Anne Elbrecht - Portrait of a Cancer Survivor

Cancer Survivors

Tura Jenkins

Tura Jenkins was already emotionally shaken from a family death when she was diagnosed with Stage III endometrial cancer. Treatment was aggressive and included chemotherapy, external and internal radiation treatments, and blood transfusions. Read more

Anne Elbrecht

Anne Elbrecht was on vacation, on her way to Syria, when the gynecologic problems that she had been experiencing worsened. She made a medical pit stop in Istanbul, where doctors diagnosed Fallopian tube cancer. Elbrecht returned home immediately. Read more

Mikel Nalley

Mikel Nalley, a self-employed artist and actor, first found a softball-sized lump under his right arm, which he nicknamed "Charlie." Nalley recalls with amusement that the nurse who first saw his lump at his primary-care clinic said, "that’s impressive!" She sent him to the emergency department at UC Davis Medical Center for diagnosis and treatment. Read more

Parmina Valentine

Pauline Marie considers the H1N1 flu to be a blessing. It hampered the breathing ability of her granddaughter Parmina so much that she needed a chest X-ray. If not for that, the mediastinal embryonal germ cell tumor attached to Parmina’s thymus wouldn’t have been discovered before advancing to Stage IV cancer. Read more

SaEeda Sharon King

Having endured cystic breasts for years, SaEeda King was tired of having them so frequently aspirated – so she stopped going to the doctor. Read more

Fallopian tube cancer is rare, accounting for only about 1 to 2 percent of all gynecologic cancers. Although she considered gathering second opinions, she already had a UC Davis Medical Center primary-care physician, and had confidence in the health system and the cancer center. She underwent surgery, then six weeks of chemotherapy. Fortunately, she says, "I never had nausea, never got sick."

The care she received at the cancer center, she says, was exemplary. She loved her surgeon, Anne Rodriguez, whom she called "a sweetheart." She says that the staff at the infusion center was always upbeat, cheerful and skilled.

"I felt very fortunate, very well cared for."

~ Anne Elbrecht

"I felt very fortunate, very well cared for," she says.

Afterward, Elbrecht set to work on recovering her full physical and mental strength, which was naturally compromised by treatment. She was planning another vacation, this time to England, when she learned that her cancer had returned. But she is facing a new round of treatment with her natural aplomb, once she returns home. She’s taking her vacation first.