I didn’t know when I woke up on December 16th, 2022, that my life would change forever.

My recovery had been going so well that my grandmother Meme came to sit with me while mom ran out to get some errands checked off her list. I could get up by myself by this time and do pretty much everything on my own, so I told Meme to take a nap. She loves her naps! While she was sleeping, the surgeon called. I answered and got the news that would change my life forever. He said he had never seen cancer in the heart during all his years as a surgeon, and it was 0.001% that it could happen, but all three of my tumors came back identified as a cancer called Primary Cardiac Intimal Sarcoma. All three.

I HAD HEART CANCER.

The first thing that went through my head was not something I could actually put in writing for the public. I was in a whole new realm of shock, to say the least. The surgeon referred me to oncology, and I would have to go through chemo, maybe radiation, and possibly another heart surgery because he didn’t get clear margins from the tumors. I ended the call and I just didn’t know what to do. Meme was still napping.  I just sat there in stunned silence and just tried to take in all the information. I knew I wouldn’t see an oncologist right away because it was the holidays, and I just had surgery so I would have to wait to heal before doing any treatment. Once I pulled my thoughts together, I woke Meme up and broke the news. She just hugged me and I finally lost it. I cried and cried, begging God not to let me die. As I composed myself, Meme told me I needed to call Mom. I knew she would lose it, but I did. She picked up the phone and asked if everything was okay, and I explained that it wasn’t and she needed to come home. “The doctor called and I have heart cancer, Mom…” The sobbing started, the desperation in her voice. She was in Home Depot at the time, and I could hear her running to the car. She just left everything and ran. 

I couldn’t call Dad- he was at work and devastation was about to hit him, too. I was too upset. Mom had to call him. He left work and came straight to me. They both got there about the same time and all we could do was hug each other. We couldn’t feel anything besides pain. They asked their questions and I explained everything and showed them the report. The oncologist called and explained that we would meet after the holidays on January 2nd and she would go over treatment, drugs, testing, ports, and what the next six months of my life would look like. Christmas was pretty rough that year, to say the least. We didn’t know what the future would bring in the next year or if I would even be here the next year. Primary Cardiac Intimal Sarcoma,when you look it up, is pretty much a death sentence with an average survival of 17 months with surgical intervention and treatment. I didn’t know if I was going to survive the next Christmas because I didn’t know how I would respond to the chemo, or if I had cancer anywhere else in my body. The wait for the first oncology appointment felt like a lifetime. While time ticked by, I didn’t know if any flutters I had in my chest were from the procedure, the cancer, or anxiety. Probably all three.

When we went it was an emotional rollercoaster day for sure. The doctor came in and explained everything about what type of cancer it was and how she would treat it. She explained the tests I would have done before starting chemo and that I would have to get a port placed in my body to receive the treatment. She said it would be the sickest I would ever be in my life, the next six months were not going to be easy, but I was strong and young and I had everything on my side to fight this. She would not say how much time I had or even what my prognosis was. She explained that she couldn’t determine that and every patient was different. So, I was left with, am I going to die or not? After we left that day with so much information and my life planned out for the next six months I was overwhelmed with emotion. I was determined to fight though! I couldn’t give up when I hadn’t even started. So, over the next 21 days, I had multiple CTs, MRIs, blood work, and procedures, but everything was in my favor. I had no cancer anywhere else in my body besides my heart, which was definitely a major plus on my side. Yes, I did have a tumor grow in the six weeks of recovery in my left atrium again, but my blood work looked great and my port placement was a piece of cake. I was ready for the fight. On January 23rd, 2023, I had my first round of chemo (doxorubicin and Ifosfamide). I went through six rounds of treatment that consisted of three days of chemical infusions. I had a total of 18 infusions. During the six months I pretty much followed the timeline to a T. I had a couple of hospital stays because of neutropenic fevers and pneumonia, but I took chemo like a BOSS and it was working! The tumor that they found six weeks after surgery had completely gone away and I was not going to need another heart surgery. 

I rang the bell in the oncology department on May 17th, 2023– I was cancer-free!