Central Maine Comprehensive Cancer Center

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Profile in Courage - Lisa Anderson

Lisa Anderson of South Paris first noticed a pain in her thigh about the time of the American Lung Association of Maine’s Trek Across Maine in June 2003. But since she’d been training for the 185-mile bike ride since January, she accepted a doctor’s diagnosis that it was a sports injury and pressed on. “It hurt more to walk than to bike,” she thought, dismissing the pain as an annoyance.

A month later she stubbed her toe and fell. After the fall she experienced pain in her hip that transcended annoyance. The next few days were frustrating and confusing as Lisa visited her local emergency department and her doctor before finally being admitted to the hospital. Nearly a week passed before a radiologic exam revealed a broken hip. Once the trouble was identified, her doctors became even more concerned and ordered a battery of tests. These follow up tests indicated that she had metastatic cancer.

When her doctors told her that the cancer had spread from her breast, she was even more surprised. Just two weeks earlier, she’d had a mammography that revealed what was described as “calcifications.” She was told to get another mammography in six months.

“At the time they were telling me, it didn’t sink in because I wanted my hip fixed so badly,” Lisa recalls. “Dealing with the cancer diagnosis kind of came gradually because I was having so many problems with my bones.”

Early in August, orthopedic surgeon David Brown, M.D., repaired her fractured hip, but her bone problems didn’t end there. A pain in her neck was found to result from the collapse of a vertebra weakened by cancer. Michael Regan, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon who works in collaboration with Dr. Brown, removed the damaged bone and fused those on either side it to preserve the integrity of her spine. She’s subsequently had two more back surgeries. Cancer has also been discovered in her ribs and brain. The brain tumor was treated with radiation therapy.

Lisa was referred to Hematology-Medical Oncology Associates, a Central Maine Medical Center physicians group that specializes in cancer care. Her doctor, Hans Boedeker, M.D., prescribed a course of chemotherapy that Lisa says has had “fairly minor” side effects, the most bothersome being a change in way she perceives the taste of food.

Since her diagnosis more than a year ago, Lisa has had a few setbacks in her battle with the disease. But the physical struggle she wages has not overtaken her sense of identity. In June, she participated in her seventh Trek Across Maine, covering the demanding course in three days. And she’s planning to begin training in January for next spring’s event.

“I’m trying very hard to keep my life the same as it was before. If I didn’t maintain a routine and sat around the house, I’d start feeling sorry for myself,” she says.

Lisa admits to being something of an exercise addict, so easing back on her physical fitness routine hasn’t been easy. “I usually exercise a lot. Not being able to exercise drives me crazy,” she confesses. In January, she says, she’ll resume training for next spring’s Trek Across Maine, a commitment that amazes virtually everyone who knows her. “Some of them thought I was crazy before I got sick,” she says. “Now they really think I’m crazy.”

Getting back to her job as a medication management case manager at Tri-County Mental Health is another goal that she wants very much to accomplish. “I feel functional,” she says, a bit of frustration creeping into her voice. “I feel like I could be working and should be working.”

Besides her dedication to her family – including her husband, Raymond, mother, Shirley Twitchell, two horses, two goats, two dogs, and cat – and her devotion to exercise and work, Lisa says prayer also helps her through the many challenges she faces. “Having faith and praying is important,” she says. “I’ve had churches from here to Manitoba praying for me.”