Life After Cancer
By: NBC News
Updated: April 30, 2012
A 21-year old from Connecticut was given a five percent chance to live. Three years later she is not only surviving, but thriving.
It's an inspirational story of life after cancer.
"I knew my entire life was immediately going to be different. And there was nothing I could really do about it," said cancer survivor Danielle Albee.
Diagnosed at the age of 21 with stage four cancer, all Danielle Albee could do was gear up for the fight of her life. To do so, she had to trust in the doctors at Connecticut Children's Medical Center.
"They actually didn't know what kind of cancer it was. That was tough because they had to basically choose certain chemotherapies and hope that they worked," said Albee.
Danielle's cancer was never identified, but it was similar to certain forms of pediatric cancer. By the time she was diagnosed, the cancer had spread to her bones and multiple organs.
Just a few years out of her teens, physicians here gave Danielle a five percent chance of living. Three years later, she's not just surviving, but thriving.
"Yea, Dani is why i do this every day. Because i know that no matter how sick you are and what your cancer is doing to your body that there are ways to treat it and even cure it and you just never know so you keep going and fight with the patient side by side. And you get results like this and its' wonderful. It really is," said oncologist Dr. Nathan Hagstrom.
Danielle credits the doctors with pulling her through the darkest time in her life. Now she wants to give back, she'll be attending nursing school this coming fall.
"I definitely have a huge passion after being in the hospital and seeing every way the nurses made me feel and made me more optimistic while going through treatment. It really inspired me to want to do the same for someone else," said Albee.
It's an inspirational story of life after cancer.
"I knew my entire life was immediately going to be different. And there was nothing I could really do about it," said cancer survivor Danielle Albee.
Diagnosed at the age of 21 with stage four cancer, all Danielle Albee could do was gear up for the fight of her life. To do so, she had to trust in the doctors at Connecticut Children's Medical Center.
"They actually didn't know what kind of cancer it was. That was tough because they had to basically choose certain chemotherapies and hope that they worked," said Albee.
Danielle's cancer was never identified, but it was similar to certain forms of pediatric cancer. By the time she was diagnosed, the cancer had spread to her bones and multiple organs.
Just a few years out of her teens, physicians here gave Danielle a five percent chance of living. Three years later, she's not just surviving, but thriving.
"Yea, Dani is why i do this every day. Because i know that no matter how sick you are and what your cancer is doing to your body that there are ways to treat it and even cure it and you just never know so you keep going and fight with the patient side by side. And you get results like this and its' wonderful. It really is," said oncologist Dr. Nathan Hagstrom.
Danielle credits the doctors with pulling her through the darkest time in her life. Now she wants to give back, she'll be attending nursing school this coming fall.
"I definitely have a huge passion after being in the hospital and seeing every way the nurses made me feel and made me more optimistic while going through treatment. It really inspired me to want to do the same for someone else," said Albee.
