Mother & Daughter Fight Cancer Together Amidst a Pandemic
Mothers and daughters share a special bond. A connection like none other, it can often be described with layers of strength, love and at times, complexity.
As an only child, Rae Waddell has an especially unique bond with her mother, Thelma. Having Rae at a young age, Thelma described their relationship as “years of growing up together.” The two even find themselves as neighbors, living on their family property in Tallahassee.
In January of 2019, Rae, 52, noticed something was wrong with her health.
“For the first time in my life, I was just exhausted at all times,” said Rae. “I was having sporadic stomach pains and bleeding, which I had never experienced before.”
Rae made an appointment with her gynecologist where both CT scans and bloodwork were ordered.
Two weeks after testing, Rae was referred to the multidisciplinary team at the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center. She was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. Rae, Thelma and their family were shocked.
Her medical team immediately scheduled surgery for February at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH). With a long road to recovery, she began her radiation treatments led by Ovidiu Marina, MD, radiation oncologist at TMH, which involved a series of twenty-eight radiation treatments over the next three months.
When the day of her last treatment arrived in June, she was relieved. The radiation treatments were difficult for Rae with the multiple side effects. However, as she enjoyed the summer with her family, she began noticing an odd feeling here and there.
“I just didn’t feel myself,” described Rae. “I had bounced back from the radiation treatment side effects, but I started to feel strange pains again and, as the fall months went on, they became more frequent for me.”
Rae scheduled an appointment with Amanda Stephens, DO, gynecologic oncologist at TMH, who quickly found her cancer had returned, and this time had spread throughout her abdomen, lymph nodes and lungs in the form of small malignant tumors. Unsure of why this was happening to her, Rae quickly began treatments again, this time with a plan of six chemotherapy sessions.
Yet in the midst of Rae fighting cancer for the second time, her mother, Thelma, found herself facing a familiar and unwelcome situation.
While Thelma visited her primary care provider for her annual physical, her doctor detected an abnormal sound in her lungs and was quickly referred to the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center. Following extensive scans and blood work, just like her daughter had months prior, Thelma was diagnosed with stage two lung cancer in December of 2019.
This mother-daughter duo was now fighting cancer together.
“We were shocked,” said Thelma choking up. “We share everything in life, but this is certainly one thing we did not want to share. Yet in the darkness of this news, I found a little light. My daughter was able to ease my fears, as she had been on and was still on this journey herself - the real reason we were going through this together.”
Thelma underwent minimally invasive robotic surgery at TMH, where her surgical team successfully removed the tumor from her right lung. Following the procedure, Thelma had four chemotherapy and thirty radiation treatments.
Knowing how close Rae and Thelma were, Jayan Nair, MD, hematology oncology, was able to schedule Rae and Thelma’s chemotherapy sessions on alternating weeks. This allowed the mother and daughter pair to attend each other’s sessions.
“This was a unique situation,” said Dr. Nair. “They truly were each other’s support system. During Thelma’s appointments, Rae would share the side effects she had experienced for her mother to be prepared, while allowing me the accessibility to check in on both of them as patients and caregivers.”
Yet, just when these two were settling into their new norm of treatments and appointments, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic changed life for everyone.
“It was scary, to say the least,” recalled Rae. “We suddenly had to go to appointments and treatments alone, on top of knowing we were the immunocompromised population who needed to be protected the most from COVID-19.”
Greeted by screeners at the entrance of the Cancer Center, all their fears were quickly eased. Their temperatures were taken at the arrival of every appointment or treatment, while face masks were worn by patients and the entire team at the Cancer Center. A state-of-the-art UV-C cleaning system was also implemented for nightly cleanings, ensuring a safe environment for patients.
“COVID-19 has made it harder to look at the bright side of life,” added Thelma. “But there is always a silver lining in every situation. Not only did we have each other to come home to, but the Cancer Center colleagues were tender, sweet and understanding to how scary the world was, especially as a cancer patient. They took the fear out of both of us every time we walked in the doors.”
As the only cancer program in the Big Bend region to offer hematology/oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology and gynecologic oncology, the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center is known for its highly-trained medical team and for delivering the most powerful treatment options, all under one roof.
Today, the two find joy in Thelma being cancer free, while Rae works towards the same goal. As they remain safe and socially distanced together amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Rae and Thelma share their story to encourage others during these unprecedented times.
