LOOKING BACK NOW – May 15, 2021:
This wasn’t something easy to say to anyone, and I was fortunate that I had a lot of people who care about me who needed to know.
I know it wasn’t the best way to tell everyone, but at the time I was a mess and just felt relief by pulling the bandaid off quickly.
Before and after this message, I tried my best to personalize it to each person, but I know I was tired. I apologize to my friends and family who simply got a “generic” message sent to them.
ORIGINAL MESSAGE – February 7, 2021 (day after my 35th birthday):
“So I have had these paragangliomas since I was 20. Just benign slow-growing tumors that I had 3 different radiation treatments on. You mostly knew about that. Well, they are benign if they hang out in my neck area as they have, but I went to get these new annual testing I needed to do because of new information from my genetics counselor…
I went into the tests last week thinking everything would be clear, too young for things to pop up and if they do pop up someday, I will probably catch them early like when I am 55 or something…
Well unfortunately it all surprised me last week and they found they metastasized…
I have to do more tests in April to see if they are truly slow-growing or if they are more active. Because we don’t know if I have had them for 10 years or just popped up. I never had a full-body scan before, just the Head and Neck…
The scary part to me is that the dr is calling it Stage 4 cancer. And my brain can barely comprehend…
I feel perfectly fine so it’s super odd.”