Liette’s Story (Cervical Cancer)

At the age of 19, I was diagnosed with stage 3B glassy cell carcinoma cervical cancer. My world was about to be flipped upside down. I was told they had no treatment plan yet, and I would need to be under an experimental trial, but I was up for anything when it came to my life. I had radiation 5 days a week for about 50 days, along with chemo once a week for 5 weeks. They wanted me to try this dose first and go from there.

The first round hardly made me sick at all. I was just weak and uncomfortable. The scans showed the cancer was still invading my cervix, so they needed to try internal radiation. The problem was they could not attach the smit sleeve, and the wand from radiation completely burnt every piece of skin or organ in its path. This all along with double kidney failure, but we didn’t know that until after my second round of 2 different types of chemo. That took so much out of me, I thought I was on my death bed. I was sick to my wits’ end, could hardly move, and lost every bit of sixty pounds, along with every hair on my body.

A hospital trip was what made me know I was in kidney failure and needed emergency dialysis or I was done for. Six days of being hooked up to a machine, having my blood sucked from my body and back in, to finally be told my cancer was gone! THANK YOU GOD! I never would have thought, at the age of 19, I would be told I had the most rare and aggressive cancer, let alone cancer at all.

My new goal is to spread more awareness to women everywhere! My email will always be open for anyone wishing to ask more questions!
Liettegillespie08@gmail.com

Liette
Delaware
Submitted 11/03/2017

This story is intended to convey a personal experience and, because every person’s experience is unique, should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional healthcare advice.