Since 2016, GreatNews.Life’s Survivor Series has spotlighted cancer survivors who are in remission. These survivors share their inspiring stories of hope and impart wisdom and resources to those battling cancer and their loved ones.
Undergoing radiation treatments for many is a difficult test of courage. For one woman in the Region, however, her treatments brought her closer to a stranger in an unexpected manner. Shelly Sunderland was sitting next to a patient prior to their...
Juanita Segura was born and raised right here in the Region, and she still resides in her hometown of East Chicago, Indiana. She’ll observe her cancerversary this November, as it’s been almost exactly 10 years since she was diagnosed with lung...
Laura Herrod resides in Chesterton today, yet she grew up on the South Side of Chicago. She is a middle school counselor working in the Region. Twice she has battled cancer and survived it. Her stories now serve as testaments of endurance to women...
Sue Straatman sat in a doctor’s office in the Community Healthcare System (now Powers Health) Hospital Emergency Room next to her only son, Rob, when she received her ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2008. The team of five doctors sitting in front of...
Colleen McQuillan, a resident of Highland, has religiously received mammograms since she turned 40. When she couldn’t secure an appointment at her doctor’s office in Illinois in 2020 for a mammogram, she made an appointment in Indiana instead....
John Dempsey, a resident of Munster, Indiana, began his long battle with cancer at the age of 52-years-old. Dempsey had no idea that receiving a colonoscopy as a preventative measure would begin a six-year journey with colorectal cancer. Dempsey...
St. Louis, Missouri native Pamela “Pam” Barton had only moved to Hobart a couple months before her diagnosis. In the fall of 2022, she decided she would go in to see the doctor for a routine check up. Despite having little signs or symptoms, her...
Valparaiso resident Karen Nelson is a breast cancer survivor. Despite having gone through a hard battle, Nelson used the experience as a growing one rather than a negative one. Nelson used a positive attitude and faith to guide her through the...
Valparaiso resident Roberta Tuft is a thyroid cancer survivor who has survived cancer not once but twice. Her journey started just before Thanksgiving in 2006. She went in to see Dr. John Carter, her primary doctor in Hobart because she was having...
Merrillville resident Joy Johnson always goes in for an annual mammogram. However, in the year 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson was nervous to go. Now just over two years cancer free, Johnson is thanking her blessings that she...
