When she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, Mary Annette Sears beat the odds after being given only six months to live. But if it weren’t for Dr. Muhammed Jamil, she might not be alive today.
Even though she had to travel to Pittsburgh to have an operation by thoracic surgeon Dr. Ryan Levy, Sears said without the fine care she received at the Edwards Cancer Institute, she wouldn’t have made it that far.
“Dr. Jamil’s aggressive treatment saved my life,” said Sears of the ECI specialist in oncology and hematology. “He started right after they diagnosed my cancer. He started chemo the next week. He got me to the point of having surgery.”
ECI discovered the cancer at the base of her esophagus and top of her stomach in August 2019. The outlook wasn’t good: it was stage 2, which is considered serious.
This rare cancer occurs when malignant cells form in the tissues of the esophagus, which transmits food and liquids from the throat to the stomach.
While doctors didn’t give her a lot of hope, because of her faith Sears knew that whether she lived or died, everything would turn out okay. She had five chemotherapy treatments before surgery on Dec. 30, 2019, at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
It was a complex process, with the operation lasting for more than nine hours. The next day, Dr. Levy had her up with assistance from a walker. But the day after that he said she could discard it.
“I’m one of their success stories,” Sears said of her care at ECI. “After a treatment or two, I could tell it was getting better. I gained 12 pounds during chemo.”
In all, it took about nine months to win her fight. She followed up surgery with three more chemo treatments, a challenge to complete because the last two took place during the onset of pandemic lockdowns.
Today, Sears is glad it’s all over, with 2024 marking her five-year anniversary since diagnosis. Though she admits to a concern that the cancer could return, she maintains an optimistic outlook.
“I didn’t have a lot of pain and didn’t suffer like a lot of people do,” said the Huntington native, who operates Catering by Annette. “I took pain medication for two weeks after the surgery and that was it.
“My cancer is very aggressive and not a lot of people survive it. But to look at me now, you wouldn’t think I had been that sick. I’m very fortunate. Everything worked out great for me. People need to know what a great place Edwards Cancer Institute is.”