I was referred down the Ann Arbor to the University of Michigan Cancer Center for treatment. Here I learned that my cancer was very rare and at this stage very aggressive. At this point everything was going so fast that I didn’t really realize what was happening or what the next months would entail. Within two weeks the cancer had reached my lungs as well, so I was to start chemotherapy as soon as possible. I started a chemo treatment of 3 days of chemo every 21 days for 6 rounds. Throughout this I was very sick, I lost almost 70 pounds, and became very weak and unable to do things that people take for granted everyday. This made me feel like I was almost less of a person, I was not allowed to walk because of my knee so being weak on top of that meant I could not play with my kids as much, or walk across the room to carry them to bed. I was so limited that I was beginning to hate was my life was becoming, but I knew I had to keep fighting to be here for my kids to grow up with their mama.

After my last scheduled chemo treatment on January 6, 2017 I had scans done. These scans showed that I had three new nodules on my lungs and it had decreased in my leg. I had my lung surgery on February 9, 2017 to remove the nodules off my lungs and send them in for biopsy. This surgery was very painful as I did not know what to expect at all and I was very scared, but in the end I healed fast and was fine. Thankfully the nodules came back as benign, which meant my lungs were cancer free! It was now time to focus on my leg. After a couple doctors appointments, I was given the decision to go through more chemo and radiation to try and get the tumors small enough to be removed and a knee replacement type surgery done to my leg to save my leg, but this option had a 70% chance or higher or reoccurrence of the cancer. My other option was to do an above the knee amputation. After talking to family I thought I was going to do the knee replacement type surgery and fight it for longer. I knew the chances were not as good but the healing time was much faster so I would be able to get on with my life. After talking more with my surgeon and thinking it over for a few days; I made the decision that the amputation was my best option it would mean the cancer was gone from my body. This scared me deeply, but I was scared that if they did the knee replacement that meant that they would just end up having to do an amputation six months down the road and I could have been already mainly rehabilitated.

On March 7, 2017 I had my above the knee amputation surgery. I was in the hospital for a week healing, but after a week I missed my babies too much so with the agreement that I would do rehab therapy at home, the hospital discharged me!! I am now healing from that surgery at home. I am very confused as to how I should feel that my leg is gone. I have a substantial amount of pain right now but I am dealing with everything the best I can. I have about two months of healing at home and rehab at physical therapy before I can do anything with a prosthetic. But after I am healed I will hopefully be able to start the fitting process for my prosthetic leg, receiving a leg and the rehab that goes along with that. The hope is by next year this time I am able to walk normally with my prosthetic leg and start getting back into more of a normal life like before cancer interrupted it.

I have learned that I am stronger than I ever knew I was.  I have a fight in me that no one can take away because I have things to fight for. I am happy that I am on the right track to feeling more like myself, but I also know I have a long haul ahead of me. This journey has been one that has taught me many things along the way and will continue to as I go. It has taught me that family is everything; that you can’t take everything for granted because a lot of people may not be able to do those simple things; there were many more small and big lessons along the way but still the biggest one is have faith.