Hollings Horizons Magazine Fall 2023 - Magazine - Page 16
Stories OF INSPIRATION
Diane Juitt
Joannah Sampson
lung cancer
breast cancer
Diane Juitt had a cough that wouldn’t go away after a bout with
COVID. After unsatisfying answers elsewhere, she made her way
to Hollings and surgeon Barry Gibney, D.O., and oncologist
Mariam Alexander, M.D., Ph.D.
Gibney’s findings shocked Diane and her husband, Alex. She had
stage 3 lung cancer. Doctors removed part of her lungs and about
30 lymph nodes.
Diane didn’t have a history of smoking, but it turned out she did
have a gene mutation that put her at risk for lung cancer. After
surgery, she did chemotherapy and began taking a targeted
therapy specific to her molecular alteration that aims to prevent
the cancer from returning.
“I have to have the mindset that I know I can overcome; not by
myself, but with the Lord’s help, I can do that,” she said.
Now, she’s a patient advocate on a Stand Up 2 Cancer grant to
navigate patients in the Fetter Health Care Network to lung
cancer screenings at Hollings.
WHO SHOULD GET SCREENED FOR LUNG CANCER?
PEOPLE WHO:
• Are 50-77 years old
• Have a 20-pack year smoking history (eg: 1 pack
a day for 20 years or 2 packs a day for 10 years)
• Currently smoke or quit in the last 15 years.
Cancer changes you. A lot of things I've lost, but
I've gained more. I think that if you have that kind
of an attitude, you'll get through this, and you'll find
yourself on the other side a better, more positive,
more powerful warrior.
It’s a toss-up which is brighter — the hot pink pullover Joannah
Sampson proudly wears to honor breast cancer awareness or her
sunny personality. It hasn’t always been easy for Sampson to
remain positive, but it’s always been a priority.
“The physical toll was big,” said Sampson. “The emotional toll could
have been big, but I wouldn't let it.”
Five years after beating kidney cancer, Sampson’s doctors found
an abnormality on a routine scan. It turned out to be triple negative
breast cancer, in the form of a small tumor tucked away in her ducts.
She never felt a lump, never had pain and doctors weren’t even
sure it would have been detected in a routine mammogram.
This was the beginning of what Sampson calls an incredible adventure
— one that she vowed to attack with every bit of positivity she could
muster. She also decided early on that once she was feeling better,
she was going to make it a priority to give back.
“The thing that hurt me the most when I was going through this
process was seeing people that were going through it alone,” said
Sampson. “So that's my goal going forward. I want to be able to
be there for people who are going through this.”
And that’s exactly what she’s doing. Sampson now volunteers at the
Hollings infusion center in Mount Pleasant and spent her birthday
volunteering for LOWVELO.
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HOLLINGS HORIZONS Fall 2023
