Eighteen years ago, Tamron Little received a bleak cancer prognosis giving her about 18 months to live. She overcame astronomical odds to survive, thrive and become a patient advocate—today conducting webinars with the surgeon who treated her to provide inspiration and hope to Mesothelioma patients.
Diagnosed patients around the world have discovered Tamron’s story online and contacted her to say she’s given them hope. “I wish I would have had that,” Tamron noted. “No one was out there sharing their stories back then. It was taboo, the “C” word. They were ashamed of it.”
Motherhood and heartbreak
Tamron’s world changed the day she had surgery to remove what was assumed to be a uterine fibroid tumor. She had learned about the tumor during a pregnancy ultrasound of her first son, Caleb. As a 21-year-old college student, she was relieved she wasn’t having twins and calmed by relatives who said they’d had fibroids themselves.
The tumor turned out to be peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare form of a rare cancer that is rarer still in women. Mesothelioma typically affects industrial workers who inhaled asbestos and takes decades to present.
“That day, my life became a tornado with me in the center,” Tamron recalled. “There was a stillness as I watched everything swirl around me. I wanted to go home and hug my baby.”
Getting a second opinion
Her physician referred her to an oncologist who insisted no treatments were available. She decided to get a second opinion. “That day was the pivotal moment in my journey. I said, ‘if you can’t help me or help me find someone who can, I am leaving.’ This is the key to advocacy and advocating for yourself.”
Her search for a cure led her to Dr. Edward A. Levine, section head of surgical oncology at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Atrium Health Levine Cancer. Dr. Levine (no relation) is also professor of surgery and chief of surgical oncology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
Dr. Levine offered a treatment called HIPEC (hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy), at the time one of a handful of doctors on the East Coast performing this surgery. He began performing it even before he joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1998. The procedure is still done the same way, and Wake Forest Baptist has one of the largest experiences with it worldwide.
“I’m a firm believer that God always has a ram in the bush,” Tamron said. “My mother worked at Wake Forest Baptist and asked coworkers to pray for me. They told her about Dr. Levine, and I was in his office within two weeks. He told me I was in good hands, that I’d caught the tumor early and was a good candidate for treatment. After all the doom and gloom, my fire was just a flicker. Dr. Levine was a torch. He relit my flame. Because of his confidence, I was ready to sign the papers that day.”
Dr. Levine also recalls that first visit. “Tamron was a dedicated young woman with a strong spirit, motivated to fight her diagnosis with vigor. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare disease with about 300 cases a year in the United States. For many years it has been thought incurable. Tamron proves that wrong every day.”
From recovery to advocacy
The HIPEC surgery took nearly 12 hours. During the procedure, Tamron’s husband, Samuel, drove home to Fayetteville and back to Winston-Salem, and it was still underway. Full recovery took nearly a year. The hot chemo treatment was curative but came with side effects, including chronic kidney disease. She was also considered unlikely to conceive more children. She proved that wrong, too, adding son, Caden, 15, and daughters, Savanah, 13, and Sydney, 11.
As her children grew, Tamron worked in communications roles for hospitals in North Carolina and Florida. The family now resides in Charlotte, and since 2018, Tamron has stepped up her advocacy efforts. She founded a consulting company; authored a women’s devotional book; started a podcast; and has participated in two webinars with Dr. Levine aimed at the community of mesothelioma patients and survivors.
“Tamron is an excellent advocate for survivorship in general, but more specifically for mesothelioma and HIPEC patients.” Dr. Levine said. “She has leveraged her time during her survivorship journey with being a dedicated mother and career woman. She is an outstanding voice for patients in difficult circumstances.”
“I can’t help anyone if I’m silent,” Tamron reflected. “I try to speak and write straight from the heart. I want people to take something useful from my story. I’m glad I’m able to share it and be that light for someone else.”