How my story begins: It is kind of a long story, but my story is one that could happen on any woman. Cervical cancer doesn’t run in my family. I’ve always been healthy with no real health issues. It began summer of 2019, when I was 26, that I noticed I was always too tired to do anything. I had no energy after work most days. It seemed like pulling teeth to get me to go out and do anything fun. I chalked it up to my job making me tired. I worked at a farm and feed store so I was doing a lot of heavy lifting back then. Hurricane Dorian was making its way to Florida in September 2019 and because of the type of retail store I worked at, we stayed open until the day of the hurricane. I was worn out! The day Hurricane Dorian hit my part of Florida, I was home and taking a nap.

This next part is a bit TMI, but it is part of my story: When I woke up I walked into the bathroom to use the toilet when I noticed blood just gushing out. At first I thought it was weird because I had my period two weeks prior. It started coming out much more than a normal period. I started to panic when I couldn’t get the bleeding to stop enough to even get off the toilet. My hubby rushed me to the ER (In the middle of a hurricane!!). I didn’t have insurance at the time so the ER doctor did a pelvic exam and ran a few blood/urine tests. Nothing stood out, so they sent me home saying it was hormones and scheduled a follow up with their gynecologist. Figuring they knew what was best, I went home still bleeding but not as much. I planned to learn more when I would see the gynecologist that following Monday.

During the weekend I noticed something felt "off" about my abdomen. It felt warm and tingly. By Monday, the day of my doctor's appointment, I had stopped bleeding but explained to the doctor what had happened. Because of me not having insurance, she didn’t want to do too much to run up the bill. I appreciated that but at the same time I wanted to get answers about what was wrong with me. She did a Pap test and sent me home. I mentioned the weird feeling in my abdomen but my question was ignored.

A day or two went by and I started to get a fever. The weird feeling in my abdomen turned from warm/tingly to fire and started to spread upwards. My best friend, who lives in Michigan, is a nurse and advised me to go back to the ER. I ended up back with the same ER doctor I had on my first visit. He did the same exact thing as last time (Pelvic exam, blood and urine tests) but this time my white blood cell count (WBC) came back as TNTC (Too Numerous To Count). The doctor stated that he never seen that before but told me not to worry. He said it was likely “just a really bad UTI” and started me on IV antibiotics and sent me home with a prescription. (I had no signs of a UTI!)

By then I felt something serious was wrong and that no hospital would touch me without insurance so I applied day and night to any plan that would accept me. The gynecologist called to make an appointment for a biopsy as my Pap results came back positive for high risk HPV. I ended up back at the same ER (this is now three times within three weeks) with insurance and they finally did a CT scan that found a large tumor on my cervix growing upwards causing blockage to my urinary track. That was the reason I was fighting a nasty infection. They decided to admit me and keep me for observation. For five days, they ran all kinds of tests and cultures with no answers. Finally on the 5th day, they discharged me because they didn’t know what else to do for me without doing a biopsy on the tumor.

The days up to the biopsy were rough. I was sick as a dog. I couldn’t keep anything down for three days straight. The day of the biopsy I thought I was going to faint. My temperature in the doctor's office was at 102.7. I told them we were going to go a new ER an hour away after the biopsy. I got to the new ER and they admitted me. Within two hours of being there, they ran tests/scans and got all the same answers it had taken the first hospital five days to do. They were sure it was cervical cancer but didn’t want to confirm it without biopsy results. Once it came back, it did confirm cancer and I did a PET scan the follow week. The scan showed it had spread to my lymph nodes making me stage IIIC. I was hoping to have a hysterectomy and avoid doing chemo/radiation but I didn’t have a choice. The plan was to do 5 rounds of chemo, 25 rounds radiation, and 4 rounds of brachy.

Life before my diagnosis: My life before diagnosis was great! I was working full time at a place I liked. I live in Florida and my hubby and I were going out on our boat almost every weekend to fish. I was very tan that summer. But I was also tired and I didn’t know why....

How I felt after diagnosis: I felt lost. I was not sure if I would be able to grow old with my husband. I wondered if my mom was going to have to bury her child. I wondered what life was going to be like after this.

Telling my family and friends: Telling my friends and family was hard! It broke my heart to see how it affected everyone around me.

My treatment: I did 5 rounds of cisplatin, 27 rounds of external radiation, and 4 rounds of brachy.

How I felt after treatment: I’m more appreciative of everything I have. The rainy days when I’m laying in bed or the sunny days when I’m sitting on my back porch reading a book, I enjoy those moments more then I used to. At one point I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to enjoy the little things like that. So now I take every chance I can.

What was most difficult for me: Seeing my loves one cry over me was so difficult.

What I did to help myself: I kept positive thoughts. By the time I was diagnosed, I had turned 27 and kept thinking I’m too young to die. I’m too young to give into this disease. I had an awesome support group. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.

My life after cancer: My life after cancer is the best it can be! I’ve made it out alive so far and had minimal damage from treatment (in my opinion). I am dealing with side effects and radiation damage from treatment but it could be much worse!

Where I am today: I started a new career with a medical dispensary helping other cancer patients find relief! I’m waiting for my next PET scan! It’s my one year scan so fingers crossed!

What I want other women to know: This can happen to any woman! My family had no history of this cancer. I also didn’t go to the doctor annually like I’m supposed to. Go get checked! It could save your life!

How I will try to help others: I talk about my story to anyone who will listen. I feel like there are many girls who were like me and don’t have insurance or who don't go to the doctor for an annual check up. Now I speak up and talk about what others need to do to prevent them from going through what I had to go through.