25
May
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Age at diagnosis: 7 (with choriocarcinoma) and 17 (with anaplastic astrocytoma)
Current age: 22
Status: Still recovering
Jennifer's advice: Trust in God and look to your family for support.
Jennifer's Cancer Journey
I was diagnosed with my first brain tumor, a choriocarcinoma, when I was seven years old. After two surgeries, radiation, and two-and-one-half years of chemotherapy, we thought I was free of cancer.
Ten years later, I was diagnosed with my second brain tumor, an anaplastic astrocytoma, which doctors believed may have been related to the radiation therapy used to cure the first tumor. Because my second tumor was located in the optic chiasm , my doctors did not want to operate. However, my mom found a neurosurgeon at New York University Hospital who had expertise in this area.
The surgery did not go as well as we had hoped. I had a stroke during surgery and a severe reaction to phenytoin, which kept me in intensive care for three weeks. The doctor was unable to remove all of the tumor.
After six weeks of healing, I started on a chemotherapy regimen at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. Following six weeks of chemotherapy, my immune system became so depressed that I developed a herpes zoster infection (shingles), which went into my brain and put me in a coma for 10 days. The coma brought back the weakness of the first stroke, which left me unable to talk or even swallow. However, after speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy, I am doing much better.
Today, I am still fighting my way back from the cancer and the problems caused by the many treatments. I feel that each year provides new research and treatments, which gives me hope that I will one day be cancer-free.
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