“I wanted to watch my granddaughter grow up.”
In July of 2017, Debbie Skaggs was diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) by her hometown doctor. She was simply instructed to use an inhaler for the rest of her life. But Debbie was unsettled by this diagnosis, and she didn’t believe she had COPD. She decided to reach out to Dr. William Cundiff, a pulmonary specialist at Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown.
“[After the scan], Dr. Cundiff brought us in—my sister, my husband, my daughter and my son went in there with me that day. That's when he informed me I had lung cancer and that he was going to go ahead and direct me to a surgeon.”
Debbie was diagnosed on November 29, 2017. The minimally-invasive surgery to remove the cancer was performed just twelve days later by Dr. Jordan Miller, a thoracic surgeon at Markey Cancer Center. Hardin Memorial Hospital’s relationship with the Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network provided Debbie with a seamless coordination of care between the two facilities. Fortunately, Debbie’s cancer was caught early, so she required no chemotherapy or further treatment after her surgery. Her husband, brothers, sister and children—collectively, "Team Debbie"—supported her every step of the way.
