AW | HEALTH
PARTY for
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A sense of h
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earing a black graduation cap and gown, Carol Weiss walked with her head held high to her final chemotherapy treatment. As she came through the door draped with party streamers at the Roger Maris Cancer Center, friends, family, and her medical caregivers were there to celebrate this Fargo woman’s medical journey. Faced with a diagnosis of cancer that had metastasized, spreading to her lungs, she has chosen to fight her disease with a sense of fun and plenty of parties. Her caregivers say that the attitude she’s shown has not only helped her healing, but touched everyone she encounters in the hospital corridors. “I call myself the richest woman in town,” Weiss said with an infectious laugh. “I’ve been overwhelmed with love.”
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| areawoman.com
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A positive decision The Fargo chiropractor was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. From the start, Weiss opted to approach her treatment with optimism. A friend who had fought cancer with grace and positivism served as her inspiration. ”I knew what route I was going to take,” Weiss said. After surgery and chemotherapy, doctors told Weiss that she was “all clear.” Everything was fine until this spring when she started having trouble breathing. In March, Weiss was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, after a CT scan that showed so many tumors in her lungs that radiation would not be an option. “You feel like an atom bomb has gone off inside you,” Weiss said. “I’ve never been afraid of death, but I have people that I don’t want to leave behind.” Weiss saw three components to her fight with cancer: nutrition, medical treatment, and her Christian faith. Her oncologist, Dr. Shelby Terstriep, said it was clear from the beginning that Weiss not only accepted her condition, but cared about her medical caregivers. “She is one of the most remarkable patients I’ve ever met,” Terstriep said. “She brings so much happiness to everyone she meets.” Making a plan Weiss knew the chemotherapy treatments were