Meet 14 Year Thriver, Theresa

By Theresa Comodero, 11/21/23

Theresa

I was diagnosed with ULMS in January 2010 (@39 years old), after a hysterectomy because of “fibroids.” I was seen at Cedars Sinai under Dr. Cass. She placed me on tamoxifen, but stopped after 3 months because of severe bone/body pains. I had pelvic radiation done locally at San Antonio Hospital because of insurance issues. The last quarter of 2014, after a CT scan, I had multiple nodules in both lungs. I also found out that I also have thyroid papillary carcinoma.

Dr Soukiasian is my thoracic surgeon who did my robotic thoracotomy wedge resection of my left upper lobe (January 2015) and thoracotomy with metatastectomy on my rt. lung (March 2015). I then had a thyroidectomy (Dec. 2014), radiocative iodine (Feb 2015). Next I had SBRT on my rt. lung, followed by gem/tax chemo (May2015).  I was fine afterwards.

Then Dr. Cass referred me to Dr. Sankhala (Cedars). I had cholecystectomy 2018, and a spleenectomy with partial pancreactomy in 2020. I still have a “stable” cyst on my liver, nodule on my adrenal gland, nodules on my rt. lung (unchanged) since 2020. Oh I forgot to mention that I am deaf on my left ear because of lesion on my auditory nerve (treated with targeted radiation in 2017).

My body has been through a lot but I am grateful I survived this because of my faith. And try not to think about this burden.  I often forget that I have cancer lol.

Because of the LMSDR Facebook group, I learned that I was not alone in this battle and that there is hope.  The support group gave us something to hold onto, to keep us from drowning.

If you are a leiomyosarcoma survivor of 7+ years, please share your story with us and pass the hope forward. Contact info@LMSDR.org