The Marathon: My Fight Against Stage 4 Cancer
Donation protected
A day after my 29th birthday I was confronted with two options. Regardless of which route I chose, life as I knew it would change forever. Option one: fold and concede to the hand that has been dealt. Option two: Fight. Like. Hell. In my mind there was nothing to think about. My immediate thought being, let the fight begin.
My name is Tonna Njoku, I’m 29 years old and I have been diagnosed with stage 4 renal medullary carcinoma, an extremely rare cancer associated with the sickle cell trait. The origin of the cancer (tumor) lies just under my right kidney and had spread to my lungs. On it’s way, the cancer managed to infect lymph nodes that we carry throughout our body, which didn’t make this fight any easier. I am currently undergoing chemotherapy. I have 8 rounds under my belt and have had surgery to remove both my right kidney and the tumor. As you can imagine, I have incurred countless medical bills. I am humbly asking for willing donations that would help me with my everyday and monthly expenses as well as medical costs. No amount is too little. I am eternally thankful for the kind gestures. God bless you all.
For those interested in hearing the complete story of my journey to date, feel free to indulge me...
In August 2018 I was feeling unusual pressure on the lower right side of my back. It slowly progressed to excruciating pain across my entire lower back. Soon after I started experiencing sharp piercing sensations in my kidney area and lower abdomen, dizziness, dehydration, vomiting, cold sweats and fatigue like I’d never had experienced before. I went to the ER and was misdiagnosed. I was told that I likely had kidney stones, and that's what I was initially treated for. Over the next month the pain and discomfort persisted, even getting worse at times. I went back to the ER a few weeks later, not having passed any stones and with the feeling that something wasn’t right. They performed a CT scan on my lower back and the test revealed a large mass was present. The ER doctors then contacted the on-call urologist for confirmation. She showed up and broke the news to me. That is when everything changed.
From the time I made my first ER visit in early August until late October I was in the emergency room three times a week primarily for pain management among other things. Each day the pain from the tumor intensified, and reached a level in which I didn’t know existed. I was prescribed all the strongest types of opioids but they had little to no impact. I reached a point where I completely lost my appetite. I couldn’t eat even when I tried, I lost 20lbs, walking up a few stairs was seemingly impossible. Things changed so fast — I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
After several visits with urologists, oncologists, and surgeons it was agreed that the best plan of action was to have surgery first, and after I was recovered, aggressively attack what’s left of the cancer with post op treatment (chemotherapy). Things got a little complicated. A blood clot had formed in my kidney and because of this, and the cancerous lymph nodes which had grown in size, surgery now was more of a risk than a cure. At this point the plan was revised, and the strategy shifted to aggressive chemotherapy, with surgery as an option later on down the line.
In the early stages, the doctors had not yet figured out exactly what kind of tumor I had, because it was so uncommon. So the first step was to perform a biopsy of the right kidney to determine exactly what we were facing. As most people know, not all tumors are treated with the same type of chemo. Depending on the biopsy results, that would dictate which combination of drugs were needed to effectively neutralize the cancer.
My first round of chemotherapy began on October 23, 2018 and I have currently completed 8 rounds. My family and I have been told that there wasn’t much that could be done for me, but that was something we chose not to believe. Cancer is not a death sentence, I’ve chosen not to lie down in defeat. Having faith in God is everything for us because with God anything is possible. On May 20, 2019 I successfully had surgery to remove my right kidney as well as the tumor, but my journey doesn’t end here. Additional rounds of chemotherapy, follow up doctor’s visits, and consultations with cancer specialists across the country are in my immediate future. Once again, thank you all for your well wishes, prayers & donations.
The marathon continues.
My name is Tonna Njoku, I’m 29 years old and I have been diagnosed with stage 4 renal medullary carcinoma, an extremely rare cancer associated with the sickle cell trait. The origin of the cancer (tumor) lies just under my right kidney and had spread to my lungs. On it’s way, the cancer managed to infect lymph nodes that we carry throughout our body, which didn’t make this fight any easier. I am currently undergoing chemotherapy. I have 8 rounds under my belt and have had surgery to remove both my right kidney and the tumor. As you can imagine, I have incurred countless medical bills. I am humbly asking for willing donations that would help me with my everyday and monthly expenses as well as medical costs. No amount is too little. I am eternally thankful for the kind gestures. God bless you all.
For those interested in hearing the complete story of my journey to date, feel free to indulge me...
In August 2018 I was feeling unusual pressure on the lower right side of my back. It slowly progressed to excruciating pain across my entire lower back. Soon after I started experiencing sharp piercing sensations in my kidney area and lower abdomen, dizziness, dehydration, vomiting, cold sweats and fatigue like I’d never had experienced before. I went to the ER and was misdiagnosed. I was told that I likely had kidney stones, and that's what I was initially treated for. Over the next month the pain and discomfort persisted, even getting worse at times. I went back to the ER a few weeks later, not having passed any stones and with the feeling that something wasn’t right. They performed a CT scan on my lower back and the test revealed a large mass was present. The ER doctors then contacted the on-call urologist for confirmation. She showed up and broke the news to me. That is when everything changed.
From the time I made my first ER visit in early August until late October I was in the emergency room three times a week primarily for pain management among other things. Each day the pain from the tumor intensified, and reached a level in which I didn’t know existed. I was prescribed all the strongest types of opioids but they had little to no impact. I reached a point where I completely lost my appetite. I couldn’t eat even when I tried, I lost 20lbs, walking up a few stairs was seemingly impossible. Things changed so fast — I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
After several visits with urologists, oncologists, and surgeons it was agreed that the best plan of action was to have surgery first, and after I was recovered, aggressively attack what’s left of the cancer with post op treatment (chemotherapy). Things got a little complicated. A blood clot had formed in my kidney and because of this, and the cancerous lymph nodes which had grown in size, surgery now was more of a risk than a cure. At this point the plan was revised, and the strategy shifted to aggressive chemotherapy, with surgery as an option later on down the line.
In the early stages, the doctors had not yet figured out exactly what kind of tumor I had, because it was so uncommon. So the first step was to perform a biopsy of the right kidney to determine exactly what we were facing. As most people know, not all tumors are treated with the same type of chemo. Depending on the biopsy results, that would dictate which combination of drugs were needed to effectively neutralize the cancer.
My first round of chemotherapy began on October 23, 2018 and I have currently completed 8 rounds. My family and I have been told that there wasn’t much that could be done for me, but that was something we chose not to believe. Cancer is not a death sentence, I’ve chosen not to lie down in defeat. Having faith in God is everything for us because with God anything is possible. On May 20, 2019 I successfully had surgery to remove my right kidney as well as the tumor, but my journey doesn’t end here. Additional rounds of chemotherapy, follow up doctor’s visits, and consultations with cancer specialists across the country are in my immediate future. Once again, thank you all for your well wishes, prayers & donations.
The marathon continues.
Organizer
Tonna Njoku
Organizer
Everett, WA
