Mom diagnosed with stage 4 cancer ‘by accident’ after thinking she had extremely common illness
A mom has revealed how she was diagnosed with stage four cancer after initially putting her symptoms down to something else.
Speaking to The Patient Story, mom-of-two Jennifer explained that she had been involved in a car accident when doctors discovered, incidentally, that she had lung cancer.
Explaining that the accident had revealed 'a spot on the lung' Jennifer said she didn't find out about the cancer until 10 months later, when she went to her doctor with what she thought was a sinus infection.
She had a number of tests and scans which revealed a tumour on her lung.
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It came as a huge shock to Jennifer, who explained she has always lived a fit and healthy lifestyle and regularly participated in 5k runs.
Jennifer explained that she had been suffering with fatigue, but put it down to a long commute and having two teenage kids.
"It was absolute shock, how can it be lung cancer?" She said.
"We're a very fit family, very healthy, we have a home gym, I was doing 5ks all the time, always very active, ate healthy, so I thought 'oh I don't have to worry about lung cancer'.
"You do your screenings for other cancer guidelines, it wasn't on my radar that I would ever be diagnosed with lung cancer.
"... I have a very positive outlook on life, I really didn't have anything out of the ordinary. I was tired, but I was commuting into Boston to work, I have two teenage kids and any kind of fatigue I just chalked it up to my lifestyle."
Jennifer explained that she now takes a targeted daily medication, which she unfortunately suffers side effects from.
"There's side effects all the time. I don't look sick, but it's still affecting me," she said.
Jennifer believes that everyone should be screened for lung cancer at the age of 35, in the same way there are screenings for other types of cancers.
"There's so many younger people being diagnosed with lung cancer under the age of 50, predominantly women, it's just wild. You don't equate lung cancer with young, healthy people," she added.
Jennifer was diagnosed five years ago and has praised developing research into lung cancer for the treatment she has been able to access and those who have taken part in the trials.
"Being here at five years, I'm different than how I was just two years into my journey. Somebody once told me to 'focus on the first step and not the whole staircase', just to stay in the present moment," she explained.
"There's a community out there and I think that's our biggest strength is to be able to come together, to be together and give each other hope and support that only we can give each other."
Lucy Devine