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CHARMAINE ATKENSON
2009 Participant in the Lung Run
Connection to Lung Cancer:
Survivor since September 2006
I live every day joyfully and with gratitude for the blessings of each day. An optimist, I believe that anyone alive today with even Stage IV lung cancer has a chance to see lung cancer become a chronic disease and eventually cured.”
Charmaine Atkenson...In Her Own Words…
My diagnosis of stage IV non-small cell lung cancer in September 2006 at 46 years of age came out of the blue. I was wife to my college sweetheart, mom to two beautiful daughters and an adorable Yorkshire terrier, active at my church and President of the PTO. I had never smoked, never lived with a smoker, or worked in a smoke-filled environment. I was diagnosed after sustaining a spontaneous burst fracture of my 10th thoracic vertebra while sitting on our family room couch watching the original “Jaws” movie. It was my first and only symptom of lung cancer.
Three days after surgery to repair my fractured spine, pathology results revealed that I had metastatic lung cancer and a young oncologist told me I had 4 to 6 months to live. Happily, he was wrong. It has been more than 2 ½ years since my diagnosis and I still feel perfectly healthy. My doctor calls me a miracle girl. I agree. I credit novel, continuous, aggressive chemotherapy, radiation therapy, the love and support of family and friends, and the Divine Mercy of God for the extraordinary results I have had in keeping lung cancer at bay and for tolerating treatment without side effects. I live every day joyfully and with gratitude for the blessings of each day. An optimist, I believe that anyone alive today with even Stage IV lung cancer has a chance to see lung cancer become a chronic disease and eventually cured.