Breast Cancer Survivor Andrea Gildner of West Branch
Celebrates Life® At Cancer Treatment Centers of America®
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Joins Fellow Five-Year Cancer Survivors in Tree-Planting Ceremony
Zion, Illinois – June 5, 2009 – Andrea Gildner returned to Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) at Midwestern Regional Medical Center (Midwestern) in suburban Chicago today to celebrate her more than five years as a breast cancer survivor. Gildner was joined by doctors, hospital administration and the clinical support team in a tree-planting ceremony in her honor. Five doves were released at the conclusion of the event to commemorate each year of her fighting survival.
Gildner, of West Branch, Michigan, was first diagnosed with highly aggressive metastatic breast cancer at the age of 26. Only nine years after she had achieved remission, and shortly after her 35th birthday in October of 2004, Gildner was again diagnosed with breast cancer, only this time it was inflammatory breast cancer. “I nearly gave up. The prognosis sounded so grim I had prematurely decided I would not put my family through the pain of more treatment,” she remembers. But in December of 2004, her father began frantically searching the web, desperate to find hope for his little girl, and insisted that she travel to CTCA to get a second opinion.
“We arrived at CTCA physically and emotionally exhausted, secretly hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Five days later, I met who I like to call my angel – Dr. Dennis Citrin. He told us we had a fight on our hands but if we were willing to fight he would fight with me. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me,” she said. Gildner worked closely with Dr. Citrin and her multidisciplinary team to craft a treatment plan that was right for her. Her individualized plan consisted of a combination of chemotherapy and 30 Tomotherapy radiation treatments integrated with nutritional and naturopathic support, mind-body medicine, physical therapy and spiritual support to help her fight the disease on all fronts, manage her treatment side effects and maintain quality of life.
“I was blessed because I never ended up with any major side effects. Other than being a little fatigued, I would not have known I was receiving treatment. Being away from my kids (Josh and Hannah) was really the hardest part, but I was fighting for more days with them and I believed my treatments would give me just that,” she said.
Now, as a cancer survivor for five years, Gildner’s advice to other patients is simple, “Do not accept one answer. Regardless if we’re talking about a pain in your chest, a cold or cancer, we have choices and we don’t have to settle for the physician who is most convenient or someone we have gone to all our lives. We’re willing to shop around for things that are so trivial in life. We’ll go to 15 furniture stores to find the best couch, so why wouldn’t we do that with our health care?” she asserts.
Gildner remarks ‘how sweet it is’ that “I am attending my son’s high school graduation this week to help him celebrate this milestone in his life…something I wasn’t sure I would live to be a part of. I thank God every day for this gift of life.”
This year, 104 CTCA patients are celebrating their five-year triumph over cancer at CTCA at Midwestern Regional Medical Center. “At Cancer Treatment Centers of America, we surround each patient with a multidisciplinary care team that is designed to meet their individual needs,” said Anne Meisner, president and CEO at CTCA at Midwestern Regional Medical Center. “Our team provides state of the art treatment protocols with fully integrated complementary therapies. We empower our patients to help them take control of their cancer and every patient is treated as though they were a member of our own family. We are so proud of our celebrants and honored to acknowledge and celebrate their journey and continued success,” she added.
About Cancer Treatment Centers of America
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) is a national network of hospitals providing a comprehensive, fully integrative approach to cancer treatment. CTCA serves patients with advanced cancer from all 50 states at facilities located in suburban Chicago, Philadelphia, Tulsa and suburban Phoenix. For more information about Cancer Treatment Centers of America, go to cancercenter.com.
