A PARTICIPANT PROFILE
ELLEN MISHLER"Stepping into The Wellness Community for the first time felt so comfortable. It felt like coming home."
Ask Ellen Mishler, 53, if she lives by any special motto and she’ll quickly respond that there are two. “Shortly after I was diagnosed with bladder cancer, I made the conscious decision that I will always give myself the best chance; no matter what card was dealt from the deck…and when my urologist told me that my cancer was high grade, I looked at him with tear-filled eyes and said, ‘I can adapt to anything. I just want to live!’”
In January 2008, Ellen’s diagnosis came as a complete shock, followed by a whirlwind of tests and procedures, all detecting the very worst results. She remembers thinking, “Possible stage IV cancer? Not fair! Why could I not get a whack at I, II, or III? I had never spent a night in a hospital. I am a healthy woman. This is where I took my position on this enemy and planned my approach. I threw everything I had at it. I must have paced 100 miles.”
Finally, a radical cysectomy with urinary diversion was scheduled and performed. Her chemo kept getting postponed and rescheduled leaving her feel very anxious. Her first round of chemo went badly resulting in an extreme allergic reaction. “I was wearing down rapidly and I had to recall my special mottos often. The real hero was my life partner of 14 years, Michelle. There was no question that we would get through this together.” Her last chemo treatment was in July 2008.
In mid-August Ellen walked into The Wellness Community (TWC) for the first time. “I learned about TWC through a friend and I also saw their calendars in my oncologist’s office and in the hospital. Stepping into The Wellness Community for the first time felt so comfortable. It felt like coming home.”
“Through TWC’s programs and resources you get the right information,” adds Ellen. “I feel very connected to the people in my Tuesday night support group and we share a lot of laughter too. I also volunteer for Outreach and the TWC 360 volunteer group. Cancer creates many changes in our lives and can be very challenging. Without the support of Michelle, family, friends and TWC, I would not have had the encouragement and support I needed to tackle this difficult journey…and, by the way, my CT scan as of October shows ‘no gross evidence of metastatic disease.’ It doesn’t get any better than that.”