When Lisa Craine was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare, aggressive cancer that forms in the bile ducts, there weren't many treatment options available. Doctors gave Lisa 6 months to live.
But 15 years, 8 tumors, and multiple liver resections later, Lisa is still here.
She wrote to Cures to tell us about how her experience has changed her.
Here's what Lisa told us:
Everything I have been through has made me a better, stronger and more relatable advocate and mentor for others patients.
Having experienced many types of chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries along with all the side effects and possible issues, I am more relatable to the community I serve.
My story gives other rare cancer patients HOPE. I was given six months to live in 2010 and if I would have listened to that timeline, I would have given up hope and probably wouldn’t be here today.
I turned my cancer into a passion to help others by being a volunteer mentor, patient advocate and research advocate. I have now helped over 1300 patients.
I have also started our own 501c3 and we raise research money to be granted to promising research each year. I love people and I love my life. It is so much more rich and fulfilling than my pre-cancer days.
Lisa went on to tell us about a strong friendship that developed through a shared experience:
When I was first diagnosed, I read anything I could find about this rare cancer. I found an article in the New York Times about a woman from Montana who was also a cholangiocarcinoma patient. She was participating in a trial at NIH...and was the first cholangiocarcinoma patient to receive T- cell therapy.
I wrote the editor and asked him if he would give my name and number to the patient in Montana and he connected us. We have been friends for 15 years!
We do a lot of advocacy work together, and she is now the Advocacy Director at Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation.
This ugly cancer cultivated a beautiful friendship and a call to action for both of us to improve the lives of cholangiocarcinoma patients, one patient at a time.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Lisa.
