colon cancer symptom : colorectal cancer

Sheila Lau has always been a woman of faith—little did she know it was going to be put to the toughest test of her life. Her 1996 colon cancer diagnosis came as a big surprise. “I was in total shock when I found out,” she says. “I had no history, and how could this be growing in me and I don’t know about it?”

As with anyone who learns they have cancer, Sheila had many fears and negative thoughts at first. However, after spending much time in prayer and reading God's word, her faith took over. “It gave me so much peace to know that ultimately, He has everything under control. The prayers of many were answered and made me much stronger in my faith.”

Sheila underwent radiation and chemotherapy to shrink the tumor before surgery, but it didn’t keep her from living life. She would ride the shuttle to M. D. Anderson for treatment every morning from her nearby job in the Texas Medical Center, and then go back to work. Sticking to her daily routine helped Sheila put the cancer in perspective.

Sheila’s faith was tested yet again when her husband was diagnosed with cancer in 2002. “I remember spending New Year’s Eve watching Dick Clark in my husband’s hospital room as he received chemotherapy,” she says. Both are healthy today, and Sheila has learned that cancer is not the end of the world. “We don’t know what the future holds, but we know God holds the future. We just have to believe.”

©2006 The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center