I did move from one place where I knew nobody, to another place where I knew nobody.

ANDREW:
So there you are with a serious diagnosis, and uncertainty about the future, and the need to take care of yourself. And, as we were just asking Leslie, sometimes a need to ask for help. So how do you do that in an environment where you really don't have those contacts?

LESLIE:
I didn't. I took care of Marissa a lot by myself. My mom and my mother-in-law came down a lot and took care of us. That was my support system.

ANDREW:
And now?

LESLIE:
Now, I have a lot of good friends, and I'm able to ask friends for help if I have an appointment where it might not be appropriate for Marissa to come with me. I have friends that offer, a lot, and that helps. So I don't feel like I'm always taking advantage of people.

GINA:
I want to ask another question about where you are right now, regarding the life and death issue. How have you come to terms with the possibility that there may not be a long future for you?

LISA:
I rely on my faith a lot. I try to take each day as it comes, and to just enjoy what I have. Every time I have a scare, it all comes flooding back, all the feelings, and I just try to remember that there's another life for all of us. I try to focus on that.

GINA:
Leslie?

LESLIE:
Lisa has me crying over here. I agree with everything she says. We live one day at a time, and every day that I can go in and kiss Evan good night, it just makes me feel wonderful. And what may happen we just don't know.

I try and write down as much as I can. I keep a journal and I write, as much for myself as for Evan down the road, so he can read about everything that we do together, and things that he may not remember. Things that I am enjoying so much about our time together. I think it helps me to know that I won't be forgotten if I'm not around in ten years. He can pick up these journals that I've been writing for four years. Actually since before he was born. They focus a little more on cancer and that sort of thing, now. No, I don't focus on cancer, but the possibility of dying has caused my writing to be different. But I feel if I'm not here, at least he has that to look back on, and tons of photos and videos and things like that. So I feel that I'm trying to do something in case that happens. And if not, he'll have them anyway. We can look at them together.

ANDREW:
Lisa and Leslie, I wanted to help our listeners understand that, even with metastatic breast cancer...and I think, Lisa, you said you had heard your percentage of going on for a long life would be about 50 percent. Percentages may vary, but certainly there are people who do live many, many years in spite of having advanced breast cancer. And then there are people who do not, and we've been confronting that issue. So, someone's personal situation could vary greatly. But they'll certainly have the hopes that you have, and the fears that you have, and the day-to-day very positive attitude that you try to maintain.

For those women who really don't know medically what may happen to them, but may find themselves in that same situation that you found yourselves, what do you want to share with them that might be helpful? Lisa, let's start with you. You said you speak out about it, you're eager to tell people. This is your chance now. For other women with a somewhat similar situation of breast cancer that has spread, in your age group, what would you say to them?

LISA:
Well, first I would tell them that the day that I was diagnosed, my chances for survival were five to ten percent. I'm not yet at 50 percent, but I'm four years treatment-free. And, although I worry a lot about my future, I can't live my life in fear. What good is anything I went through, then? I just love every day that I wake up and I'm able to say, "Oh, gee, I have a headache," or, "I'm not feeling well, but this is a great day because I'm here, and I'm able to feel it." It was a gift what I went through, because I can appreciate the little things in life. I know how precious it is.

ANDREW:
Leslie, how about you? What would you say to women in a similar situation?

LESLIE:
I think I'd want them to know that it's not possible to put it out of your mind, after you've gone through something like this. A lot of times, mainly in the past, I wanted to just forget about it. Especially after my first treatment was done and I was supposed to do just fine. I found that, after the treatment was done, it was even harder. I just worried about it all the time, and I thought, "What if it comes back, what am I feeling now, is this cancer?" And then it helped to put aside some time and think about it, instead of trying to bury it in the back of my head. Because you can't get it out of your head, it's part of who you are now. You have to just accept that and try to make the best of all the time that you do have left.

GINA:
With those comments, we're going to have to end this discussion. Thank you so much to both of you for sharing your personal experiences and insights to benefit others. And thanks also to my co-host, Andrew Schorr.

ANDREW:
Thank you Gina. And Lisa, in Medina, Ohio, and Leslie in Portland, Oregon, thank you. It was a gift for me to be with you. For the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors' Network, and from our HealthTalk Interactive Studio in Seattle, I'm Andrew Schorr.