Hello guys, for those who done know by now I was diagnosed with cancer in July of 2024, & thankfully since then have been in remission since March of 2025! With having to take that amount of time out of work to be able to take care of my health & Eric needing to be there with me to help me physically, it has come with a big financial & emotional strain on our family. My family really needs your help on getting us back on our feet. Whether that’s a donation, a prayer, or even just a share we would be very grateful for it.
I did want to tell you all my story to also remind you all to never accept no for an answer. You know your body & you know when something isn’t right. If I didn’t push & ultimately go to a different hospital I would not have ever gotten the answer to fix the problem. Not the answer I wanted, but grateful it was caught & dealt with. So here it goes…..
In the beginning of 2023 I was having complications & abnormal tests within my female reproductive organs.
In June of 2023, I ended up getting a hysterectomy due to high grade cells, which meant that that area had pre-cancerous/cancerous cells developing in that area.
In October of 2023 all the way until June of 2024 I was in and out of JPS Hospital in Forth worth with abdominal pain, but kept being sent away claiming that I was just constipated and had a very small bowel obstruction & to just treat it at home with some extra fiber intake & stool softeners. With each visit that did an x-ray & would claim it was “normal” & just had a small fluid pocket & it was “nothing to worry about”.
In July of 2024, I was still in a lot of pain & decided I had enough with being told basically that I was exaggerating & so when I got the stomach pain again I decided I was going to go to Texas Health Harris in Fort Worth. I was admitted and right away with tests & scans they knew it was cancer. Within 3 days, after doing a surgery to correct the small bowel obstruction & to take a biopsy of the “fluid pocket”, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Cervical Cancer.
Right away I was set up to do 7 weeks worth of radiation ( Monday- Friday) & 7 rounds of light chemotherapy which was every Tuesday and 2 internal radiations.
After all that was done, it wasn’t completely gone so then I was scheduled to do 6 rounds of hard chemotherapy every Friday. I had tried to go back to work for a couple of weeks to help provide for my family, but ultimately had to go back on medial leave due to it just being too harsh on my body. By week 2 I had started loosing my hair.
FINALLY in March of 2025, I went into remission!! I was so happy to be done and over with chapter of our life but it didn’t last long. Granted I didn’t have Cancer anymore, but the radiation left me with some long lasting effects.
In April of 2025, we came to the realization that the radiation had burned a hole in between my vaginal wall & rectum which ultimately caused a fistula. In order to repair the fistula, I ended up needing to have a temporary colostomy bag.
During the surgery, they also found a fistula in my bladder, which gifted me the need of a Foley catheter to allow that area to heal.
The doctor felt like it was best to add hyperbaric therapy in addition to having the Foley catheter & the colostomy back to try to speed up the healing time of the fistulas.
For a month I was having really bad pain within my urethra, including severe bladder spasms.
After a month with dealing with all of that, I couldn’t take the pain anymore and so the doctors went back in for surgery & added stints to my ureters, which is the pathway from the bladder to the urethra, & a drain to help heal. Within 24 hrs, they decided that wasn’t going to work for me so they went back in and decided the best course of action was to insert nephrostomy tubes into each kidney through my back which would help drain the urine when the ureters are blocked.
I am still awaiting another surgery within the next couple of weeks because they will need to remove the stints that were previously placed.
After that, I will need to have a colostomy reversal surgery & a procedure to remove the nephrostomy tubes when everything is finally healed.
I am still receiving the hyperbaric chamber therapy in hopes that it will help with the healing process of everything.
As long as there is no more unwanted surprised, which I pray there won’t be, I am on the road to a full recovery.
As you can see my life has been nothing short of hectic & with 6 children there’s never a dull moment.
I say ALL of this to tell you guys how grateful I am for having my village. To those who have helped financially already, to those who have lent a helping hand, to those who have helped with our children, & to those who just check in to make sure we are okay. You guys are very much appreciated by my family & I.
BUT, I do still need some financial help getting back on our feet. With me being out of work until further notice & Eric needing to be there with me which has put him out of work, our bills haven’t stopped & therefore we are struggling to make ends meet. It would mean the world to us if you could just help us one more time. If you can’t, we understand, but sharing can go a long way.
Your continued generosity never goes unnoticed & greatly appreciated.
From my family to yours, thank you in advanced
LOVE, JOVA.