Bianca’s Fight Against Cervical Cancer

It was June 7, 2023, I’m 4 1/2 months pregnant and after months of going to the doctor for visits and biopsies trying to figure out why my body has been in so much pain I learned that the pain was due to a tumor that was growing inside of my body. It was not the call that I was expecting and one that is hard for anyone to hear. I was diagnosed with stage 1b3 Cervical Cancer. Of course no one wants to hear the C word and being pregnant at the same time was not the ideal situation. But I had to just trust that God would give me the strength I needed to get through.

After numerous visits with my team of doctors and lots of prayers, the option that felt the best at the time was to fight for my life and my child’s. My gynecologist created a treatment plan where I would do 6 rounds of chemotherapy to shrink the growth of the tumor and plan for a c-section to deliver my baby girl Aubrey at 34 weeks. At that time the hopes were that they would be able to remove the tumor and do a partial hysterectomy. It all sounded like a great plan, and I was ready to start my treatments to get to the end when I could meet my baby girl and be cancer free.

On June 29th, 2023 I started my chemotherapy. I faired through my first treatment pretty well, but honestly it was tough. Chemotherapy already has its side effects on the body and being pregnant can bring its own. Fatigue was my biggest at the time, until my water broke a week later. It was scary. It was extremely too early. I was only 19 weeks pregnant and of course this brought a lot of concern to my team of doctors. As a result, I spent the next few days in the hospital being monitored with 10+ doctors checking in on us trying to figure out why my water prematurely ruptured. There was no definite answer. The next couple weeks were filled with daily doctor appointments and hydration fluid treatments. On July 20th, it was time for my second chemotherapy treatment. I was 3 hours into my 8 hour treatment when I started having contractions. The nurses stopped the treatment immediately and I was rushed to the hospital to be admitted to the Perinatal Specialty Unit for observation. The contractions subsided into the night. I was discharged once my vitals returned to normal and stabilized. At this point, my oncologist, gynecologist and obstetrician were conducting meetings together and with other doctors to see if chemo was something I needed to continue during my pregnancy.

One week later, July 28th, I woke up to severe sharp pain in my right thigh and right abdomen side. My boyfriend rushed me to the hospital. They gave me something for the pain and did an ultrasound to check on our baby girl. Unfortunately they couldn’t detect a heart beat. A few hours later I had a stillbirth. Our baby girl Aubrey gained her wings.

Not even 24hrs later I had to prepare for MRI. The doctors wanted to move quickly to see if the cancer was small enough to the point where they could go ahead and remove it while feeling hopeful that I would not necessarily have to have a full hysterectomy so that I could still have babies of my own. Once the MRI results came in, my bubbles were burst. It’s the news that I did not want to hear or expected. My cancer appeared to have spread, but I had to get a PET/CT Scan to get a clearer view of what was really going on. It was August 10th and the results were in. My cancer was bumped up to Stage 3. The words I didn’t expect to hear. It has spread to my lympnodes.

It’s time to pivot as things have gone from one extreme to the next in so little time. Now that I’m no longer pregnant, I’ll receive radiation treatment in conjunction with chemotherapy. Just as I thought I was making progress, things changed within a matter of a weekend to an even longer road ahead. Cancer Sucks, but the part that sucks the most is trying to figure out what’s next too. Yes the doctors are working on my treatment plan, but how does one plan for this. How does one pay for all this. Due to being high risk and having cancer, there was no way I could work going forward. My job consisted of heavy lifting which I was no longer able to lift anything. Since my immune system would be compromised due to chemotherapy, I had to make some decisions that would allow me to put my health first. I left my job and thought that things would be okay because I was eligible for Medicaid at the time. Well since my baby didn’t make it, I am no longer eligible and because I can’t work not even the minimum I’m not eligible for it without being pregnant. “I’m not one to usually ask for help and if I was truly able bodied at the moment I wouldn’t. However, I am not well and I’m in need of financial support to resume treatment. Any and everything you’re able to give will be used towards my life saving treatment plan.