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Woman given 1% chance of survival beats odds
Elise Tedeschi was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at just 43. Doctors said she was facing about a 1% chance of surviving the next 5 years. That was 10 years ago. FOX 5 Medical Team's Beth Galvin has her incredible story.
Atlanta - Elise Tedeschi's cancer story began with 6 months of back pain, right in the middle of her back.
"I thought maybe I had a kidney infection," Tedeschi says.
She also had heartburn, and an upset stomach.
"At one point my stomach felt like it was on fire," Tedeschi says. "So, I kept going back to the doctor."
At 43, seemingly healthy, no one thought about pancreatic cancer, not even when the back pain landed Tedeschi in the ER.
"I even had a bulging disc caused by the tumor, because it was so large," she says.
Finally, 6 months into Tedeschi's ordeal, a scan revealed a large tumor on her pancreas. Tests showed the cancer had spread to her liver.
Tedeschi was told she had stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
"I was with my sister, and I was just devastated because, you know, you think that you go along with life and, you know, that happens to other people," she says.
She thought about her husband, Patrick, and their sons.
"My boys were 6 and 8," she says.
In 2012, Tedeschi says she learned only 1% of patients with her type of cancer survived to the 5-year mark.
One percent.
"I just felt like I have to be in that 1%. I have to be in that 1% because I have to be there for my boys," she says.
So, Tedeschi got a second opinion. Then, a third.
"I would always say, 'There's no way I'm leaving my boys, and no one else is marrying my husband," she smiles.
With her sister as her medical advocate, she began chemotherapy.
"I did a chemo cocktail that has four drugs in it," she says. "I did 12 rounds of that."
It was so intense, she dropped to 89 pounds, but pushed on through 25 rounds of radiation while wearing a chemo pump 24/7.
Then, because her tumor was inoperable – wrapped around a key artery – she underwent NanoKnife surgery to destroy it.
Today, she is 10 years out.
"I've been, it's called N-E-D, ‘no evidence of disease’, for just over 10 years," Tedeschi says.
Saturday, Tedeschi will walk in the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's PANCAN PurpleStride Walk in Atlanta's Westside Park.
An estimated 70,000 participants are expected to turn out for the walk to raise money for pancreatic cancer research and patient support programs..
Tedeschi says there could soon be a blood test for pancreatic cancer, and the survival rate is now 12%, as opposed 1%.
One of her sons has graduated from high school, the other is a rising senior.
"I wasn't even sure that I would see them graduate elementary school," Tedeschi says. "So. I'm just so thankful, and I think that anything is possible."
And Elise Tedeschi, who recently celebrate her 22nd anniversary, hopes her story will give newly-diagnosed patients hope.
"We just need more survivors," she says. "And, I think I've been given this gift of life and I have to pay it forward."