Sharon's Journey
- Sharon Osbourne, 68, battled colon cancer in 2002, and recently discovered she and husband Ozzy, 71, were the victims of credit card fraud.
- Sharon’s cancer was treated with surgery and chemotherapy.
- Having a strong support system in place like a spouse or friends or family members is beneficial to the cancer journey.
She recalled on the show how she was trying to buy a birthday gift for her daughter Kelly and ran into some difficulty when checking out. “It’s my Kelly’s birthday today,” said Sharon, “I went out last night to pick up her gift. I give my credit card and they come back and say, ‘Do you have another credit card? It didn’t go through.’ I say, ‘Just try it again’… still didn’t go through."
Read MoreWhile the credit card issues are surely burdensome, we know that Sharon can handle whatever comes her way. In fact, we’ve seen her handle a tremendously difficult time: When she was diagnosed with cancer in 2002 at age 50.
Sharon’s Colon Cancer Treatment
To treat her colon cancer, Sharon had surgery and chemotherapy. (She also later underwent a double mastectomy in 2012, as a preventative measure against developing breast cancer or ovarian cancer.)
Related: What Are the Options if You Have a High Risk of Developing Breast Cancer?
Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, explains to SurvivorNet what to look out for following colorectal surgery.
Related: Living With Colorectal Cancer
Dr. Murrell says, “If I have a patient with stage one or stage two [cancer] and [they] come back in the office [after surgery], we have the final staging…It’s important to know that you still follow these patients. We [do a blood test] called a CEA level. Now CEA stands for Carcinoembryonic Antigen. We do that at three months, six months, nine months, and 12 months.
“And the reason we do that is,” says Dr. Murrell, “especially if it was high before surgery, and then we test it right afterward and it should drop, then that is one of the first indicators that cancer could be coming back. In addition, we do a colonoscopy at year one after surgery and year two.”
Monitoring After Surgery for Colon Cancer
The treatment took an emotional toll on Sharon, as well as a physical one. Her family rallied around her, and Ozzy successfully boosted her spirits by calling up their friend, the late Robin Williams, to come over and cheer up Sharon and make her laugh.
Spousal Support Through Cancer
Sharon had rocker husband Ozzy at her side when she underwent surgery for colon cancer in 2002. It’s beneficial when undergoing cancer treatment to have a strong support system in place. And the support can come from a spouse, a partner, friends, and family.
Sometimes, the cancer diagnosis can make or break a relationship, too. Writer and actress Jill Kargman, who survived melanoma, shares with SurvivorNet her thoughts on the ways cancer can test a relationship.
Kargman says, “I think cancer is a great way to find out if you’re with the love of your life or a sh*thead. I think it presses the fast forward button on getting to the bottom of that answer, because a lot of people in middle age are kind of at a crossroads, waiting for their kids to fly the coop.”
“If you’re with someone who is not supportive and kind of emotionally checked out,” says Kargman, “or doesn’t tell you you’re still beautiful with that, this might not be your person.”
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