His aggressive approach to appendiceal cancer is giving patients years, rather than months, of extended life, he said. One has survived 14 years after treatment for the often deadly cancer.
Ellen Mogol, 59, of Pikesville said she has been free of her ovarian cancer for "eight years, 2 1/2 months and counting." Her thanks went to Dr. Neil Rosenshein, director of Mercy's Gynecologic Oncology Center. "The doctor who saved my life," she said.
Mogol attended yesterday's gathering in the hope that sharing the story of her cancer - her surgery, her three rounds of chemotherapy, her continuing good health and the lessons she learned - will provide hope and reassurance for others dealing with similar experiences.
"It is about support," she said. "We're all in this together. It is an exchange of information, and just knowing that you are not alone, the importance of friends and family, and the importance of knowing it's OK to ask for help."
"It's very important to communicate," she said, even if it's "just to hold someone's hand."
Oakley, the cancer center coordinator, makes it a point to tell her new patients at Mercy that she was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 38.
Cancer "scares you to death," she said. "When I was diagnosed, I wanted to talk to someone who had survived, and I didn't know anybody." Her doctors told her she'd do fine, but if you haven't had cancer, "then you really don't understand. I can be that person who has been there, done that."
One important message that the newly diagnosed need to hear, Sardi said, is that cancer is not the death sentence it might once have been.
"There is a lot of misunderstanding about cancer," he said. "The important thing is ... if you find it early, it can be cured most of the time." Ignoring warning signs, or delaying treatment out of fear only worsens one's prospects.
For example, he said only 20 percent of those who should have regular colonoscopies actually get them, foregoing a procedure that can actually prevent cancer from developing.
Today's treatments, and a multiplicity of support services, can also allow patients and their families to co-exist with their cancers, he said. "Even people who cannot be cured can live a very normal life with cancer. It becomes a chronic condition."
frank.roylance@baltsun.com
