EDGEWOOD, Ky. — The first Sunday of June is National Cancer Survivors Day. St. Elizabeth Healthcare held a celebration for its patients to share their stories of defeating cancer and also to encourage people to get screened.
That’s become a mission for one survivor who says she once thought she was invincible. She’s now trying to make sure others don’t make the same mistake.
In April 2021, Sue Mairose thought she had the flu.
“I got sick in the middle of the night,” she said.
Her husband encouraged her to go to the hospital, St. Elizabeth in Edgewood. She thought it was unnecessary, but she went.
“Why did it happen that way? I don’t know. That’s a God thing,” she said.
She got some blood work done along with a scan.
“I was sitting up in bed feeling fine. They came in and said we’re going to admit you. And I said what? I feel fine. And they said well there’s a mass. We see something,” Mairose said. “It took me totally by surprise. I had surgery that next day. And I had stage 3 colon cancer. I had a polyp that had turned cancerous. And I didn’t know it because I didn’t get my colonoscopy.”
After a few months of chemotherapy, she was declared cancer free. That was about three years ago. On Monday, she was back at the St. Elizabeth Cancer Center to celebrate National Cancer Survivors Day.
“You just have a special connection with those that have been touched by cancer. No matter what it is,” she said. “I’m truly blessed. And whatever I can give back to those that have so graciously and wonderfully helped me, and made me aware of things. I just need to share. I need to share my message.”
Her message? Get screened.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are. Please take care of yourself is my message. We think we’re invincible,” Mairose said.
That’s a message Dr. Matthew Kurian, medical oncologist with St. Elizabeth, appreciates—along with the stories of survival Mairose and others have to share.
“I think it really represents hope. And I think that’s what we as medical oncologists really want to bring to patients. And to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “Screening is changing. And we know that cancer is affecting a lot of people that are younger now. We really want to encourage people to get their mammograms, to get their colonoscopies.”
Kurian said treatment is constantly improving, and patients are experiencing better outcomes than ever before when diagnosed. But they have to take the initiative.
He said St. Elizabeth is as well equipped as any hospital to treat cancer patients.
“We’re very much on the cutting edge of technology, of the people we bring in,” Kurian said. “We’re really making a big impact in this area, and I think there’s a huge need for it as well.”
The American Society of Clinical Oncology had its annual meeting in Chicago this past weekend. Kurian said information from that meeting has already changed the way doctors are treating cancer, just in the last few days.