Lung cancer survivor encourages positivity, facing diagnosis head-on

When Cynthia Waddy’s grandmother died, no one even realized she had cancer.

Cancer has a long history of being stigmatized or hidden – even referred to as “the big C” rather than by name. That stigma has mostly gone away, but there are still some who’d rather not share, either because of shame or because they just can’t bring themselves to face it.

Waddy is not one of those.

She doesn’t see any reason to hide a cancer diagnosis – instead, she hopes that sharing what she’s been through will help other people dealing with cancer.

“You can help people out by telling them what you went through. And maybe you can help them not to even have to go through something like that,” she said. “It wasn't all peaches and cream. I had to get cut. I had to get brain surgery. I cried. It hurt. I was weak. I was nauseated. I had diarrhea. I couldn't eat. I was hungry. I went through all of this, but I followed my doctor's orders and step by step, everything healed, everything got better.”

 

Waddy was first diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017 – the diagnosis came about through routine visits with her primary care doctor, Marty Player, M.D. Waddy is a big advocate for keeping up with doctor’s visits and then listening to what the doctor says.

“Follow through,” she said. “At least the length of time that it's going to take them to tell you you're fine.

“You cannot ignore things like that. If you want to live, even if it's just a couple of weeks, days, months more, it's best to keep up with your medical history, with your body and your doctors.”

Waddy’s positive attitude and strong faith are some of her greatest assets.

“There’s just been a lot of good things going on in my life,” she said.

At MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, Waddy was placed under the care of Mariam Alexander, M.D., Ph.D., and Eleanor Hardy, PA.

After her first diagnosis, Waddy underwent a lobectomy to remove the part of her lung with cancer.

Several years later, in 2021, the cancer returned, spreading to her brain. She had to have surgery, but even after brain surgery, Waddy was not the type to sit still and take it easy – as her nurses discovered when Waddy decided to change the sheets on her bed herself.

“I got out of the bed,” she recalled. “I heard the bells going off, but I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to get out of the bed, because I felt pretty good.”

Her daughter and the nursing staff came running, but not before Waddy managed to change the sheets.

“My daughter came up and said, ‘Mom! What are you doing up? Mom! You’re not supposed to be up!’ and the nurses came running up and said, ‘Ms. Waddy, you’re not supposed to be out of the bed!’”

“I said, ‘Oh, I didn't know. But could y’all please get me a broom?’ Because I wanted to sweep my room.”

Waddy’s brain surgery was followed with gamma knife radiosurgery, a focused radiation treatment that targets small cancerous spots in the brain.

 

She then had to try a couple of different medications before her doctors found one that she could tolerate. But after two years on pembrolizumab, she finished treatment in September 2023 and has had no active cancer since then.

Waddy encourages others to listen to their doctors.

“I believe in doctors because I know God gives the doctors the knowledge to take care of human beings,” she said.

And for those facing a cancer diagnosis now, she advises drinking water to stay hydrated, taking medication on time and making it a priority to get to all appointments – but above all, she encourages a positive outlook.

“Faith is number one. And positivity. That helps a lot,” she said. “Because if you're not feeling positive, seems to me that you're taking away from yourself as far as your health is concerned. You're beating yourself down on something you really have no control over. So if you want to keep up with it as much as you possibly can, try to stay positive.

“Faith and positivity. If you can hold onto those things, I think you can go further in life. I really believe that.”

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