our survivors: LANA PERKINS
The Re-enforcements —
When The Going Got Tough
By MELISSA MOORMAN
When She Found Out She had
Cancer, Careity Stepped in and
Saved Her Life
L
18
ana Perkins just
thought that the
symptoms she was
having were related to
getting older and going
through menopause.
At age 57, that’s not
an unreal supposition,
especially given her
medical history which
included polycystic
ovary syndrome (PCOS),
a hormonal disorder
that is characterized by
infrequent or prolonged
menstrual periods. But in
December of last year,
Perkins started having
excessively heavy peri-
ods lasting many more
days than the usual five
to seven.
This lasted through May of the
next year.
“I didn’t think much about it.
I had gone a year without a cycle
and then it was almost constant.
It was so heavy, I thought I was
hemorrhaging, not just having a