Stomach Cancer Survivor Stories

Meet Kermit Farmer, a dedicated patient and caregiver advocate who joined DDF on Capitol Hill for our Annual Advocacy Day, honoring his late wife, Dr. Linda Lee Farmer. Kermit is an author, podcaster, and entrepreneur who continues to keep his wife’s legacy alive. In his heartfelt memoir, Kermit shares the twenty-year love story between himself and Linda, an oncologist, devoted…

We are honored to share the remarkable story of Dr. John Woog, a retired ophthalmologist from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who unexpectedly found himself facing advanced stomach cancer in 2007. Despite facing numerous challenges and setbacks in his treatment journey, including Stage 4 disease with liver metastases, Dr. Woog ultimately found hope through experimental chemotherapy. Since 2010, he has been fortunate to live without evidence of disease.

I was diagnosed with stage one non-CDH1 gastric adenocarcinoma with signet ring cells on June 16, 2021. This diagnosis came as a complete incidental finding and, of course, shock! In 2016 I was diagnosed with the stomach bacteria H Pylori after having an upper endoscopy to evaluate the cause of belching and acid reflux. To treat this, I received three…

We discovered that we carry the CDH1 mutation in February 2015. Surveillance is the route we chose as a strong family history of gastric cancer did not register in our family tree until recently.

Hi, My name is Amanda Johnson, and I live on Long Island in Sayville. I was found to have a rare CDH1 genetic mutation in November of 2017. This was right after my sister was also diagnosed with cancer found, and had her total gastrectomy.

I dialed “9-1-1” late evening on June 12, 2018, for excruciating abdominal pain, for which I underwent emergency surgery resulting in a partial gastrectomy (Bill Roth II procedure) removing the lower two-thirds of my stomach. A 9.5-centimeter-sized tumor had perforated the pyloric antrum, explaining the excruciating pain I experienced. I have an extremely high pain tolerance. At the time, I was 56-years-old, a single mother, and worked full-time for decades as a paralegal.

It’s February 27, 2022, and tomorrow marks five years. Five years since a part of my life ended, and another began. At this moment, five years ago, I was excited. I was looking forward to removing the offending organ (my stomach). I didn’t want it for another second because the longer it was a part of my body, the second…

Our journey began when my husband Brett was an Addiction Counselor, and he decided to try a new path working with incarcerated youth. He became a guard in a juvenile facility. One night, while coming home from work, he decided to eat an apple, but the apple did not stay down. That was the beginning of his journey of being…

I began feeling strange in Nov 2019. I started having random panic attacks and feeling generally uneasy and very down, which was entirely out of character for me. After struggling for a few more weeks, I went to see my general practitioner. My doctor listened as I explained my symptoms and gave me some anti-depressants. The tablets seemed to stop…

I am 55 years old and the mother of five children. Two of which have been given back to God, as we say in my family—one at birth and the other one, Chelsea, on June 11, 2021, from this brutal disease, linitis plastica or leather bottle stomach, a rare form of stomach cancer, at the age of 31. Ironically Chelsea…

Theresa Germano was diagnosed in February of 2018 with Stage 4 GE junction cancer (esophagus and stomach intersection) that had spread to her liver. This news led her daughter Adriana and son-in-law Tony to sell their home within 30 days and move in with Theresa as official caregivers. Just nine years prior, Adriana’s father died from stomach cancer within six…

I was diagnosed with stomach cancer by Accident when I was Twenty-six years old on July 27, 2009. I had been seeing doctors for lower abdominal pain and a generalized feeling of malaise-zero energy, and a sudden onset of terrible GERD. But the pain I experienced is what lead me to be seen. I was desperate for help. While being…

My name is Lisa Gardner. I am a 46-year-old wife, mother, and special education para-educator. February 28, 2018, I was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer. The 10 cm tumor was growing in my upper stomach and into my esophagus. The cancer had spread to 4 major lymph nodes around my aorta, making my case inoperable. Doctors had very low…

Victoria “Vatsany” Soudaros is an immigrant from Laos.  She loves to travel, eat, shop, and is a chef at heart.  She is half Laotian and Thai.  In 1979, Victoria’s family was sponsored for asylum as political refugees from Laos to the U.S. by a Lutheran Church.  Victoria has loved fashion and food since the age of 5.  She developed this…

I was having stomach pains for a while, and in 2015 I went to an oncologist who just monitored my bloodwork. I asked him a few times to please do an endoscopy to look into my stomach, but he refused. As I had more bloodwork done, my chromogranin, a tumor marker, kept rising. A normal chromogranin reading is 90 and…

My name is Millie McConnell, and I am a twelve year stomach cancer survivor. I was diagnosed Nov 15, 2001 with Stage 3B Signet Ring Stomach Cancer and told to put my affairs in order. The hospital had me on morphine although it was on my record prior to surgery that I was very allergic to it. Following surgery I…

I never really had any symptoms of stomach cancer. In 2010, I was a Professor at Michigan State University and was Provost for Health, responsible for the Medical and Nursing Colleges. I thought that I was in great health. I was at the Michigan State University Student Health Service Halloween Party in 2010, probably wearing some kind of silly mask.…

On September 20, 2012, my life changed but not for a good reason. That day I was diagnosed with gastric cancer and specifically a tumor in the upper part of the stomach near the esophagus. I have been in the health insurance field for 30 years and was acutely aware of the seriousness of my situation and did what I’m…

Like most woman today, I always put my health concerns last. So in January of 2009 when I noticed some pressure under my breastbone, I ignored it. I thought that I am too young for anything to be seriously wrong. I was only 49. I had a stressful job, I sold technology to businesses and with the recession in full…

This year I celebrated my 55th birthday. It’s a birthday I looked forward to celebrating, since it also marked my 5 year anniversary as a stomach cancer survivor. In July 2007, I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Gastric Cancer. It was a signet ring cell type which I was told was an extremely aggressive, fast growing cancer. I was shocked.…