Terminal Diagnosis, But Still So Full Of HOPE

Hi! I’m 32, a wife, and a mom..... and a stage 4 colon cancer patient. At the age of 30 I went to the hospital with persistent abdominal pain. It had been ongoing for about a week at that point. My white count was very high and I was septic. I was admitted, but all we could see was inflammation. 2 days went by and they did another ct. In that CT they saw a perforated large intestine. I was rushed in for emergency surgery, and I awoke with a colostomy. This was so new to me, and sssoo scary. I was able to adjust well and was just thankful to be alive. On the day I was to be released, all my drs entered my room... I thought it was to say bye as I loved them all. But instead the words “we have news from pathology. The section of your colon we took out showed that you have colon cancer” my whole life changed so quickly. I met with an oncologist 2 days after being released and he was very concerned about some nodules they saw in my lungs so we scheduled a biopsy. After the biopsy I was told it was stage 4. I had colon cancer in my lungs before I even knew I had cancer. About a week later I went in to have my port surgically put in and was to start treatment. I started FOLFOX and everything was going as expected. It was hard, but I was DOING IT! After 5 treatments we did a PET scan and found out it wasn’t working. At that time we stopped and I did radiation. The radiation was 10 treatments. I completed that with minimal side effects but that came back as not working as well. Then it was back to a different chemo. FOLFIRI. It also didn’t work. We continued with this trend until all the chemotherapy options were exhausted. This took almost 2 years. I was then accepted into a clinical trial at Moffitt. I’ve been doing this for about 6 months and it’s not working either. I’ve done about 45 treatments. I’ve lost my hair. I’ve been extremely sick. Exhausted. Sad. But I’ve never given up. Let me explain. I have 2 daughters named Sycora (13) and Amirah (8) and this man (my husband Clifton) that I love more than anything. They have been my light in the dark. My reason for everything. At this point I’ve been told that there isn’t much left to do, so we do all the things we can together. Beach trips. Ice cream late night. Dinner together every night. Just so they have these memories and moments when the clock stands still. I will never give up, but sometimes we don’t get that choice to make... its made for us. Any donations will be used to help make memories for our family. Thank you so much for reading