Woman fights cancer with ‘faith, family and friends’
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Katie Dailey remembers when a doctor’s appointment changed her life back in November 2016.
“I had like this pop feeling in my stomach,” Dailey said. It “kind of felt like a gas pain.”
Once doctors took a look, they discovered that her appendix had burst and that wasn’t the end of her troubles.
After a follow-up up with a surgeon in Hendricks County, the doctor decided that Dailey needed a colonoscopy and that’s where several polyps and tumors were found.
Life, as she knew it, was about to change.
“My first question was who’s going to take care of my dog?” she said.
Meanwhile, one of her closest friends had a more sobering question. She wanted to know how long Dailey had to live. Dailey recalls the doctor being hesitant before letting them know that, statistically, she was estimated to make it “one to three years.”
“I just looked at him and I said I’m going to be better than your statistics, and he said, ‘I hope you are.’”
Fiver years later, she’s still going strong. Dailey credits family, especially her granddaughters, friends and her own sense of humor for being enough motivation to keep fighting. She also got connected with a group called the Colon Stars of Indiana.
“They are my tribe,” she said. “The people I can call on when I’m feeling down or needing hope. I can rally them up.”
Her followers on Facebook find out that, in her posts, they can count on being introduced to her faith and her sense of humor. She uses phrases like “Get Your Rear in Gear” and “Make Your Booty Call” to make light of a serious subject and bring awareness at the same time.
Now, she wants a stronger spotlight on colon cancer and the age that people can get tested for it. It’s thanks in part to the memory of Kierstyn Roberts, a friend who died from colon cancer at just 23 years old. Dailey remembers her last conversation with Roberts.
“It’s not an old people’s disease,” Dailey said about colon cancer, “and it took a beautiful young lady.”
Dailey remembers being diagnosed at 49, but doctors now believe she might’ve had it five to 10 years before her diagnosis. Dailey believes, even though the age to get screened for colon cancer has been lowered from age 50 to 45, it should be even younger.
Meanwhile, she hopes to stay connected with the Roberts family as she continues her own fight and she’s hoping to encourage as many survivors as she can along the way.
“For those who are fighting, keep fighting.”