About
Susan L. Reed

Hello, I'm Susan Lee Hendershot Reed (Sue). My cancer journey started when I was just nineteen years old when I went to my family doctor to be put on a diet. He discovered that I had a lump on my neck that turned out to be Thyroid Cancer. So began my 40 year battle. However, at nineteen, I had no idea that a battle lay before me. That was 1967 when “Cancer” wasn't talked about much – it was referred to as the “C” word, and all nineteen year olds know they'll live forever!

The biopsy from the first surgery showed I did, in fact, have cancer, so 10 days later I had a second surgery. The next year I got married and moved to Seville, Spain, where my husband worked for the Government. While there, the Air Force doctors performed a test on me and told me the cancer had returned. They proceeded to tell me they were going to do a radical neck dissection, remove the main muscles of my neck, and I'd have to wear a neck brace. In addition, I would lose my voice, and I'd never speak again. I was told that I could plan on living approximately three years. After the surgery the doctors realized they made an error in performing the test. The cancer had not reoccurred. They were very sorry.

Eleven years later, however, the cancer really did return, and I underwent a fourth surgery and two treatments of radioactive iodine. This was by far the hardest time for me as I had two little children ages three and six. I wanted them to remember me. I knew if I were to die, they wouldn't. I was kept in isolation after drinking the radioactive mixture and my children had to be sent to their grandparents until the radiation was totally out of my body, to keep them from contamination.

I prayed to God that He would give me 14 years, so that I could get my children raised, and He more than answered my prayers. Twenty years later, in 2001, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, which, by the time I found it, had spread to my lymph nodes. I went through two months of chemotherapy, surgery, two more months of chemotherapy and then two months of radiation. I was told that they had gotten it all, and in 2006, my doctor told me I was "cancer free".

Trick or Treat - on Halloween, 2007, I was given the “news”. The cancer had metastasized to Stage IV and was now in my skull, spine, pelvis, ribs, hips, and in my bone marrow. The battle is on once again.

You never know who you may pass who may be dealing with this horrible disease.

People expect cancer to look like this:


and often it does, 		but it can also look
like this:

My best friend Cindy Day and I look fine, but we are both battling Stage IV cancer. Cindy and I are dealing with metastasized breast cancer – hers to her liver, lungs, sternum, and lymph nodes, and mine, as I said above, to my bones and bone marrow. The little boy pictured above is Jackson Palmer and he has Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor Cancer. In 2005, Cindy was told she would only have a year to a year and a half to live. In 2006, at five years of age, Jackson was told he only had a 10% chance of winning his battle. Both are still with us, thanks to God, good physicians, medicines, strong wills, positive attitudes, and loving support groups. I've just been told if my treatment works I could have 5 -10 years and if it doesn't work I have 4 to 6 months – I'm opting for the treatment to work! If you would like to learn more about Jackson, you can visit his website at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jacksonpalmer. Cancer has also touched my family through other family members. My mother, my aunt, and a stepdaughter all died of brain cancer and my previous stepmother died from metastasized lung cancer. I also have many friends who are fighting cancer at this time.

My daughter (the little 3 year old I wanted to see grow up) has started this Fund to help others who are going through this terrible ordeal. I have been fortunate to have adequate insurance, a home, and a great supportive group of friends and family-including a new supportive husband. But, there are so many others who are not as fortunate. Through The Susan L. Reed Fund, we hope to ease some burdens for those who need all their strength to fight this “C” word. We hope to bring a little joy and/or comfort to Stage IV cancer survivors and their families.

Please help us help them……………Thank you and
GOD BLESS,

Sue