"Feeling sorry for myself works well for about 15 minutes," says 40-year-old Kristi Kellogg of Crystal, Minn. That kind of grit and spunk has helped her survive three major bouts with cancer, raise three children, and work a full-time job as a trauma-neuro intensive care nurse.

In 1991, Kristi Kellogg began her 16-year experience with cancer and with University of Minnesota medical oncologists and surgeons who provided all of her cancer treatment.

During a routine visit that year, her doctor found she had a particularly aggressive form of cervical cancer. She had surgery, received radiation therapy, and because of complications, had to spend four months in the hospital. While doctors worked to get her well, her three children—son Carter, 4 years old at the time, and twins Taylor and Austin, 18 months old—bolstered her determination to go home to them.

She recovered and things went well for Kellogg until 1995 when her doctor discovered she had breast cancer. She underwent a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, and then chemotherapy. And again, she bounced back.

But in 2002, her cervical cancer returned. No longer a candidate for radiation and chemotherapy, she instead underwent a surgical procedure to remove all of her pelvic organs. The surgery took 15 hours.

Peter Argenta, M.D., performed the lengthy and aggressive surgery. Argenta is an assistant professor of gynecologic oncology at the University of Minnesota Medical School and conducts research on gynecologic cancer through the University's Cancer Center. He treats patients as a member of University of Minnesota Physicians.

Argenta calls Kellogg his most successful patient. "The joy is that Kristi hasn't slowed down. She can do 99 percent of whatever she wants to do."

He describes her as a classic survivor.

"One quality of such people is that they always find a silver lining in an ordeal," Argenta says. "Many people cannot do that, but there's no replacing the will to live."

Kellogg says her doctors' positive attitude reinforced her own outlook.

"I always had the impression from them that 'we're going to get through this'," she says. "I can't say enough about the doctors at the University of Minnesota. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for them."

One reason for her doctors' "can-do" attitude is that the University and its Cancer Center attract physicians from top hospitals and universities across the country.

"The joy is that Kristi hasn't slowed down. She can do 99 percent of whatever she wants to do."
— Peter Argenta, M.D.

"They do research and have the training and experience to work with extreme cases, difficult cancers, and cutting edge treatments," Argenta says. "Most physicians would not have performed the surgical procedure Kristi had."

As for Kellogg, she sees the brighter side of her life.

"I have a great family and children," she says. "They've been incredibly important in what I've been through the last 16 years. I could not have been as successful without them."

Carter, her older son, is now 20 years old, attends college, and works full time in the computer division of a major coffee company. Her twin son and daughter, Austin and Taylor, are entering their senior year in high school, and after graduation, Taylor plans to go on to nursing school. Her mother's experience with cancer has been a definite influence on Taylor's desire to pursue a health career.

In addition to taking care of her children, Kristi works full time as a trauma-neuro intensive care nurse. To relax and keep in shape, she swims a couple of miles two or three times a week.

"I feel like I was put here for a reason," she says. "I feel really lucky."

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This story was originally published in News from your Cancer Center, Fall 2007.