(Kristin) Hello, I recently had the chance to
interview a Mayo Clinic Health System
patient to discuss her cancer journey.
This patient is also a personal friend.
It's the story of an extra-special
graduation day.
(Soft piano music plays fading into scattered conversation in the kitchen)
They say life is made of
small moments, but just one moment can
change our life forever.
(Michelle) It was about the size of a pineapple.
So I knew,
I remember sitting there, thinking
now I know why my right her hip hurts,
because it's my right ovary.
Now I know
why my lower back hurts.
Now I know why
I'm bloated.
(Kristin) At age 52, Michelle Messer was told she had
an aggressive form of ovarian cancer.
Ovarian is one of the deadliest cancers
for women and there is no reliable
diagnostic test to detect the disease in
its early stages.
When she was diagnosed
by gynecologist, Dr. Suzette Peltier at
Mayo Clinic Health System,
Michelle was already stage four.
Meaning,
the cancer had spread.
(Michelle) They knew that it
had moved to my liver.
It was all over my
abdominal cavity, part of my colon,
and my lungs.
(Kristin) Michelle's husband, Sean, says the
news was devastating.
(Shaun) That was probably
the most crushing thing I've ever felt
in my life, (Kristin) that is before the couple had
to break the news to their adult sons
and young daughter.
(Michelle) Oh, that was horrible.
That was really bad.
(Shaun) Then how do you tell a 13 year
old girl that her mother might not be
here in a year, or two years.
(Hannah) So I came home from school, from the bus,
and I walked in and they were both
sitting on the couch.
(Shaun) We just sat there,
and, and she came in the door, and her
face dropped, because she obviously could
read our body language, (Michelle) and I told her
that I had cancer, and she started crying,
and she said no and she fell to the
ground.
(Shaun) And she let out, actually a
blood-curdling scream, that I've never
heard before.
(Michelle) What can you do?
The only thing you can do is hug is ‘em.
(Kristin) After the
initial shock had subsided, the entire
family quickly moved into action mode.
Within three days,
Dr. Peltier and Eau Claire, Wisconsin,
arranged for Michelle to be seen by
specialists at Mayo Clinic in Rochester
Minnesota.
After rounds of tests, thoracic
surgeon, Dr. Francis Nichols, performed
Michelle's first surgery to remove
cancer from her lungs.
It was a fearful
time, but Michelle and her medical team
remained positive.
(Michelle) Having a professional
look at you and say we're gonna fight this
and we're gonna do
everything we can.
My surgeon said, we're going for
the gold.
This is the Olympics.
I mean statements like that, when you are
so fearful, I mean that's the only word, I
was just fearful,
are empowering.
(Kristin) Two weeks later, while still recovering from that
initial surgery,
Michelle underwent a nine-hour
abdominal surgery performed by
gynecological oncologist,
Dr. Carrie Langstraat, which included a full
hysterectomy.
The pineapple sized tumor
was removed and more.
(Michelle) They removed, um...
my gall bladder was full of cancer, part of
my colon, um, several, dozens and dozens of
lymph nodes.
(Kristin) Michele underwent
chemotherapy every week for nearly eight
months at Mayo Clinic Health System,
close to her home in Eau Claire.
It was grueling.
She lost her hair.
She lost her energy,
but she never lost hope.
She had many
fierce, loyal friends and family
serve as her support system, including me.
(Michelle) Kristin, I felt like there was an instant bond
because we both shared the same
cancer and I felt that you knew what
that fear was.
You were just comforting.
It was just nice to know that there was
somebody else out there that knew what I
was feeling, because you'd gone through
it before.
And I also realized that I
didn't realize how bad it was for you,
because until you're there, you don't know.
So, um, yeah, and you're a survivor, so
that really helped.
(Kristin) We're both survivors.
(Michelle) We’re both survivors, yeah.
(Kristin) We're sisters in teal.
(Michelle) We are sisters in
teal.
(Kristin) You may have noticed the color
teal a lot in this story.
Teal is the color
that represents ovarian cancer.
The color permeates Michelle's life, wardrobe,
and home.
There's no shying away from
ovarian cancer, so her family doesn't shy
away from the color or educating others
about the disease.
Michelle went into
remission.
With stage four, you are never
truly considered, ... cured.
Her hair grew back.
Then a year and a half after her initial
diagnosis, she felt a lump on her neck.
It was a recurrence of the ovarian cancer.
That meant more surgery, losing her hair again,
and more chemo.
This time treatment
was much harder on her body, but hope
persisted.
From Michelle and her oncology team.
(Michelle) The really cool thing about Dr. Basu was,
every time I had chemo,
even though I didn't have an appointment with him,
my appointment was, you know, having
the chemo, he would swing through
and pop his head in my room.
It was, it was a tough chemo day,
and I looked at him and
I smiled and I said I'm faking it till I make it,
and he looked at me,
he kind of cocked his head
and said, you've already made it.
(soft music plays in the background)
Huge, huge.
(Kristin) More hope.
(Michelle) More hope.
(Kristin) Five years after her
initial diagnosis, Michelle is again in
remission, truly living life with stage
four cancer, and yes, at peace with what
may lie ahead.
She's requested if her
health should deteriorate in the future,
that this video remain available to give
others hope.
For the first time in five
years, Michelle had a chance to reconnect
with Dr. Peltier and asked to see that
initial scan, that changed her life
and recalled a shared moment with the doctor
in an exam room, immediately after
learning, she had cancer.
A moment for
which she is forever thankful.
(Kristin) What was it like for her
to be able to tell you
thank you in person?
(Dr. Peltier) I can't, I (voice cracking with emotion), I'm just probably
gonna break down cry.
It's very humbling.
Yes.
I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see
somebody, five years out from stage four
(voice breaking) ovarian cancer.
(Michelle) I think Mayo Clinic has all
the pieces.
They have the heart.
They have
the intelligence.
They have the
professionalism.
They're efficient,
um...
but they also have that warmth, that
humaneness, about them.
I would highly recommend them.
They saved my life.
(Kristin) Michelle is now an active volunteer at
Mayo Clinic Health System with her pet
therapy dog, Hunter.
The pair visits patients
and providers in the Cancer Center,
a place Michelle knows well,
but does not fear.
(Kristin) And then did you, did you
take part in the bell ceremony here and,
and, and do something special?
(Michelle) (bell rings loudly) You Betcha!
(Kristin) It’s graduation day?
(Michelle) Yes it is!
(Graduation march music plays)
(Kristin) A day Michelle wasn't sure she'd ever
lived to see, has arrived.
It's now Hannah's turn to graduate.
A day
filled with varied emotions and the
legacy of lessons learned.
(Hannah) I think she's
one of the strongest people I've ever met
and will ever meet.
That she's always,
always, looking for the bright side of
things.
I think that's part of the reason
she's still here.
(Announcer: Hannah Joan Messer - crowd cheers loudly)
(Kristin) Graduation day,
a mere moment in time for some,
the moment of a lifetime for others.
(Soft, emotional music plays)
(soft music continues to play)