86-Year-Old Grandma Welcomed Home After Grueling Cancer Treatment
CHICAGO (CBS) — Despite a dire prognosis, an 86-year-old grandmother from Oak Lawn has returned home after being treated for a potentially fatal lung cancer.
On her birthday in April, doctors discovered a lemon-sized tumor on Julie Barker's lung.
After the diagnosis, doctors warned the family that the prognosis was dim.
"We didn't think today was going to happen," said her son David.
David and his family took Julie from doctor to doctor until finding one who would perform the surgery.
"They ran out of reasons to deny her," David said.
At the time of the surgery, Julie weighed below one hundred pounds.
A woman of faith, Julie told David, "God made me sick because he knew you would take care of me."
After surgery, Julie spent eight days in the ICU and then about a month in rehab.
Her family anxiously awaited the day she would come home.
"She never gave up," said David. He tells CBS 2 that Julie looks forward to taking her driving test and returning to her gardening.