Pink Ribbon Review | Raising Breast Cancer Awareness

Survivor Story: Angela Cambouris

by Karen Lynch on June 25th, 2008

Have you ever heard people tell you that you have everything within you that you need to heal yourself? Well, Angela Cambouris is a woman who believes it — she’s living proof. I’m honored to share her survivor story with you!

My story is rather long as it begins in 1989 when I knew that I had a lump that I did not address until 1990. I was never well endowed and you could actually see it. As I was always interested in vitamins and exercise and had never had any health issues, I assumed that it was simply a cyst and was really not worried about it.

Upon having my first mammogram, I was just 40 at the time, my radiologist told me that it was certainly a malignancy.(I doubt that it would be done like this today). My reaction was one of surprise rather than devastation - I just assumed that I would overcome it.

A biopsy confirmed that it was estrogen receptive and I would undergo surgery and radiation. Because the tumor was rather large, I was not sure until the operation was complete if it would be a lumpectomy or mastectomy. The drama really began as I discovered that the furniture store where I worked would be going out of business just as my radiation treatments were to begin and I would become self-employed.

I had started my own interior design business in 1986 and had worked part-time at the store. I was a single mother with a son who was 19 and I had to continue working. As I believe that everything happens for a reason, I acquired a wealthy client who never was aware that I was having the radiation while I completed his home.

I continued my regular visits to my surgeon after the lumpectomy and removal of the lympth nodes which were negative. When given the option, I decided against chemotherapy.

It was at the visit that would have me free and clear for 5 years, that it was discovered on a chest X-ray that I had a tumor the size of a walnut on my lung. Needless to say this time, I was not so certain that I would overcome it. I also had just learned that my mother had Alzheimer’s and as I was the only child, she would be needing me to care for her. The most difficult part was that my son was also an only child and he would be left without family.

The diagnosis was stage 4 breast cancer with removal of my lung as the first option. I have always been proactive and went to see the radiologist who had administered the radiation. He agreed with me that removing the lung was not the best choice as the cancer had already spread. The doctors were unsure what to make of my case as no lymph nodes had ever been positive. I might also add that no member of my extended family had ever had cancer of any kind.

My oncologist decided to start with Tamoxifen as my cancer was estrogen receptive. I began the prescription in February of 1995 with no real knowledge of what to expect so I went to the library and read.

The books cautioned that it might take a while to produce results. I knew that I needed to do more than wait for results. At the library, I also found “The Healing Force”, a film about the amazing Norman Cousins who was the first to use laughter to overcome a major disease. And finally a tape of visualization which I began practicing every day. I became obsessed with healing myself and took megadoses of vitamins and joined a Tai Chi class.

Well, all of this leads to a conclusion that you have already reached as this is 2008 and I am still here to write all of this. Within 1 month, I was in remission and my doctor was stunned. I am presently redecorating his reception room to make it more cheerful.

After the first few years, I stopped thinking about it coming back anymore. I have lost several friends to breast cancer. Ironically, the wonderful woman who taught the Tai Chi class was one of them. When I told her on the phone that she had everything she needed to heal herself, there was dead silence on the other side of the line. A month later she was gone. She had been my angel.

(Image: Angela Cambouris)

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