MOULTRIE — Cynthia Hernandez, who has been “formally in remission” since August of 2008, believes that cancer survivors could give valuable tips to other cancer patients.

She said she would really like individuals to talk about, publicly, how they managed the system so that cancer patients who are currently in treatment can benefit from their knowledge.

“You really do need someone who is going to be your champion throughout this,” she said.

Hernandez said she found out six months into treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma that her insurance company had someone who could help her. The company had a “cancer care specialist” who helped her navigate and arrange things, she said.

“The bigger hospitals do have resources, too. ... People might not think they need a social worker but they do,” she added.

Hernandez was diagnosed with the disease on July 7, 2006. She said the only symptoms she had was that she was more tired than usual and then she noticed a hard point in her abdomen. She works at the Ellenton Clinic and told one of the nurse practitioners about the hard knot and let her feel it. At this point, her co-worker told her that she was taking her to the hospital because they thought it might be an aneurysm. When a CAT scan was done, it was discovered that it was a tumor that was bigger than a football, said Hernandez. It was wrapped around her aorta, adrenal gland and lymph gland, among other things. She was told that surgery was not an option and after a biopsy, she was told she was in the third stage of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“I remember asking the doctor how many stages there were and he told me four,” she said.

She said, basically, when she reached the fourth stage, she was told she would die.

It was affecting her liver, she said, but the interesting thing was that all of her blood-work would come back normal. She said she wanted people to realize that they can’t always rely on one diagnostic tool.

She took chemotherapy from July through December and, in January, her cancer care specialist sent her to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where she had two weeks of tests and then was given recommendations on a plan of care.

“And the plan of care included a stem cell transplant,” she said.

She said on March 1, 2007, she went to the Emory Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, Ga. and took another round of chemotherapy through July. She said at the end of that time, they harvested her stem cells.

“And on July 17, I got my stem cells back,” she said.

She said it looked like they were giving her a blood transfusion when they reintroduced the stem cells back into her system.

She also added, as a point of interest, that there was another woman from Moultrie getting a stem cell transplant, too.

“It just goes to show you just how prevalent it is,” she said.

By Sept. 10, she said she was back at work. However, she said she was very sick after the transplant and had to stay close to the hospital at first, but she knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

She explained that, with this treatment, a patient needed to get stem cells from themself or a sibling, and Hernandez’s brother had died a year and a half before she was diagnosed with cancer. She said a bone marrow biopsy was done on her and her cells were not infected.

“It was not in my bone marrow yet, so they were able to harvest mine. ... Before this was introduced to me, I always assumed that stem cells come from unborn babies. But we all have stem cells,” said Hernandez.

She added that people need to be more informed.

“If I had not had a stem cell transplant, I would have died. There’s no doubt,” she said matter-of-factly.

She warned that there were side-effects to the treatment like cataracts, which she has, but the side-effects were an ‘if’ and the other alternative wasn’t an ‘if.’

Hernandez also encouraged people to immediately call the American Cancer Society if they are diagnosed with cancer because this was a great place to start.

“When you have something like that going on you may not get it at first. ... You’re still in the shock of ‘I’ve got cancer,’” she said.

She said someone who has been diagnosed needs to start asking questions quickly because time is of the utmost importance, and they also need to learn to help take care of themselves even if they have a caregiver. She said she did not want to feel helpless and wanted to be active in taking care of herself. She said she felt like if she let the caregiver do everything for her, she would feel like she was giving up.

“There is so much to learn. Just so much to learn,” she said.

She said cancer patients need to go to the people who can help them. She added that she had cancer for an entire year before she found out that she could get a prescription for a wig.

“Don’t be hesitant about asking questions,” she admonished.

She said call everyone who might be able to give answers about the disease. She said the American Cancer Society has a lot of informative materials for cancer patients and their families, and the Relay for Life event April 24 will also have information available on-site.

“I want people to know that when they say to you that you’ve got cancer, don’t give up. Fight. ... Be a warrior for yourself,” said Hernandez emphatically.

She said she encouraged people to attend Relay for Life — which will be 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. April 24-25 at the Knuck-McCrary Complex — even just to learn about cancer because she believes that everyone will be touched by the disease in one way or another.