On December 20th, 2018 I found out I have Stage 4 Lung Cancer. I spent the week prior to that in the hospital having 2.5 liters of fluid drained from my left lung space. At age 32, and a lifetime non-smoker, this was a big shock and a devastating blow. Prior to my diagnosis, I was an active, busy, and healthy young woman who had never even spent the night in a hospital. After my diagnosis, I made the tough decision to put off treatment for a month so I could freeze my eggs.
Being a mother has always been a dream of mine and after celebrating my engagement two weeks prior to diagnosis, I was crushed to get this news. But I charged forward and started my targeted therapy the day after my retrieval procedure. I have since had four in office lung drains, over forty in home drains thanks to a catheter I had in for approximately three months. I have since had the catheter removed and no new fluid has generated.
I am doing very well on my medication. I have returned to kickboxing and running. I still work full time and I run my online radio station, WJMS Radio. I have shared my story a dozen times, I have joined the leadership committee of The Lung Cancer Research Foundation who have helped me share and reach more people like myself. I am blessed and humbled to inspire people around me and I plan to continue! I am turning my diagnosis into a way to educate people about the unnecessary stigmas associated with this disease and that all you truly need to get lung cancer is LUNGS. So I continue to live my life as best I can and show everyone that I am not my diagnosis. And although I may have cancer, cancer does NOT have me.
