A woman has spoken out about her ultra-rare cancer diagnosis that affects just one in a billion people.
Gianna Cericola is described by her family as a 'workout warrior', a keen fitness fanatic who enjoyed spending time in the gym. But at 27-years-old, she received her devastating diagnosis - desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT), a rare sarcoma.
Initially, Gianna of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, began experiencing what she believed was a standard urinary tract infection (UTI), as well as stomach pain in early 2024.
Explaining to YouTube channel 'The Patient Story', she said: "The first kind of symptoms that I experienced were kind of like a UTI-related symptom, like a lot of burning when I went to the bathroom and just, like a lot of weird stomach pain in general.
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"So then I ended up going to the ER. They didn't see anything, they did an ultrasound. So they sent me home. I would say about six months later, for those six months, I was totally fine, I felt normal, it was, like, really, really weird how the symptoms kind of just went away.
"Six months later, I just randomly started passing out - which never happened. Like, that's not normal for me. So then I went to the ER a few times, and the last time they did an ultrasound they saw an eight centimeter mass in my abdominal cavity."
The now 28-year-old received her diagnosis in October last year, and has been receiving treatment from the Philadelphia cancer facility, Fox Chase Cancer Center, and has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for her medical bills.
Gianna continued: "They told me at first that it looked like a cyst on my ovary and it wasn't cancer, and not to worry about it - but they rushed me into surgery because the tumor started bleeding. So, I was passing out from just internal-bleeding in general.
"I came out of surgery and they told me that it was cancer but they don't know what kind of cancer it was. I waited about... it was like a really long time, I would say like a month for my diagnosis - they weren't really sure. It came back unclassified, and I was super scared."
She went on to explain how being told you have cancer, and doctors not knowing what kind of cancer you have, left her in a state of shock - and to this day she still doesn't know how she is supposed to feel over the diagnosis.
Gianna went on: "It's such a rare kind of cancer, I heard it affects one in one billion people. So I was like, 'I don't know how to feel about this'. It's kind of crazy."
The former graphic designer received an implantable port, which is a tube with a rubber disc on that gets surgically placed underneath the skin of some cancer patients and is used to help administer chemotherapy.
She now hopes to raise awareness of her condition, which she is adamant that it won't limit her from living a fulfilled life.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.
Joe Yates