my 2011 year
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
By: Deborah Shannon

So many people have helped me through my 2011 journey. My illness in 2011 escaped a cancer fight, but in due time, the drugs that saved me, may very well have me fighting for my life again in the near future.

I am 44 and proud to be able to say that.
My fight with Crohn's disease started when I was 19 years old. I have severe Crohn's disease and have had surgeries and many narrow escapes in the last 25 years. Thankfully I can say I have escaped any cancer so far. The fear of this disease is with me every step of my journey with Crohns, as, cancer is a side effect of all the drugs that are currently working to fight my disease.
I have no way of thanking my friends and family for their sincere concern and help throughout the past year, as I fought the doctors, as I fought for my life twice, and through all the surgeries that ended in me losing 55% of my bowels.
Again, with everything that went wrong, the pain, suffering and loss, the nursing and appointments....they found no cancer. And for that I am eternally grateful.
My journey has in no way been an easy path, but I have always looked forward and smiled (almost always), to gather the strength to continue. I have been asked so often how I can go on or how I deal with my pain, my answer is always "there are others with cancer, I can do this."