Colorectal cancer survivor Lisa Issa (second from right), received her proclamation for Colorectal Cancer Awareness at the municipal building on March 13.
The township committee presented the Patricia Peterson Colorectal Cancer Awareness Proclamation to resident Lisa Issa on March 13 as part of its effort to promote the month’s national observation of colorectal cancer awareness.
Issa is a stage-IV colon cancer survivor who was diagnosed in 2012 at 26. Already the mother of a 16-month-old boy, she was considering having another baby when she first experienced concerning symptoms.
“I thought I should maybe get this checked out before I get pregnant again,” she recalled, “Those symptoms were easy to brush off, which I had been doing for a very long time, making excuses for them. It was blood when I went to the bathroom and extreme fatigue, very exhausted.
“I think those two things people experience every once in a while, in their life,” Issa added, “and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s nothing, I just need to sleep a little longer.'”
Being a mother prompted Issa to get a checkup, she recounted, which eventually lead to a colonoscopy. The test found a cancerous tumor that had spread to her liver and lymph nodes. She was given a 5% chance of survival.
“The first step in, it was six weeks of 24/7 chemotherapy,” Issa remembered. “I got my port put in and I went home with the chemotherapy pump. It was like a fanny pack, and every 15 minutes, it would administer a little bit of chemo. I wore that, I slept in it, showered in it.
“It was 24/7.”
Issa also got radiation and found herself exhausted afterward. She continued with a few more months of chemo, then underwent surgery to remove part of her colon and have her liver resectioned. She was also given a colostomy bag, which she would endure for six more years.
“It was very hard to heal from the surgery while being on chemo,” Issa explained. “I ended up with a wound vac (a medical device that uses negative pressure to promote faster and more effective wound healing) for about four months. That took me to about a year after diagnosis.”
Things were looking up after a year, but a check of Issa’s colostomy bag revealed the cancer’s return. Despite the struggles of enduring cancer at such a young age, Issa credits the support she and her family received for helping her take things one day at a time.
“We had so much support,” she noted. “We are so blessed that our families both still live in the area and they would help us out all the time. They were watching Carter (her son) for me, they were cleaning my house, sending food, they were so supportive.
“You have to trust your doctors, too,” Issa added. “You have to know that they are in this for the long haul. They’re not like, ‘Ok, let’s see how long we can keep her alive.’ It’s like, ‘No, let’s cure her.'”
Today, Issa is cancer free. Both she and the township shared her story to spread awareness of colorectal cancer and early detection, and to inspire others going through the same ordeal.
“I promised myself that if I lived,” Issa revealed, “I was going to tell my story. Because I know that somebody who’s stage IV, who’s young or however old you are, they look for stories of people who lived, because they want to be that person, too.”
