Local residents celebrate cancer survivors

Sunday afternoon, cancer survivors and their family members gathered in Seaford to honor National Cancer Survivors Day.

The event is a  nationwide celebration for those who have survived,  and serve as an inspiration for those who have been recently diagnosed. Naticoke Cancer Care services hosted this celebration in honor of local survivors.

"Today they can treat cancer as a chronic illness, we have some patients that are stage 4 and that are 8 years into treatment, so it's not a death sentence anymore," says Terri Clifton, the Cancer Care Coordinator at Naticoke's Cancer Center.

Betty Milligan lives in Seaford. She was diagnosed with breast cancer a little over six years ago and took swift action with her doctor.

"I didn't cry or anything, I just said to him what are we going to do about it. He gave me an option, a lumpectomy, or a mastectomy and I said let's go with the lumpectomy," says Milligan.

Milligan is one of the roughly 15 million Americans  the CDC estimates have been diagnosed with cancer in the U.S.

She is now cancer free and  says she owes it to her family and friends who stood beside her, but mostly her attitude.

"If you're really positive things turn out a lot better for you," says Milligan.

For information about cancer support groups offered by Naticoke Cancer Center click here.