Christine, 10-year cancer warrior
To say that Christine Pierce’s cancer journey is remarkable is an understatement.
Nearly 40 years ago, in 1979, Pierce was told that she shouldn’t adopt children because she would likely perish in a matter of months. And, today, here she is: A proud mother of two, grandmother and incredible survivor of multiple bouts with cancer.
2019 marked ten years of Christine being a patient of Comprehensive Cancer Centers, first meeting Dr. Rupesh Parikh in 2009 with an advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
But there is so much more to Christine’s story than this latest battle.
When she was 22 years old, Christine was diagnosed with an early stage of ovarian cancer. Her doctor in California recommended chemotherapy for a year and then non-targeted radiation treatments every day for 9 weeks following a related surgery. Unfortunately, that procedure has segued to several health-related issues, including eating problems and fecal incontinence, to this day.
In 2009, Christine was sitting at a computer in her home and everything turned black. She was rushed to St. Rose Hospital in Henderson and subsequent tests showed her gastrointestinal tumor.
The outlook was grim, but she and Dr. Parikh refused to throw in the towel. To make matters worse, in the following months, Christine was also diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had a thyroidectomy to have the cancer removed.
To address her gastrointestinal cancer, she began taking the drug Gleevec, which, in tandem with the removal of the tumor and other affected organs, has been a positive life changer.
In 2016, Christine had both of her breasts removed after suspicious grey matter appeared in her scans. And, in 2017, Christine had a variety of heart-related episodes, including high blood pressure attacks, mini-strokes and minor heart attacks. She now has four total stents in her heart arteries.
Today, Christine is grateful to be alive. She continues her regular check-ups with Dr. Parikh and, certainly by now, is ready for whatever may come her way.
“For now, I thank God and Dr. Parikh that I am alive,” she says. “I have strong faith that I will continue to be stable and live long enough to see my grandchildren grow up.”