A Virginia woman was experiencing no troubling symptoms when she went for a cancer screening afte 35 years of smoking — but when she was told she had lung cancer, she says she felt “blessed” and “grateful.”
Barbara Rodriguez, 53, was smoking a cigarette while reading the Bible in December 2022 when she decided to give up the habit.
Seven months later, in July 2023, she was told she had stage two lung cancer and needed an operation and chemotherapy — yet even as the medication made her throw up, she said, she’d thank God for her diagnosis.
“One day, I am smoking a cigarette and reading a Bible,” said Barbara, an administrative assistant from Fairfax. “I said, ‘Hey God, have me stop smoking,’ and I gave it up after 35 years.
“I didn’t have any cancer symptoms and I felt completely fine but I went for a cancer screening,” she added, having booked an appointment at the Schar Institute in Annandale, Virginia, on July 14, 2023.
Barbara underwent her screening and had an MRI scan, PET scan and CT scan.
“A few days later, I got a call to say they had found a spot on my lung and it was stage two cancer,” she said. “When they told me I was like ‘OK, what is next?’”
She was told she would need a lobectomy, a procedure to remove part of the lung, which she underwent in September 2023. But after the surgery, doctors said her cancer was actually stage 3a and had spread to her lymph nodes.
“They found out that the cancer was from a mutation and not from the smoking,” she said.
“When they told me I felt OK, but I have always had a positive outlook of life. I thought that if that was what we were dealing with, I wanted to get on with it.
“I told my family and they were numb. I realized that I was the backbone of the family keeping everyone together so I needed to get it together.”
As a precaution, Barbara had four rounds of chemotherapy.
“Chemo was the worst thing I have experienced. I would throw up — it was horrible. However, every time I threw up I would say, ‘Thank God,’ because it could have been much worse.”
In January 2024, Barbara rang the bell to signal she was cancer-free.
“You feel bad because you are with other people who are going to die,” she admitted.”I am sitting there praying for them, asking for them to live. I really didn’t enjoy ringing the bell, I don’t know why we still do it.”
As Barbara’s cancer formed from a mutation, she now has to take chemotherapy pills every day to suppress the mutation. She wants to raise awareness about early detection.
“I feel blessed that I got cancer. I am more blessed that they got it out — I feel absolutely amazing. I am so grateful to be alive,” she said.
“I feel blessed and grateful, I feel good in my decision of God. Not just for him to help me quit smoking but for me to say, ‘Let me get a cancer screening.’ It is no coincidence.
