by Annie and Rick Hamilton
Bob and Teirsa Belvin
Mike and Stacy Belvin
J. Timothy Longpre
June 10, 2010

“ The bravest battle that was ever fought; Shall I tell where and when? On the maps of the world you will find not; it was fought by the mothers of men”

 

It’s often been said that a person’s true character is often tried during times of crisis. Mom’s first health crisis occurred in 1981 with her diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer. 

I was fourteen, my older brother 16, and my baby brother was eleven. Mom became aware of pain in her arm, like a bruise from her elbow to her armpit. She said she’d been feeling it for a while but ignored it.

One night, she walked into the bathroom to check it out. Under her arm she found a lump the size of a walnut that prevented her from putting her arm all the way down and freaked out.

She knew something was wrong. She made an appointment with her doctor. He referred her to the hospital for tests.

Mom recalls sitting in the office of the oncologist who treated her. He told her she had inflammatory breast cancer and that it had spread to her lymph nodes.

Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare and aggressive (rapidly spreading) breast cancer that involves the skin of the breast and the lymph nodes.

“So now what?” she asked. “What are my chances of being cured?”

He said he would try to treat her, but suggested she enjoy her time with her family. He told her she ‘might live for six months but probably closer to three’.

We were shocked to hear the words from her oncologist, Stephen Gorton.

During this period, Mom and Dad’s marriage was in a crisis although she was more fearful of what would happen to us if she died than dying itself…she quickly decided leaving was not an option and dug her heels into a ‘mind over matters’ mindset, refusing to budge.

Her physicians went away to a conference one week later where they learned of new treatments and her chances of survival went from zero percent to 25%.

We were ecstatic.

She confidently announced to him that SHE would be the ‘one in four’ who survived.

It was very difficult and she had her first treatment on her thirty-eighth birthday. She threw up all over her cake and felt awful, and we didn’t know quite how to react to her side effects.

Mom gained strength and stuck with the program and sixteen months later, her determination paid off.

Her specialists declared her 100 % cured although she had to undergo regular checkups, blood work, ct scans, etc.

She was not officially out of the woods,  for the next couple of years and although she managed to stay healthy for many years and continued to serve as an inspiration for many people, her illness took an unbelievable toll on her body, one that is now coming full circle, twenty-seven years after her initial diagnosis.

This incredible woman of unbreakable strength and faith has endured two bouts with breast cancer, a five-way bypass, lymph edema, kidney failure, brain tumor and a host of other physical ailments stemming from her initial diagnosis.

We are blessed though…We got to keep our beloved Mother, friend, daughter, grandmother, niece, aunt, cousin, wife, sister.

This precious, beloved woman has meant a great deal too many people and her legacy continues to live through all of those who love her.

 

Please stay tuned for part II information for the conclusion to her story.

Thank you.

 

 

Editor’s Note: Annie Hamilton is a Researcher and Writer with published chapters featured in medical   journals (including the 4th edition of The Pituitary Patient Resource Guide, featuring prominent Physicians/Surgeons from facilities such as; MD Anderson, Stanford, Lisbon Cancer Center in Portugal

(Luis Sobrinho MD) Shereen Ezzat MD of the University of Toronto, George Chrousos MD of National Institutes of Health as well as the University of Athens, Robert Knutzen MBA to name a few)  as well as Town hall, Stand up America USA, The Competitive Advantage, Forbes, Gold Coast Chronicle, House Conservatives Fund, National Institutes of Health, American Daily Review and dozens of other publications.

Her columns, chapters and work has appeared in libraries, medical institutes and teaching facilities throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, Japan, South America and the Middle East. 

Hamilton continues to write about current events, cultural affairs, America’s Founding documents, Economics, Health Care, Islam/Sharia in the west, Gun rights, Cancer/Neuroendocrine medicine and a variety of other subjects.

She is currently working on a research project and paper titled Hormonal Impact on Psychosocial  Dysfunction as related to Battlefield Fatigue/PTSD featuring friends and retired military personnel Colonel Andy O’Meara, Lt General Tom McInerney and BG Bill Mullens in addition to several physicians, scientists and Researchers who worked with her on previous research of the same subject. 

As the project endeavors to ‘bridge the gap’ between applied science, military, academics, physician community and the patient themselves…it will be a first, ever.

Patients will be very carefully selected. Hamilton has a unique role in that she is versed in each arena and has worked in most of the avenues, understanding the others.

It shall give a new face to PTSD everywhere, to the ‘everyman and woman’, bringing new understanding to the long misunderstood issue.

She’s also finishing a manuscript about our current Administration.

Ms. Hamilton has enjoyed a successful career in research and medical affairs, lobbying successful legislation,  protecting the interests of physicians and nurses, fighting unions, facilitating medical studies, coordinating NIH meetings, researching and writing papers for multiple parties.

One of her papers earned her a nomination for The Rolex prize in 2003 and was accepted to the NIH through the Pediatric Neuroendocrine division of the University of Athens and is in under review at Stanford.