Grad 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 will graduate on time with the Class of 2021 on May 27.

“At first, it was just kind of like a hassle. I didn’t really feel sick. I was short of breath sometimes, but only during super-exertion,’ said Goerl. “Chemo would take me out for the weekend. But then slowly, I started feeling worse and worse and that was obviously because the chemo wasn’t working. Up until all the complications, cancer wasn’t that hard. It was just something I had to deal with.”

As a sophomore in high school, Goerl starting working at an optical lens lab in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. She continued to work there through the rest of high school and college, where she assembled and edged lenses.

Originally from Hershey, Pennsylvania, Goerl’s journey at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus University started in 2017 after she had earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Shippensburg University. Both she and her college friend and volleyball teammate Maura Nolan ‘21OD decided PCO/Salus was the right place to pursue their careers as optometrists.

Everything was fine until that day her voice went away. After the cancer diagnosis, she started first-line therapy, which consisted of 30 rounds of radiation and three rounds of chemotherapy in October 2020. 

One of the reasons she believes she’s able to graduate on time is because at the time of those treatments, she was completing her summer/fall rotation at Wyomissing Optometric Center under the guidance of Glenn Corbin, OD ‘82. She worked there from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, which enabled her to get radiation treatments each morning before going into the center. On Fridays, her off day, she was able to get her chemo treatments. 

By New Year’s Day 2021, though, the treatments had not worked and the cancer has spread to her liver, at which time she started full-dose chemo and immune therapy once every three weeks for two cycles. But a new set of scans revealed fluid surrounding her left lung. She developed blood clots in her lung and a collapsed lung, which required a week of hospitalization, the only time during the entire health ordeal that she had to miss her clinical obligations. 

Her instructors at PCO/Salus marvel at Goerl’s determination and grace in the face of such challenges.

“While seeing patients and studying, Annie was also being treated with radiation, full dose chemo, and immunotherapy. Not to mention, she did all of this during a global pandemic,” said Christin DeMoss, OD ‘17, Resident ‘18, assistant professor at PCO/Salus, who along with Erin Kenny, OD ‘15, Resident ‘16, assistant professor and chief of the William Feinbloom Vision Rehabilitation Center (housed at The Eye Institute), have worked closely with Goerl. “Annie is always a pleasure to work with, is compassionate with her patients and a reliable and helpful colleague to her fellow interns. We are in awe of her endurance and strength.”

Her PCO/Salus classmates showed their support to Goerl as well. In November 2020, they formed a GoFundMe page to help her raise money for cancer treatments with a goal of $25,000. Called “Fight Like a Goerl,” the 5k run/walk/swim/dance/anything that gets you movin’ and your lungs pumpin’ fundraiser, it was a virtual event where participants could post a photo of themselves doing something that brought them joy and “filled their lungs.” The initiative easily surpassed its goal and raised more than $33,000.

“My support system is really amazing. I’ve been very lucky,” said Goerl, who lost her father to cancer when she was in high school. “My friends stepped up completely.”

For now, Goerl is undergoing second-line chemotherapy and preparing to graduate. She said that being in the healthcare profession has helped her navigate the challenge of having cancer. 

“I think it allowed me to rationalize things more, better understand the human body and have educated talks with my doctor,” she said. “I really thought I was super-educated until my doctor tried to explain cancer to me. I still don’t really understand it.”

Most recently, Goerl is working to finish her last rotation at the Lebanon Veterans Administration in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and receiving chemo once a week. A new set of scans will be taken once the rotation ends right before graduation. 

But there is a natural sense of accomplishment at having gotten to the commencement finish line while battling health issues. 

“Things right now are unknown, and we’re waiting to see if the current treatment works and what steps are next if this treatment isn’t working,” said Goerl. “In the meantime, I’m going to take some time off and look for a job.”