Cancer survivor credits medicine, good attitude for helping her beat colon cancer
WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Middle Georgia woman beat cancer not once, but twice. She says modern medicine helped, but believes her positive attitude was a big key in defeating the ‘Big C.’
Audrey Griffin is thankful she reached her 74th birthday. After beating uterine cancer in 1997, she thought the worst was over. But two years ago, she got more bad news.
"I was feeling pretty good about things when symptoms popped up in fall of 2012 and I ended up with colon cancer,” Griffin said. “There’s no word to describe how that makes you feel. It was almost, ‘Really, Are you serious?’ and in fact I think I may have said to my doctor, ‘You’re kidding.’”
But her doctor wasn’t. A few months after the diagnosis, Griffin had surgery. She also went through radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
“It was daunting, but I had been there once before and so it was just time to get ready and do whatever is necessary to get through this,” she said.
And Griffin did. Her last treatment was in October of 2013.
“And four years after that, I’ll officially be a survivor, but you got to meet that 5 year period,” Griffin said. “A two time survivor,” 41NBC’s Amanda Castro said. “A two time survivor, absolutely, and I hope that I don’t become a three time survivor!"
A survivor with a winning attitude that she says helped her beat the ‘Big C.’
“A lot of times, when these things happen you say ‘Why? I don’t deserve this.’ Well, why not? It isn’t a matter of deserving it or anything else, things happen and this is called life,” Griffin said. “Life is what you make of it and its best to try to look on the sunny side and smile and fight the battles that you need to fight."
Now Griffin is looking forward to more birthdays.
“My mother is 93 and I want to live to be 93,” she said.
Griffin told 41NBC she believes God has kept her on this Earth to spread awareness about the importance of taking preventative measures. She urges everyone to have colonoscopies and to take your yearly exams.
Color Me Pink in Warner Robins and Georgia Cancer Friends are sponsoring a free Colon Health Seminar on Monday, June 9. The meeting will be at Color Me Pink located at 115 Margie Dr., Suite D in Warner Robins at 6:30 p.m. Topics will include colon health, how you can prevent colon cancer, and colonoscopy facts and fiction. For more information and to reserve your seat, you can call (478) 935-1377.