Lynette Bisconti - Breast Cancer Survivor
In early 1998, just three weeks after learning she was pregnant, Lynette Bisconti was diagnosed with breast cancer. In this video, Lynette explains how, after her local surgeon told her she must terminate the pregnancy, she decided to go to one more hospital because she wasn't willing to give up:
"[At Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA)], I met with all of these people who formed this wonderful support team around me. And all of these people said to me: "We're going to be on your team, but you're going to be at the center calling the shots."
At CTCA, I was treated with respect. I was treated as a human being. I tell people when I talk about this place that this is a place of healing...And that's what it feels like every single time you walk into the hospital."
On August 31, 1998, Lynette gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Frankie.
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Lynette Bisconti: Three weeks after I discovered I was pregnant, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The surgeon said, “You have to abort the baby immediately because pregnancy will probably fuel the cancer and so you need to do this to save your life”, and my family and I came to the conclusion that okay, maybe I do have to terminate. I understand that that’s something that I have to do here.
But I kept telling my husband in those private moments, “I don’t see myself doing this. I know that it’s something that I should do. I know that it’s something that they are telling me I should do, but I don’t see myself doing it.” I had to keep it up - as long as he was going to hang on, I was going to hang on with him.
And so I went to one more hospital because I wasn’t willing to give up. I walked into Cancer Treatment Centers of America – still with a little tiny bit of hope and there is a chandelier hanging in the entry way and people were smiling and saying ‘hello’ to me and I thought this is very, very strange. This isn’t like anything I have seen yet and that with all of these people who formed this wonderful support team around me, and all of these people said to me, “We’re going to be on your team but you are going to be in the center calling the shots” – that was a huge, huge, huge turning point for me.
At Cancer Treatment Centers of America I was treated with respect. I was treated as a human being. When I tell people when I talk about this place that this is a place of healing. It’s not a place where sick people go and it’s not a place where people go to die. It’s a place where people go to heal, and that’s what it feels like every single time you walk into the hospital.
The best thing that came out of my experience – my son.
Cancer is a journey and for me hope never left and it was stronger some days and lesser other days but it never went away.