Rosa: Stomach Cancer Survivor

Rosa Chipelo is a spry 84-year-old who has always maintained an active lifestyle. Since the age of 70, she has lived with her daughter, Rosa Janeiro and family in Naugatuck. She loves walking and riding her stationary bike at home every day. In May 2023, after experiencing unexplained shortness of breath, she consulted her doctor and received a referral to a gastroenterologist. After a colonoscopy, endoscopy, and a CAT scan, Mrs. Chipelo was found to have a large gastric tumor (stomach cancer) and a giant hiatal hernia. The tumor was pushing her stomach up into her sternum.

Given Mrs. Chipelo’s age and the complexity of the surgery, she and her daughter had a big decision to make. A flippant comment from a healthcare provider about her age sowed doubt and anxiety around what to do next.

Victor Chang, MD, medical oncologist at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Waterbury, suggested Mrs. Chipelo undergo multidisciplinary treatments that included chemotherapy and surgery. The plan would include four treatments of chemotherapy followed by major gastric surgery. He partnered with Kiran Turaga, MD, MPH, Division Chief of Surgical Oncology at Smilow Cancer Hospital as his surgical counterpart.

After a second opinion from a cancer center in New York City, they decided that her Yale team was the best for her.

In July, Mrs. Chipelo and her daughter met with Dr. Turaga for their surgical consultation. (Mrs. Chipelo’s daughter, Rosa, always accompanies her mother as she only speaks Portuguese.) Desperately ready to find a surgeon they trusted, Dr. Turaga – who is a tall man – entered the room, and as Rosa explained, “He had us at ‘hello.’”

“We were starstruck,” she said. “He just had such a calming, confident influence. He spelled out everything, every detail, and what his plan was for surgery. For every question we asked, he had an answer or an explanation, and he was patient. He always told us the surgery was doable, and we never doubted him.”

From the beginning, Mrs. Chipelo emphasized living the rest of her life with quality not quantity was her priority. As Rosa explained, “After he said to my mother, ‘I can give you that quality. You’re strong, you’re healthy, vibrant – there’s no reason not to move forward,’ we knew he would be ‘the one.’”

Two months later, Dr. Turaga performed a gastrectomy, which removed the lower part of Mrs. Chipelo’s stomach along with lymph nodes in the region through a procedure called a lymphadenectomy, and he repaired the hiatal hernia that including stitching together her diaphragm muscles. The surgery went very well, and after working through fatigue and diet adjustments, six months later Mrs. Chipelo is happy and back to her baseline. She is eating normally and exercising, she has no restrictions, and goes for follow-up CAT scans with Dr. Chang every three months.

After so much worry and concern about undergoing a major surgery at age 83, at their first appointment post-surgery, everyone was delighted with the outcome. “Our goal at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center is to provide patients with individualized care,” said Dr. Turaga. “We make all attempts to know our patients and what matters to them, and then tailor our treatments to do our best to help them achieve those goals. Caring is key.”

“It never felt like we had a cancer diagnosis,” said Rosa. “It just felt like my mother was having a surgery and nothing more. We are eternally grateful for Dr. Turaga.”