Joy’s Fight Against Cancer
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Most of you already know and love Joy Johnson. She is a loyal wife(to Jeremy), mother of 4(Tyler, Donovan, Logan and Ella), gracious daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, dedicated nurse and friend. After 5 years of being cancer free it seems that lightning has struck the same place twice. A Stage 4 melanoma diagnosis. Now, with her family and friends by her side, she can fight and win this battle again. This is her story...
5 years ago Joy was diagnosed with malignant melanoma and underwent surgery to remove an invasive growth on her back and the removal of some lymph nodes that were invaded with cancer. She received 3 years of immunotherapy and just reached 5 years of remission in January.
During the five years of being cancer free Joy began a masters program to study advanced nursing to become a nurse practitioner. It has been a long but rewarding journey and should graduate this May. She hopes to complete her boards in June.
In January Joy was having symptoms that included left upper quadrant abdominal pain and nausea. She spoke with her oncologist who ordered a CT scan where they found a mass on her spleen and the tail of her pancreas. She had a biopsy of the mass in her spleen which came back as melanoma.
Moving from there Joy has been referred to Northwestern for medical and surgical treatment of the cancer.
On April 22nd she went to the emergency department for severe abdominal pain. CT scan showed her spleen was ruptured and bleeding but she was hemodynamically stable. She was being treated for pain overnight but after surgical oncology saw her images they were concerned about rebleeding and her pain. She was given the option to embolize the spleen and hold off on surgery until next week when they could do it robotically. If we embolized the spleen, it could form an abscess and cause more problems, go ahead and remove everything Friday, or finally start with the immunotherapy to shrink things and chance bleeding again...
She opted for surgery. The surgeon said that if she didn’t have it when she did, she would not have made it out alive. It wasn’t the spleen that was bleeding, it was the pancreas . There was 1/2 a liter of blood in the cavity and she lost another 1/2 liter when the tumor on her pancreas was being removed.
They removed the spleen and 25% of her pancreas. They also told her before surgery her right ovary lit up on the PET scan so it was also removed. There was a spot in her liver but it looked more cyst-like but he still biopsied it and sent it to pathology.
The plan now is to heal and talk to Dr. Vasireddy about when she can start her immunotherapy (hoping for 1 week). This will continue every 3 weeks for 2 years.
Joy would like to ask for any prayers you can offer up for her health, treatments, family, and time to dedicate to studying for my nursing boards and of course that exam.
Joy has always been a private person. She's the last to ask for help but the first one to give it. Now, it's our time to give back to someone that has literally dedicated her life to helping others.
Help Joy fight and win her battle with cancer. She needs time to rest, heal and regain her strength to take this on. As we all know, the bills for cancer and its treatments can be astronomical. Lets give her the financial security she needs so she can focus her efforts on herself during this time. With a surgery and 2 years of upcoming immunotherapy, she and her family will need all the support they can get. She will be off work for 4-6 weeks following her surgery and as she begins her treatments it would be awesome if she felt the freedom to take time off of work(when she does return) if she needs to. Let's take some of the burden off of her and her family.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isiah 43:10
5 years ago Joy was diagnosed with malignant melanoma and underwent surgery to remove an invasive growth on her back and the removal of some lymph nodes that were invaded with cancer. She received 3 years of immunotherapy and just reached 5 years of remission in January.
During the five years of being cancer free Joy began a masters program to study advanced nursing to become a nurse practitioner. It has been a long but rewarding journey and should graduate this May. She hopes to complete her boards in June.
In January Joy was having symptoms that included left upper quadrant abdominal pain and nausea. She spoke with her oncologist who ordered a CT scan where they found a mass on her spleen and the tail of her pancreas. She had a biopsy of the mass in her spleen which came back as melanoma.
Moving from there Joy has been referred to Northwestern for medical and surgical treatment of the cancer.
On April 22nd she went to the emergency department for severe abdominal pain. CT scan showed her spleen was ruptured and bleeding but she was hemodynamically stable. She was being treated for pain overnight but after surgical oncology saw her images they were concerned about rebleeding and her pain. She was given the option to embolize the spleen and hold off on surgery until next week when they could do it robotically. If we embolized the spleen, it could form an abscess and cause more problems, go ahead and remove everything Friday, or finally start with the immunotherapy to shrink things and chance bleeding again...
She opted for surgery. The surgeon said that if she didn’t have it when she did, she would not have made it out alive. It wasn’t the spleen that was bleeding, it was the pancreas . There was 1/2 a liter of blood in the cavity and she lost another 1/2 liter when the tumor on her pancreas was being removed.
They removed the spleen and 25% of her pancreas. They also told her before surgery her right ovary lit up on the PET scan so it was also removed. There was a spot in her liver but it looked more cyst-like but he still biopsied it and sent it to pathology.
The plan now is to heal and talk to Dr. Vasireddy about when she can start her immunotherapy (hoping for 1 week). This will continue every 3 weeks for 2 years.
Joy would like to ask for any prayers you can offer up for her health, treatments, family, and time to dedicate to studying for my nursing boards and of course that exam.
Joy has always been a private person. She's the last to ask for help but the first one to give it. Now, it's our time to give back to someone that has literally dedicated her life to helping others.
Help Joy fight and win her battle with cancer. She needs time to rest, heal and regain her strength to take this on. As we all know, the bills for cancer and its treatments can be astronomical. Lets give her the financial security she needs so she can focus her efforts on herself during this time. With a surgery and 2 years of upcoming immunotherapy, she and her family will need all the support they can get. She will be off work for 4-6 weeks following her surgery and as she begins her treatments it would be awesome if she felt the freedom to take time off of work(when she does return) if she needs to. Let's take some of the burden off of her and her family.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isiah 43:10
Organizer and beneficiary
Jamie Potts
Organizer
Saint Joseph, IL
Joy Johnson
Beneficiary
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