Lisa Poole - On the Run

Lisa Poole, Whitsett, NC

Lisa Poole, a 54-year-old Whitsett resident is on the run to raise awareness of colon cancer and the need for screening. “I turn 55 in August, and God willing I attain my 5 year cancer free mark in October so I decided to run in a 5K as often as I can this year. New Years Day 09 began with a 5K in 25 degree weather as I began my year of the 5s” she explained.

Her first symptom of colorectal cancer came in 2003.  The busy AT&T district manager mowed her lawn on Saturday, didn’t feel quite right, but went to work, and ended up in the ER the following Thursday with a perforated colon. The perforation had sealed itself off, but she contracted peritonitis and subsequently underwent colostomy surgery in November of 2003.  In February of 2004, a flexible sigmoidoscopy revealed a tumor that was missed 3 months earlier. The then 49-year-old, asked her brother, an ENT physician, for advice. “He told me to go to UNC Lineberger for a second opinion with doctors that see this kind of thing all day every day, so I did.” 

She met with Dr. Steve Bernard and learned that she had Stage 4 disease that had spread to her liver and one lung. “When he told me, I lost it like I’ve never lost it,” she recalls. They decided to use chemotherapy, so Poole was given Avastin and FOLFOX. After eight months, she needed to take a break. “After the peritonitis and the subsequent weight loss I was probably only 80% when I started chemo. After 8 months it became so debilitating I felt like it had killed my spirit and was coming after my soul. I just couldn’t allow that” she said “so I stopped in October of 2004. I began juicing, taking supplements and completely changed my diet along with much of my lifestyle.”

Over a period of months, tests showed that the tumors were no longer visible: no evidence of disease (her favorite dancing partner, NED). But her ovaries had become enlarged so she underwent a laparoscopic surgery with Dr. John Boggess in November 2005 to ensure it was not cancer related. It wasn’t, so Poole requested to have her colostomy taken down. During the surgery January 2006, a foot of her colon was removed along with all respective lymph nodes and her liver was checked. There was a small tumor found where the primary tumor had been but everything else was clean and has been since.

Poole has retired from AT&T and has been an active member on The Cancer Survivor Network for the last 5 years. Through the colorectal cancer discussion board on CSN she has made many friends from all across the world. They hold an annual event to celebrate life and lives called a ColonPalooza. This year will be CP7, and Poole will be honored if she is able to attend another one.  Through her involvement with the self proclaimed semi-colons on CSN, Lisa learned of the Colon Cancer Coalition, a national group that raises awareness of colon cancer and the need for colon cancer screening.

Poole had joined a running school to train for a 5K last summer and ran in her first one in 20 plus years in October 2008 followed by the New Years Day run. In March 2009, she and her team, Semi-Colons Rock, took part in the “Get Your Rear in Gear, an awareness event sponsored by the Colon Cancer Coalition. “I’d feel guilty if I didn’t get out and try to help raise awareness,” she said. “I do it in memory of my fallen semi-colon friends, I know they would do the same for me.”

Poole, a self-described “glass is half full type of person,” recommends that any newly diagnosed cancer patient get a second opinion at a comprehensive cancer center. “You need the best advice and latest treatment options, and that’s where to get it.” She also stresses educating yourself so you become your own advocate; knowledge is huge in your journey with cancer.