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Six months ago, Allyn Sachs didn’t have much time to think.

She couldn’t kick a nagging cough and went to see her doctor. An X-ray revealed a tumor on her right lung. When she was diagnosed with lung cancer in late February, Sachs knew where she would go next.

“I came to the James because my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 50s. Dr. James was her surgeon, and
she lived till she was 85. That’s where I was going to go.
Nowhere else.”

Dr. Patrick Ross Jr., chief of thoracic surgery at the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, performed robotic surgery to remove her tumor on March 10. The less invasive procedure meant the 63-year-old from Mount Sterling, Ohio, was up and walking during her four-day stay at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

“No mercy!” she says, laughing now.

Sachs is able to enjoy quite a few laughs on a sunny September afternoon in front of the new James, which opens in December. She is here to take a photograph with just part of the team that provided her with the expert care she needed to overcome lung cancer, but it becomes a happy reunion.

Ross is by her side, smiling broadly. The “girls from the 11^th floor of Martha Morehouse,” as she calls them, and housekeepers, therapists and a host of other support staff offer hugs and updates on their own children.

“As I saw everybody today, they remember you. They hug you. It’s like you’re involved with really good friends. It helps when you’re scared and feeling a little low.”

Sachs had her six-month, post-surgery checkup the day before the photograph. Her prognosis is great, and her energy has returned.

“I’m just not going to worry about (cancer),” she says. “I’m just going to live my life and not worry about it. That’s the best I can do.”

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