Mimi McDonald - "Quality of Life"

Mimi McDonald, Laurinburg, NC

When Mimi McDonald from Laurinburg, NC, learned in June of 2007 that she had lung cancer, she had to make a big decision. Found during a routine examination by her local physician, the tumor, the size of a dime, was a metastasis of her breast cancer diagnosed and treated in 2001. 

Because of several surgeries and previous radiation, she needed a different medical approach to treat this metastasis. Her doctors sent her to UNC Lineberger and Dr. David Morris to determine if the CyberKnife treatment would work for her. The CyberKnife is a new robotic system at UNC that delivers radiation therapy with submillimeter accuracy.

Read more about CyberKnife.

“Dr. Morris answered all my questions and took a lot of time with me. He is very caring of his patients.  With my cancer experience, I know what my body can take, so I knew that the CyberKnife would be the best approach because my quality of life would not be impacted.”

The idea of having the CyberKnife treatment was scary since she didn’t know anyone who had undergone that treatment. McDonald, 70, had undergone radiation therapy before and had no ill effects, so that gave her confidence. She describes the CyberKnife treatments as “just like being in an MRI or CT machine, but the room is very open. They gave me something to relax me.”

“The treatments lasted several hours, and I didn’t know if I could stay still for that long, but I did.” She had a total of three treatments in October and is now being followed in Chapel Hill.

To those newly diagnosed with cancer, McDonald recommends, “Don’t take the first option you’re offered. There have been many advances, so you need to learn about as many choices as you can before deciding on a treatment.” Mimi McDonald lives in Laurinburg with her husband, James.