Riding Past Pancreatic Cancer: The Sue Sweeney Story

Pancreatic cancer is ruthless. According to the American Cancer Society, about 8 out of 10 people who get the disease this year (49,830 out of 62,210) will die from it. But if it’s caught early and treated aggressively, 12,380 will not. This is the story of one of those survivors.

Without trying, Sue Sweeney started losing a lot of weight. About 40 pounds in fact. It wasn’t something that troubled her that much, because, like most of us, she appreciated losing a little weight. It wasn’t until her skin got really itchy that she thought something might be wrong. But, after multiple tests and no answers, she decided it wasn’t something that was going to be fixed.

It wasn’t until one day when she woke up jaundiced, “looking like Pikachu” as she colorfully described it, that a family member convinced her that something serious might be going on. She wound up in the ER at Mount Carmel East, where she found out her gallbladder was failing. But that wasn’t the bad news. They also discovered she had pancreatic cancer.

Most people like Sue who’ve had personal or family experience with cancer (she has a history of ovarian cancer and melanoma and a predisposing gene mutation) know that pancreatic cancer is a particularly daunting diagnosis. As a product of that experience and someone with limited natural fear, though, Sue thought, “if it can be cured, bring it on.” And bring it on they did.

She started treatment at the Zangmeister Center in July 2021, undergoing chemotherapy followed by a robotic surgery known as a Whipple procedure.

“With her determination, her postoperative course was smooth and uneventful,” said Dr. Fernando Aguila, one of several Mount Carmel physicians she worked with. “We were a little surprised by her pathology report, which showed not one, but two types of cancer. But fortunately both were fully resected. Postoperatively, she looked amazing and she’s continued to improve.”

“I’ve never received kinder care than I did at Mount Carmel and the Zangmeister Center,” Sue recalled. “Every doctor and every person I worked with was really good. I was very fortunate and very grateful.” Her last treatment was in June. She went back to see her care team for her first checkup in September and has her next one next month. But she’s not waiting around. There’s too much to do.

She spent a lot of time tooling around southern Ohio with her husband on the back of a motorcycle this summer. She walks on the treadmill every day. She’s back to sewing, which is one of her favorite hobbies. She’s spending lots of time with her family, who had an amazingly supportive impact on her recovery. And she’s looking forward to making Christmas cookies.

“Everything’s going great. It’s still a long journey and I’m not quite all the way back, but I’m getting there. I’m still alive and I feel like I’m winning the fight. That’s what I was determined to do and I still am.”

With pancreatic cancer, the odds are seldom good. But with early detection, expert treatment, and a patient with a fighting spirit, the odds can change. And absolutely no one would bet against Sue Sweeney.