My name is Dana Dorcas Iam a Real Life Survivor of liver cancer and I am in remission.

In 2010 I was going though a divorce
and at the time I was very stressed and I had a lot going on in my life. I had to move back into my family childhood home for a while and at the time I just was not feeling good. My father suggested that maybe it was time for me to go get checked out, so I did.

The Doctor had said that my colour was not good and my skin looked jaundice for I had a little yellow in my eyes and skin.

My doctor sent me to a specialist and did some test and long and behold I had to go for a catscan and an MRI. After the tests I was told that there was something that showed up on my liver and it looked spotty, so they did a scope on my liver and took a sample. Two weeks later, I received a call and was asked to come into the doctors office in Saint John to see Dr. Gillis, who ended up being my new liver specialist. It was all down hill from there and a brand new beginning for me.

I was told that I have cancer of the liver, I was beyond words and became very upset with the news. From there I had to have numerous rounds of Chemotherapy and make several trips to Saint John NB.

I was then told that I had to have an operation on my liver to removed the upper lob and a small piece of my lower lob.

From there I had to continuously watch what I ate and I knew that I would have a whole new out look on life in a hole new and different way.

The Doctor said to me at the time, “Be happy it's in your liver, because your liver is your only living organ that will grow back in time. So in the last ten years I’ve been working hard to keep going and moving forward and eating a lot healthier foods. I will be honest, this new change has been very difficult but it’s actually working.

To some this all up, I had met the love of my life and a few years into our relationship she was my common law wife and then she too became sick and was diagnosed with cancer and ended up passing away.

At this time I wasn’t concentrating on my health because I was solely focused on her as she was going through her cancer journey. So my health was going down hill before and after her passing, I just gave up on myself and I just really wanted to die. I went to go see someone to talk to about my life and what I was going through, because I wanted to feel better physically, mentally and emotionally or learn how to, if that was even a possibility. I found by doing so, this did really help me come out of the dark place that I was in.

As of now and to make a long story short, I am in remission after numerous rounds of chemotherapy  and I have found my new faith in Jesus Christ. I am pushing forward and improving more and more each day!

Being in remission is not easy, but having good friends and family have made this new journey of mine a bit easier, but at the same time I have had others say negative things about me which has made this new walk a little more challenging at times. I have had people say how good I look and that there is no way that I have cancer. My message to those with a negative outlook on my journey is..“Never judge someone because of the way that they look, just because someone looks healthy doesn’t mean that they aren’t struggling with something on a daily basis.”
People assume when it comes to others until you learn their full story.

In closing I just want to say that I am thankful that I was one of the lucky ones, and that was because the doctors caught my liver cancer early.
I feel very blessed and fortunate and as though I was given a second chance at life and it’s all  because of the early detection, I truly believe that is why I am still here today.

Thank you Real Life Survivor for giving me a voice.

Good bless everyone.