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Ceremony at a Philadelphia Hospital Honors Five-Year Cancer Survivors

By Lynne Adkins

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- More than one hundred people today celebrated a milestone of survival following their cancer treatment in Philadelphia.

The five-year cancer survivors received a joyous welcome as they arrived at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, in the Juniata Park section of Philadelphia.

Myrna Taylor, 54, of Willingboro, NJ (below), was all smiles, sporting a short saucy wig and proving that blondes do have more fun.   And, that they can beat breast cancer.

"I had it twice," she noted today.  "But even in it coming back again, it's OK.   I'm still here!  I got five more years, and I look for five more, and five more."

 

taylor_myrna cancer _adkins
(Myrna Taylor marks five years of cancer survival. Photo by Lynne Adkins)

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CTCA president and CEO John McNeil says it's hard not to be touched.

"It's very emotional for us, for everyone who works here, and for our patients -- for patients who have just begun treatment with us to see these successes," he told KYW Newsradio.

A tree of hope was planted on site and, for each survivor, a tree will be donated to a national park.

 

 

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