CHI Franciscan

ON OCT. 12, 2015, Sara, an Enumclaw resident who teaches in Black Diamond, sat in the Puyallup office of Rainier Hematology Oncology medical oncologist L. Katherine Martin, MD, in disbelief. Dr. Martin had just delivered a diagnosis that explained the weight loss, abnormal bleeding and other symptoms Sara had been experiencing for months: stage 4 colorectal cancer that had spread to the liver. Sara, then 44, a mother of two boys, nearly fainted when she heard the news. "I felt like this couldn't be happening to me," Sara said. "At the same time, the diagnosis explained a lot." Sara knew she wanted to fight the disease. First, though, she had to deal with a dangerous complication: the tumor blocking the lower section of her large intestine. FEATS OF INNER STRENGTH At Dr. Martin's recommendation, Sara went straight to Tacoma, to the office of Shalini Kanneganti, MD, FACS, FASCRS, medical director of colon and rectal surgery at Franciscan Medical Group. Dr. Kanneganti explained that a diagnosis like Sara's was serious because it meant the cancer had metastasized (spread) to the liver, and treatment would be highly complex. For colorectal cancer at this stage, swift, skilled and multidisciplinary intervention is vital. Dr. Kanneganti operated on Sara the next day, Oct. 13. "While there has been considerable progress in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer, the vast majority of stage 4 patients are unfortunately not curable by current treatment protocols, and five-year survival is around 8 percent," Dr. Kanneganti said. "Surgical resection of primary and metastatic disease can provide palliation, and in a limited number of cases, lasting cure. SHALINI K ANNEGANTI, MD, FACS, FASCRS "Sara is one of my personal inspirations," Dr. Kanneganti continued. "She was a young, otherwise healthy wife and mother who faced the prospect that she wouldn't live to see the next year when she came into my office with metastatic colorectal cancer. She needed emergency surgery not to remove the colon tumor—that would come later—but to create a way for her digestive system to bypass it." With the immediate danger out of the way, Sara handed her classroom over to a substitute teacher and began months of chemotherapy. She didn't let the treatment get in the way of being a mother. In January 2016, she attended an equestrian awards banquet for her younger son. The treatment was successful, but not without side effects. "With such bad acne [from the chemotherapy], I wonder now how I went out in public, but I was determined to go," Sara said. "I had a very small chance to live two years, so I wanted to be with my son." Sara continued treatment for the remainder of 2016. CHI Franciscan Health surgical oncologist Tommy Brown, MD, removed tumors from her liver later in January. More chemotherapy, as well as radiation, followed. In late September, with the more concerning liver tumors gone, Dr. Kanneganti removed the colon tumor. ONE DAY AT A TIME Last fall, Sara's physicians found no more evidence of cancer, but 10 years must pass without recurrence before they will consider her disease-free. Sara returned to the classroom part-time this past February and plans to teach full-time again this fall. "Many of the children who were in my second-grade class earlier this year were my first-graders when I was diagnosed," Sara said. "They got to see me fight cancer, beat it—hopefully—and go back to doing what I love." To learn more about cancer care at CHI Franciscan Health, visit chifranciscan.org/cancer. For more about Sara's story, visit chifranciscan.org/sara. "TEACHERS KNOW WE'RE BETTER EDUCATORS WHEN WE WORK AS A TEAM. MY PHYSICIANS AT CHI FRANCISCAN HEALTH WORKED AS A TEAM, AND THEIR TEAMWORK SAVED MY LIFE." —SARA DAVIS, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER AND METASTATIC COLORECTAL CANCER SURVIVOR A Teacher's Toughest Test After more than a year of cancer treatment, local elementary school teacher Sara Davis has important lessons to share with her students about hope and perseverance. chifranciscan.org /// CHI FRANCISCAN HEALTH 3

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