Tagged: sacral chordoma

Diagnosis, Cancer 0

My Story: Part One: You Have Cancer

In January of 2018, I had just turned 35 years old. I was content with where I was in life. An avid traveler, a surfer, runner, cyclist, and general lover of life, I was happy. What I was most passionate about was surfing. I just loved and lived for...

My Story Part 2 1

My Story: Part Two: There Has to Be Another Way

After four doctors told that surgery was the only way to treat the large cancerous tumor growing on my sacrum, my only thought was this: there’s no way in hell I’m having that surgery. There has to be another way. I wanted to surf. I wanted to save my...

My Story Part 3 1

My Story: Part Three: Oasis of Hope Cancer Clinic

One day, while waiting for the UCLA doctors to call and give me a date for my surgery, I was eating lunch with my friend Lauren at Gratitude Cafe. I was telling her all the latest drama of the tumor and having trouble getting a surgery, when suddenly a...

My Story Part 4 1

My Story: Part Four: Proton Beam Therapy

So in September of 2018, four months after my cancer diagnosis, I signed up for Proton Beam Therapy at California Protons Cancer Therapy Center with Dr. Urbanic, who initially recommended surgery, but agreed to treat me after I told him I refused surgery. I immediately liked Dr. Urbanic, not...