Her name is Shannon and her life has been anything but easy. She was born on May 13, 1973.
And this is her story…
On July 16, 1988, while Shannon ran cross country with her summer camp mates a pain shot through her foot and up into her leg. She collapsed and was unable to move the leg. She was a mile from the cabins, in the middle of the woods, but the pain was so severe she knew she was not going to be able to walk back to camp. Those at camp informed Shannon’s older brother of the situation. He rushed into the woods, scooped her up, and 30 minutes later jogged into camp with Shannon on his back. Little did he know this wasn’t the first time this had happened.
The pain didn’t end there. Over the next four years Shannon would visit three different doctors. She received arch supports in her shoes and a large plastic boot, but the pain never went away. Shannon was in so much pain that she would literally curl her toes up and transfer her weight to the other foot.
She continued to deal with the pain.
Years later she went north to college on a photo journalism scholarship. She was 800 miles from home and would be visiting new doctors and receiving new medication. In 1991 she would come home for a surgery to fix Chronic Planter Facetious, this is what they had diagnosed her with. The surgery did alleviate some of the pain for six months, but then it intensified.
In 1992 Shannon graduated with much pain, medication, a cane and a team of doctors.
By this time she had developed Hammer Toes. One of the doctors would cut the tendons in the toes and insert steel pins into each toe to force them into normal position. The pain continued and so the pain meds got stronger.
Shannon started a job in Atlanta. Here she found a new doctor, who would tell her that the pain was “all in her head”. He actually believed that she had conditioned herself over the past nine years to expect pain and her mind was giving her what she had grown to expect. The doctor prescribed an electrical shock box attached to her waist that would deliver a painful charge into her back each time her foot hurt. The plan was that this would recondition her brain.
She tore up the prescription.
On September 30, 2000 Shannon got married.
Two years after marrying Shannon would travel with her parents to Burmingham in hopes to find a fix for the pain. They took X-rays and told Shannon to get an MRI. And then, they had an answer…
Shannon was told that she had a tumor in her foot that had been there for over 12 years! The tumor had grown in the bottom of her foot, around both sides and up and over her toes. It had actually penetrated the bones in her foot and was about to penetrate the skin on the top of her foot.
The doctor’s next words were…”We’ll have to take a biopsy to determine if it’s cancerous.”
On May 14, 2002, one day after Shannon’s 29th birthday, Dr. Kenneth Jaffey ordered Shannon “a life or limb decision”. He said, “It’s cancerous; if you leave it the cancer will spread through your skeletal system and you will die; or you can have your foot amputated and hopefully we have got it before the cancer has traveled up your leg.”
On June 12, 2002 Shannon’s foot was amputated at mid calf.
Over the next several months she was fitted for a prosthetic and started her rehabilitation. On December 22, 2002 Shannon fell and shattered her left knee and femur. She was rushed to the closest hospital. The doctors were suggesting amputating her leg above the knee, but they wanted to see her doctor, so on December 23, 2002 she would visit her doctor. He wasn’t able to help her, but he knew someone that would.
On December 26, 2002, surgery was performed on her leg by one of Atlanta’s Best Orthopedic surgeons, Mary Jo Albert. Shannon was given a 40% chance of full recovery. Nine months later the screws, pins and plate were removed and Shannon would resume her rehabilitation.
Shannon was living a normal life and on May 24, 2005 she gave birth to her first child, Aidan.
Shannon, also known as Shay, is a mother, wife, blogger, financial advisor and daughter. She is now in the fourth round of her eleven year fight with cancer.
- Round #1, 2002: Years of foot pain is diagnosed as a soft tissue sarcoma in her left foot. A Life or Limb decision results in an amputation at mid calf. Shannon’s Story
- Round #2, 2007: A tumor is found on her left lung and removed through surgery.
- Round #3, 2010: Another tumor is found on her left lung an another surgery is required.
- Round #4, 2013: A tumor the size of a golf-ball is found between her trachea and heart, three weeks later it’s the size of a baseball. Last week she had 9 doses of high level chemo over a four day period, this procedure will be repeated in three weeks.
Please take a moment to stop by Shay’s blog. Let her know that you are thinking of her, praying for her and care about her. Shay is detailing her fight on her blog MyHotelYorba.
*This article was written using information for Shay’s father’s website. We were given permission to post information as well as photos of Shannon’s story. Our goal is to pour as much Love and prayers out to Shannon as we can. Won’t you help us?
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