{"id":59286,"date":"2021-08-27T13:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T17:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/a-life-saving-reminder-lorens-rare-cancer-journey\/"},"modified":"2021-08-27T13:00:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T17:00:24","slug":"a-life-saving-reminder-lorens-rare-cancer-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/a-life-saving-reminder-lorens-rare-cancer-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"A Life Saving Reminder – Loren\u2019s Rare Cancer Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

In\u00a02001,\u00a0I was diagnosed with\u00a0ocular melanoma.\u00a0What makes ocular melanoma\u00a0rare\u00a0is\u00a0that\u00a0only 2,500\u00a0people\u00a0are\u00a0diagnosed\u00a0with it\u00a0each\u00a0year.\u00a0Following my diagnosis in October of 2001,\u00a0I went through numerous tests at Sylvester Cancer Center.\u00a0In\u00a0November,\u00a0I was admitted into the hospital where they implanted a\u00a0metal plate into my left eye with 20 seeds of radiation, which was removed after a week.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The doctor\u00a0continued to see me\u00a0every six months, and\u00a0in 2009,\u00a0they\u00a0lasered\u00a0the tumor\u00a0and put a new lens into my eye.\u00a0I\u00a0see a medical oncologist twice a year,\u00a0and I am\u00a0given a\u00a0CAT scan\u00a0and\u00a0MRI once a year to make sure the cancer has not metastasized.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2017,\u00a0I suffered an ocular stroke in my\u00a0right eye, which is my\u00a0good\u00a0eye.\u00a0Six\u00a0months later,\u00a0I started hemorrhaging at the macula,\u00a0which is called radiation retinopathy.\u00a0It is\u00a0a side effect of radiation\u00a0that took 16 years\u00a0to occur. I now spend every\u00a0two\u00a0to\u00a0three\u00a0weeks at the ocular oncologist getting injections into both eyes to stop the hemorrhaging.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These\u00a0treatments\u00a0for my rare cancer\u00a0will continue indefinitely. I believe\u00a0that\u00a0each day is an opportunity to live a day in gratitude,\u00a0and I am blessed for the vision that I have left.\u00a0My passion\u00a0and purpose\u00a0in life is to spread awareness\u00a0for ocular melanoma. I want\u00a0to remind people to get comprehensive eye exams\u00a0yearly, as it could save your life.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

September 30 is #RareCancerDay, an annual awareness day devoted to shining a light on rare cancers and the issues people living with them face. NORD is highlighting the stories of the rare cancer community – learn more<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In\u00a02001,\u00a0I was diagnosed with\u00a0ocular melanoma.\u00a0What makes ocular melanoma\u00a0rare\u00a0is\u00a0that\u00a0only 2,500\u00a0people\u00a0are\u00a0diagnosed\u00a0with it\u00a0each\u00a0year.\u00a0Following my diagnosis in October of 2001,\u00a0I went through numerous tests at Sylvester Cancer Center.\u00a0In\u00a0November,\u00a0I was admitted into the hospital where … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Life Saving Reminder – Loren\u2019s Rare Cancer Journey”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":13152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,505,2754],"tags":[203,2755,2756,1234,2492,798,2045,2757],"class_list":["post-59286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patients-members","category-patient-stories","category-voices-of-rare-cancer","tag-cancer","tag-cat","tag-cat-scan","tag-mri","tag-ocular-melanoma","tag-rare-cancer","tag-rare-cancer-day","tag-stroke"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarediseases.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}