Anne Michael-Sneed’s Patient Story
Anne Michael-Sneed – what a woman!
She has been thrown many curveballs in her life, but she just keeps on going! From being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and then cervical cancer in her 20s to riding motorcycles with her husband today, Anne is a fighter all the way through.
In mid-2017, Anne discovered a mass in her groin. In November of 2017, she had the mass surgically removed. A local surgeon performed this surgery and in the process found another lesion that was determined to be cancerous.
Anne was referred to Dr. Carolyn Matthews in December, who started her on a regimen of radiation and chemotherapy. Radiation seemed to eliminate the lesion by March 2018 after 33 rounds, but five rounds of chemotherapy made Anne extremely sick. It turned out, however, that the morphine she was taking along with the chemotherapy was the culprit for the sickness. She stopped the morphine and felt somewhat better, though Anne still struggled with some nausea.
Three months after her radiation was completed, Dr. Matthews suggested that Anne come to Mary Crowley after a PET scan showed that her cancer had spread to her liver, lymph nodes, and lungs during treatment. Anne was labeled as chemo resistant and terminal. Anne met with Dr. James Strauss at Mary Crowley in the summer of 2018, who answered Anne’s concerns about enrolling onto a clinical trial. Anne’s main question to Dr. Strauss was if there was any chance she could be given a placebo on trial. He quickly assured her that none of the trials at Mary Crowley involve the use of placebos. She was thoroughly relieved and decided to enroll onto a trial at Mary Crowley.
Anne praises the care she has received from the staff at Mary Crowley, particularly from nurses Kevin and Danielle. “The staff here are rock stars,” Anne says. “If I ever have a question, they have been right there to answer it.” Today, she looks wonderful and says she is feeling great!
However, there is more to Anne’s story.
Anne and her husband met in the middle of Highway 641, both on motorcycles. Anne and Chris hit it off and found that they were meant to be together. Anne now rides on her husband’s bike, feeling that is much safer since chemo seemed to take a lot of her vision away.
Anne and Chris got married in 2016. This was Anne’s first marriage, and there are no children between her and Chris. However, Chris has three children from a previous marriage, so Anne had a readymade family! She was just fine with this since she had a hysterectomy at 22 years old due to cervical cancer and never expected to have children of her own. The three boys are now 32, 29, and 23 years old. All of the boys love Anne and look to her for guidance. Keeping them company at home now are a loving family of dogs ranging from pit bulls to a Chihuahua. These are their children now!
Both Anne and Chris could not say enough about Mary Crowley Cancer Research and its staff. They are a delightful couple that has overcome many obstacles in life together and continue to have a happy and healthy outlook!
Ride on Anne and Chris!
