One Minnesota woman’s battle with colorectal cancer and a double lung transplant

One Minnesota woman’s battle with colorectal cancer and a double lung transplant Mandy Wilk has been battling colorectal cancer for eight years. In 2017, Amanda “Mandy” Wilk made spaghetti for dinner for her family. Then she experienced sharp pains in her abdomen. She thought it was food poisoning. That was until the pain didn’t go away after a couple days. She met with doctors and was recommended to get a CT scan. After a month, they found thickening of her colon and skin variations on her liver. At the time, 34-year-old Mandy was told everything was probably normal. Then she got a colonoscopy. “I never saw this coming,” her doctor said. She was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer that already spread to her liver. Doctor after doctor. Oncologist after oncologist. Mandy searched everywhere across the country who would help her get the organ transplants she needed to live. Many told her that because of how severe her cancer was she was a “waste of an organ.” But things took a turn for the better once Mandy found treatment and support here in Chicago. Reset sits down with Mandy to learn about her journey fighting to be heard by doctors to get the care she needs and how she’s made medical history. GUESTS: Mandy Wilk, double lung transplant patient and stage 4 colorectal cancer survivor Dr. Catherine Myers, lung transplant pulmonologist with the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute #cancer #reset #wbezchicago #colorectalcancer --- WBEZ’s Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons is your forum for the Chicago conversation. We bring context to the latest local news with journalists, experts and newsmakers. And we cover a wide variety of beats from State and City Politics to Arts and Culture to the Environment. Every Tuesday, we talk Health and Wellness. Every Thursday, it’s Food and Music. We’re on the latest news stories throughout the week and on Fridays in our Weekly News Recap. 💻 Check out more Reset interviews: wbez.org/reset 📧 Sign up for our daily newsletter: wbez.org/resetnews 🎧 Listen to the Reset podcast: https://bit.ly/3Tog0N3