PCO Graduate a Strong Voice of Endurance and Strength

PCO Graduate a Strong Voice of Endurance and Strength

In April 2019, Anastasia “Annie” Goerl ‘21OD woke up one morning and discovered she had lost her voice. She was training for a half-marathon at the time and had what she described as a “little cold,” so she attributed her raspiness to the fact that she was overworking her body while being a bit under the weather.

But her voice never came back to its full sound.

Weeks turned into months, so after she ran the half-marathon in June 2019, Goerl saw an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist who determined she had a paralyzed vocal cord likely brought on by a viral infection. The ENT suggested Goerl consult a speech therapist to see if she could regain full function of her voice.

Speech therapy didn’t help, and by March 2020 — right about the same time the pandemic hit — Goerl noticed in addition to the voice issues, she had also developed a cough.

She started an externship in July 2020 but a month into it, the voice issues and coughing persisted. Goerl consulted with her primary physician and through a series of tests, it was revealed she had a tumor in the lymph nodes in her chest that doctors believed was compressing the nerve leading to her vocal cords. The diagnosis: Adenocarcinoma of the lung — lung cancer.

And, although the battle she’s waged against the disease for the past two years has been extremely challenging, Goerl — a non-smoker — has persisted through chemotherapy treatments while maintaining her course schedule and graduated on time with the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University Class of 2021 on May 27.