Kathy Bates Quotes

I'm praying that was my one little dip in the cancer pool. I hope never to have to revisit that, but I learned a lot, I'm cancer free with a bright and hopeful future.

You can be a victim of cancer, or a survivor of cancer. It's a mindset.

Both of our daughters, Debbie and Bonnie, are also cancer survivors.

Since the fright of breast cancer hit our family, I have been surprised by how many people are dealing with breast cancer in their own family or with a loved one. One friend bluntly told me that she has been through it with her sister, her mom, and her grandmother, and all are healthy and mentally stronger because of the disease.

Cancer is not a straight line. It's up and down.

Both of my grandmothers were diagnosed with breast cancer - one is a survivor and one passed away.

Cancer and its aftermath changed my outlook in a profound way. I've become less of a hermit, and I travel more.

I don't think I'll ever feel like I'm cancer-free.

When breast cancer took my mom, it met its biggest enemy.

Since my article in 'Women's Health' came out, I have had so many conversations with women about their own battles with cancer, and it feels so empowering to open up this dialogue and learn from each other.

It was very clear that I had breast cancer. From a man's perspective, I'm thinking, 'Why me?'

I watched my grandmother and mother suffer with gynecologic cancers, and now I've been through it.

I'm a two-time breast cancer survivor who lives with pre-existing conditions every day, and I know the uncertainty people face if they can't get their medicine.

I don't want to be 'the girl with cancer' ... I just didn't want that to be my only thing. But it is part of me. And it's a big part of me.

Cancer is awful. It took 10 years until I didn't think about it every day. Nobody should go through this. Nobody.

I would never call myself a cancer survivor because I think it devalues those who do not survive. There's this whole mythology that people bravely battle their cancer and then they become survivors. Well, the ones who don't survive may be just as brave, you know, just as courageous, wonderful people.

Some people say you have to fight cancer. But it was fighting me. The cure was worse than the disease, and it left me totally exhausted and depressed. I just hid myself away in my daughter-in-law's flat.

My family and friends were definitely the key to my recovery. One thing that I do suggest is that anyone dealing with a life-threatening illness like cancer choose a point person for people to call to find out how you are doing - a sister, brother, mother, father, daughter, son, or close friend.

I'm not sure anyone goes through a cancer scare unchanged. I know it changed me in so many ways. But I was fortunate to have had a rare cancer that's slow-growing and one that allowed me to skip the chemical cocktails that would have put me into early menopause.

I discovered that I was part of a Parkinson's community with similar experiences and similar questions that I'd been dealing with alone.

Alright, so I'm a manic depressive. What do you want from me?

Cancer is an emotional disease.

I had throat cancer, and I had to have radiation treatments, and I couldn't sing for a long time; and this was in '97. I had 28 radiation treatments. I didn't die, thank God.

When you have cancer, it's like you enter a new time zone: the Cancer Zone. Everything in the Tropic of Cancer revolves around your health or your sickness. I didn't want my whole life to revolve around cancer. Life came first; cancer came second.

Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I'd rather not belong to.