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By Heather L. Hall
/ Photography by Anne Rayner
Debbie Hughes is one of many Vanderbilt-Ingram patients living with cancer. She's only 53, but for the rest of her life she will never be able to experience the joy of tasting a mouthwatering meal, because she can't swallow or chew real food. And she can never again know the comfort of falling into bed and curling up in the softest sheets to sleep at night, because if she reclines too far she could choke on her own saliva.
Felice Apolinsky, 43, a licensed clinical social worker at Gilda's Club in Nashville, Tenn., survived thyroid cancer, but her first marriage didn't. "Cancer can be so difficult on a relationship. When a crisis occurs, the good stuff can bubble up, but the bad stuff can bubble up, too. I just think there was nowhere for him to dump how life changing it was for him, as well," said Apolinsky.
Dan Fuson, 54, is living on borrowed time, according to his doctors. The advanced prostate cancer that spread to his bones is "taking a nap," as Dan explains it. While it may be napping, it's not very quiet. On a good day, the pain can be managed with medications, but on a bad day it's enough to bring him to his knees. Dan takes a battery of medications each day to keep his body going.
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