Story
'This Is Why I Fight, So I Can Live'
… After months of struggling with fatigue and a severe cough, Sharon Thompson heard the words no one wants to hear: "It's cancer." Diagnostic scans revealed a massive 4-inch tumor in one lung, numerous other smaller lesions in both lungs, and … says Thompson, 58, of Allentown. "They gave me six months to live. My eyes filled with tears. I could see the doctor's lips moving, but I couldn't concentrate on the words. I just sat there and stared. I was numb." Many reasons to live … better." Thompson cried tears of relief. "That gave me hope," she says. That day Thompson was admitted to Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest. Radiation oncologist Alyson McIntosh, MD, administered external beam radiation to Thompson's leg and …