The Last Patient: Cancer Survivor Recounts Diagnosis as COVID-19 Closed Clinicians’ Doors Worldwide

December 23, 2021
Jamie Cesanek
Jamie Cesanek

Jamie Cesanek, Assistant Web Editor for CURE®, joined the team in March 2021. She graduated from Indiana University Bloomington, where she studied journalism and minored in sociology and French. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, running, or enjoying time with friends and family. Email her at jcesanek@curetoday.com.

Advocacy Groups | <b>Fight Colorectal Cancer</b>

On this episode of the “Cancer Horizons” podcast, a colorectal cancer survivor explains how she was the last patient to receive a colonoscopy leading to her stage 3 diagnosis as her doctor’s office shut down because of COVID-19 in March 2020.

Every step of Yla Flores’s cancer journey left her in disbelief at the odds of her situation: she went from taking an at-home colon cancer screening test to getting surgery for stage 3 colon cancer in just a matter of weeks.

Meanwhile, the world around her was shutting down, with doctor’s offices closing their doors as a worldwide pandemic dominated the news coverage.

In this episode of the “Cancer Horizons” podcast, Flores tells the story of how she began her cancer journey alone in one of the most unexpected circumstances.

“It's a little like a Tom Cruise movie, like ‘Mission Impossible,’ you know, just sliding in and these doors are just slamming right behind me,” Flores said. “But I got in. I got it done. It's been an interesting journey.”

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