Stacy's story

Diagnosis: Stage 4 colorectal cancer liver metastases
Age at diagnosis: 32

In 2008, at age 32, Stacy had just given birth to her first child after a normal and uncomplicated pregnancy. Two weeks later, she had a fever. Both her Ob/Gyn and internist found her glands were a little swollen and sent her home with an antibiotic. When the fever persisted, Stacy sought the opinion of another doctor who conducted a battery of tests, that led to a sonogram revealing lesions on her liver.

Stacy received a stage 4 colon cancer with liver metastases diagnosis on a Friday and by the following Monday she’d booked consultations with surgeons and oncologists to understand her options. The first recommendation was to remove the colon tumor, follow with systemic chemotherapy and then re-evaluate the possibility of surgery to remove tumors in the liver. The second was to start with traditional chemotherapy to reduce the size of the colon tumor and then have surgery to remove the colon tumor and at the same time implant a pump for Hepatic Artery Infusion (HAI) to provide delivery of chemotherapy directly to the liver.

“The whole idea of the pump was scary to me; it was a foreign object in my body,” Stacy recalls. “I wondered whether I would be able to fit into my jeans if I had a pump.” Ultimately, she felt it had the best potential for making liver surgery possible, and with encouragement from her doctors she was ready to move forward.

She started systemic chemotherapy to shrink the tumor in her colon and had colon resection in July 2008. She had the pump implanted during that surgery and then started Hepatic Artery Infusion (HAI) therapy. “Having the pump allowed me to receive chemotherapy and resume life with my new baby.” After four rounds of HAI therapy, the tumors on her liver shrank and she was ready for two-part liver resection surgery in January and March of 2009.

Stacy is happy to report that she has been cancer free for nearly 14 years.