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Bethany Fischer was nearing the end of the eighth grade when she developed a thumb-sized bruise in the hollow of her neck that wouldn¡¯t go away. She also began having trouble swallowing.

¡°It felt like I had a frog in my throat, or maybe a sock,¡± says the now 16-year-old sophomore.

Bethany told her mother what was going on right away. ¡°My heart just kind of stopped,¡± says her mother, Elizabeth Fischer. ¡°My sister used those exact same words to describe how it felt when she had thyroid cancer, but I never shared that with Bethany.¡± Elizabeth¡¯s brother also died of a throat tumor (rhabdomyosarcoma) when he was five.

Elizabeth took Bethany to see her pediatrician immediately. The League City doctor ordered an ultrasound, a test using contrast dye, and finally, a fine-needle biopsy. Then she sent Bethany to a pediatric endocrinologist, who diagnosed the teen with Hashimoto¡¯s thyroiditis and gave her an oral supplement. The endocrinologist also referred Bethany to MD Anderson for a second opinion.

A papillary thyroid cancer diagnosis

Bethany and her mother came to MD Anderson in early May 2015. Here, they met with endocrinologist , who discovered that Bethany actually had stage I papillary thyroid cancer. The tumor in her neck was almost two centimeters (or about an inch) long, and the cancer had spread into four out of five nearby lymph nodes.

¡°I was kind of shocked,¡± Bethany says. ¡°That¡¯s not a normal thing you hear when you¡¯re 14. Most kids are worried about school and stuff, but I was wondering how it was going to affect my life. That¡¯s the most terrifying part: not knowing how everything was going to turn out.¡±

Bethany¡¯s papillary thyroid cancer treatment

Bethany and her mother met next with , who performed surgery on June 19, 2015, to remove the tumor and the affected lymph nodes. He ended up removing Bethany¡¯s entire thyroid gland, too, due to the tumor¡¯s size and location. As a result, Bethany will have to take a synthetic thyroid hormone (levothyroxine) for the rest of her life. It suppresses any remaining cells of thyroid tissue so she won¡¯t have to be treated with a radioactive isotope.

¡°At first, I was kind of annoyed about having to take medication the rest of my life,¡± Bethany says. ¡°I wanted to be in the military, so that changed my path a little. But I¡¯m still active in JROTC and do all the same stuff I did before.¡±

Gratitude for Bethany¡¯s thyroid cancer care team

Bethany credits her MD Anderson doctors and nurses for making her cancer experience easier.

¡°They let me know everything that was going to happen and made it as painless as possible,¡± she says.

¡°The bedside manner of everyone we¡¯ve encountered has been nothing less than exceptional,¡± Elizabeth adds.

The hardest part of thyroid cancer: other people¡¯s reactions

So far, the hardest part of Bethany¡¯s thyroid cancer journey for both mother and daughter has been other people¡¯s reactions to the news.

¡°Some people hear ¡®thyroid cancer¡¯ and go, ¡®Oh, that¡¯s a great cancer to have. It¡¯s so easy to treat,¡¯¡± Elizabeth says. ¡°That¡¯s really frustrating. When people blow it off like that, it diminishes Bethany¡¯s experience. And it¡¯s totally different when you¡¯re 14. You¡¯re going through puberty and suddenly you have very visible scars. Every time you go on a sleepover, you¡¯re having to take your pills.¡±

¡°It¡¯s kind of like a big bag of garbage I¡¯m carrying around,¡± Bethany adds. ¡°I want to leave it behind, but it¡¯s still dragging me down. Sometimes, I get self-conscious. But I have really awesome, supportive friends.¡±

Moving forward from a place of strength

Despite some lingering issues with swallowing, Bethany and Elizabeth are determined to move forward.

¡°Some people identify strongly with their disease, but Bethany doesn¡¯t want to lead with being a patient or a ¡®cancer kid,¡¯¡± Elizabeth says. ¡°We¡¯re trying to turn the terminology now to being a survivor. The worst is behind us. We try to help each other remember that.¡±

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