Katie Ostrovsky

Stage:Stage IV

My Name is Katie Ostrovsky. I’m 38 years old. I’ve been married since 2005, to an angel, his name is Benji, and he really has done everything for our family and me. We have two girls, 16 and 11 years old.

My oldest is my strength; she’s strong, sassy, and smart. My youngest is my comfort; she’s sweet, witty, and smart. We have the best dog; he’s an Australian Cattle dog, named Sid. He’s very energetic and sweet and crazy.

He brings such love into our home; we all race to get to him first after coming home from just about anywhere. We are a typical family with friends, lots of sports and family time. We all love to be together, have fun, laugh, and make fun of each other.

We have grown into something special due to cancer. Yes, I said cancer, Stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma

I was diagnosed in 2006, with a discolored, dark, risen mole under my left forearm. It was very quick, wide excision removal, I heard the word cancer when it was removed but not thinking it was me that it was happening to. My world blew up.

I was scared and nervous, but for some reason, very positive. Two weeks later, the results were in, Stage 1A Melanoma skin cancer. Soon after I was sent to surgery to see if cancer spread to my lymph nodes. I didn’t understand that skin cancer could spread, anywhere; it was eye-opening.

Lots of doctors’ appointments later, surgery was set. Surgery was done and I was out, with good news, cancer didn’t spread. I was safe. I was one of the lucky ones.

Life went on. I got regular skin checks and kept sunscreen everywhere. The family became a sun safety bunch, it was an easy change really, apply sunblock and reapply again. I got pregnant in 2008, and within two weeks of her birth, a tumor showed up in my left armpit.

My oldest is just starting kindergarten. They are too young for any of this.

From this point on, my life was spinning around me, and I was looking in on it from a distance. Mayo Clinic is a special place, with an outstanding reputation. We were determined for me to find my oncologist there, and we did.

It was one surgery after another, more and more chemo and radiation treatments. It was scan after scan for years, getting radiation running through my veins year after year. We flew to L.A. and back every three weeks, in hopes to receive therapy. It was double-blinded, meaning neither the doctors nor the patient knew if the patient was getting the treatment.

Back to back tumors in some months and long recovery times in others. I was sick and hurt all the time. I was lonely and depressed; I didn’t have any outlets to turn to, no social media, and no cancer friends to relate with. It was scary, my husband did his best to soothe me and help me, but things were crazy, I mean always crazy.

He was on top of things with the family home and daily needs, homework, and getting our kindergarten to school. He worked a 40+ hour job with a 40min drive to work, with added traffic. He never complained and never skipped a beat. I was taken care of, and so were our girls. He sacrificed so much time and promotions at work to be able to take care of his sick wife. He was the best, always!

I fought every day for my family, my daughter, my husband, my siblings, my friends, and myself. I did not accept anything less than 100% from my doctors. I demanded that they listened to me when I felt my chemo wasn’t working. I was always for surgery; I wanted the tumors out so that they wouldn’t grow for a second longer. Things didn’t always go my way; things got scary; there was a point in 2010, that my oncologist told me they were trying to turn my weeks into months. My journey was hard, long and brutal, emotionally, physically, and I was terrified most of my ten-year battle.

Lots of sleepless nights! My tears were uncontrollable, leaving me breathless. I don’t know everything about surviving Melanoma, but I do know where I’ve been and what it felt like.

It’s 2019, 13 years from my diagnosis, and in January, I was given my five-year cancer-free diagnosis. I say diagnosis because I feel I have a whole different type of journey now, it’s to heal. To heal emotionally and physically. I’m so proud of how I believed in myself, that I would get healthy and be with my girls when they grew up. To become stronger, to be a different me because I am different. I am not the same. I’m better, and I want to get even better. I’m a survivor.