Dandrea Evans, Cancer Survivor

Cancer survivors inspire us daily and energize our efforts to end this disease. Their stories of resilience and courage serve as powerful reminders of the progress we have made and the work that still lies ahead. Together, we can make a difference.

Meet Dandrea Evans, Cancer Survivor

Diagnosis and Initial Reaction

Can you tell me about the moment you were diagnosed with cancer and how you initially reacted?

Finding out I had cancer was totally unexpected. I wasn’t having any symptoms, pain, or discomfort. My primary physician saw something that was just a little different in my blood but nothing alarming. He told me it’s probably nothing at all but I’m going to schedule you to see a urologist to run some tests. So, I followed up with the urologist and they did a series of tests to see if there was anything to be concerned about.

Sure enough after the tests and biopsies it was determined I had cancer. The chances that a primary doctor would recognize that there was a possibility of cancer in me with so few symptoms was considered a miracle. When the doctor call me in and told me it was totally unexpected. When he told me that I had cancer, he never promised that he could cure it, he told me usually people with this type of cancer had only 60 something chance of defeating it.

While he was telling me all these percentages and other information all I could think about was I got 2 choices I can either have a pity party and expect the worst or I can trust God and His promises to be a healer and totally believe that Jesus would heal me of this cancer. Those are the only 2 choices that’s it and I choose to trust God and depend on Him and from that moment on I lived to live. 

Treatment Journey

What types of treatment did you undergo, and what were some of the most challenging aspects of your treatment process?

I underwent several different types of treatments:

1) I had surgery to remove my prostate.
2) Next I had radiation treatments, 39 rounds.
3) Followed by 2 years of hormone treatments
4) After that I had a year of no treatments
5) Then I had another 2years of hormone treatments accompanied with a chemo pill.
6) Those treatments were just completed in January and currently I’m not under any treatments thank God.

Unfortunately, there were some challenges I had to overcome during my treatments:

1. The recovery from surgery was painful as you could imagine.
2. The radiation treatments made me feel tired and sleepy.
3. The hormone treatments caused me to gain weight, the first time I gained over 60lbs.
4. The hormone treatments also caused me to have frequent hot flashes which I still have to this day.

Support System

How did your family, friends, and healthcare team support you during your cancer journey?

My family, friends were great and very supportive. They helped, strengthened, prayed, encouraged me every step of the way.

Personal Transformation

In what ways has surviving cancer changed your perspective on life and your personal goals?

My battle with cancer is something that I originally thought of was the worst thing that could have happened to me but in actuality it turned out to be the best thing to ever happened to me.  It forced me to change the way I looked at life, and how I approached my life and consequently changed the way I lived my life. I had to face my biggest fear at the time, which was death and what I realized was that there should not be any fear in death, my fear is misguided. I realized that what I feared more is dyingwithout living. You see it’s not how long you live but how well you lived with the time you have. So each day I wake up every morning and look at the day as a gift and my main focus is to appreciate the gift of life and live. Not just living to satisfy myself and fleshly desires, no. But to live each day fulfilling God’s purpose for my life and walking in faith. This means I live a life that is bigger than me, i.e. I live according to what God calls and leads me. That involves helping others, living my life to make others life better, my community better, etc. And doing that has made my life complete and has allowed me to walk in my purpose for life.


Advice and Reflection

What advice would you give to others who are currently battling cancer, and what message would you like to share with people who may not understand the experience?

First trust God. Then understand that no matter what as a believer in Christ you win. Understand that life is a gift not a right and it doesn’t last forever. So live today doing all the things God created you for, and by living for God and in your true purpose whenever our times comes to leave this earth we will have no regrets because we lived our life to the fullest and the best it can be lived and our reward is not death nope death is just our door to our final destination eternal life in heaven.

- Dandrea Evans, Cancer Survivor

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