Car Accident Leads To Lung Cancer Diagnosis For WCCO Radio's Susie Jones
Originally published Dec. 21, 2021
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A respected radio journalist in the Twin Cities is counting her blessings after a car accident revealed that she has cancer.
WCCO Radio's Susie Jones has been a trusted voice on the airwaves for decades. Her listeners are part of her family. That's why she felt she had to share details about the latest obstacle in her life.
Jones totaled her vehicle in a two-vehicle crash Nov. 4. A trip to urgent care and a chest X-ray produced a diagnosis she did not want, but is facing with the help of family.
"It's been one week and one day, I had a biopsy done on my left lung and they found Stage 1 primary lung cancer," Jones said. "I'm in the room with the doctor, and she had just had her accident, and she said, 'Tell him to do a chest X-ray because that seatbelt hit you so hard.' And I was like, 'Huh,' and he was like, 'Oh well,' but he did it."
That X-ray led to another test that showed a shadow or spot on the upper right lobe of her lung. It was cancer.
"Initially I was indignant, but then I moved into kind of like incredible gratitude, and I said, 'I feel like I'm living in grace right now because they would have never caught it," Jones said. "I believe in God with all my heart, and I've been sober by the grace of God for many years, and I keep thinking I must not be done yet."
The next step for Jones, she says, is to go to the Mayo Clinic and have them determine the next course of action.
"We'll probably have surgery," Jones said. "I say 'we' because I feel like so many people around me. I just love everybody so much, so we're all going to have surgery together. You guys can just hold my hand."
Holding on is what Jones is doing in the interim.
"I'm just trying to be brave and to stay in the day, and be really grateful for all the people around me," Jones said.
Jones admits she was a young smoker, starting at age 13. She believes she can win this fight and is looking forward to more years of working for and with the Twin Cities community.
