In the last month of Jessica Sherrie’s pregnancy, she began to experience severe back pain. She knew that pregnancy comes with all kinds of pain and she hoped that her pain would improve after the birth. When it didn’t happen, she found out shocking news: Sherrie had stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer.
“At one point, the doctor grew up saying, ‘Oh, it could be cancer,’ and I hoped it wasn’t obvious,” the 35-year-old TODAY said. “In the back of my mind it started creeping in like, ‘Oh, I could have cancer.’
While last year was tough, she shares her story to encourage others to seek help when something goes wrong.
“I hope people don’t get scared to go to the doctor and find out if they have cancer, because that could save their lives,” said Sherrie, who lives in Glendora, California. “I hope I can inspire people to take action as soon as they have symptoms.”
Pregnancy, pain and a pandemic
When the back pain started, Sherrie didn’t think much about it. She had surgery for scoliosis in 2018 and was pregnant. He knew that back pain was common at the end of pregnancy and, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he worried about leaving home.
“Once I had my daughter and the medication was gone, I was still in pain,” Sherrie explained. “I assumed it was mine from behind my bad.”
When the pain persisted, he visited his doctor and underwent numerous scans and tests. When she found out she had lung cancer last spring, she panicked: her in-laws had died of lung cancer.
“I immediately said to myself, ‘Oh, this is a death sentence,'” recalled Sherrie, who had never smoked.
But the doctor assured her that it was small cell lung cancer, a less aggressive type of lung cancer. However, he had tumors in his brain, spine and hips, making him stage 4 or incurable.
“I was pretty scared,” she said.
Although it seems frightening, Sherrie’s doctor, Dr. Erminia Massarelli, said that new treatments can help some late-stage cancers become easier to manage.
“We tend to treat it as a chronic disease. So, just like diabetics who need insulin in their lives, so a chronic form of cancer needs chronic treatment, “said today the co-director of the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center’s lung cancer cancer program. . “We tend to adjust the treatment so that it doesn’t have as many side effects.”
Sherrie immediately began treatment. He first had radiation before reaching the City of Hope, where he began chemotherapy. But he had a reaction to this guy and spent almost a month in the hospital.
“I couldn’t have visitors,” Sherrie said. “It was pretty scary and sometimes I felt very alone and just scared.”
Even though it was hard, she kept thinking about her daughter, Regina.
“It was as if I was going to beat this. I’m going to get out of here, “she said.” That’s been my mentality all this time. I need to be healthy. I need to get through this because I want to be there for my daughter. “
She was also worried that her daughter would not remember her. But those fears were unwarranted.
“She was so happy to see me and I was so happy to see her,” Sherrie said.
Sherrie began a new chemotherapy regimen and began working with a physiotherapist. At the time, she was using a walker. When he started walking without her, he fell and broke his hip and had to be in a wheelchair.
“I couldn’t walk for three months,” she said. “I was still doing chemo and staying motivated, then the holidays happened and I contracted COVID-19.”
She called Massarelli, who started an infusion of monoclonal antibodies to COVID-19.
Lung cancer in non-smokers
While non-smokers often feel amazed when diagnosed with lung cancer, these cancers have an impact on people who have never tried the habit.
The data show that about 10-15 percent of lung cancers occur in non-smokers, Massarelli said. “We know that environmental exposure and genetic factors are involved.”
Symptoms of lung cancer include:
- Shortness of breath.
- Chest pain.
- Back pain (once a sign that the cancer has spread to the spine or bones).
- Persistent cough.
While doctors often do not think about lung cancer in young patients, Massarelli urges health care providers to consider patients’ concerns. When found early, it is easier to treat lung cancer.
“If the symptoms (persist) for a long time, I would advise primary care physicians to really look into the cause,” she said.
Maternity with stage 4 cancer
Even though Sherrie has faced many complications in the last year, she recently found out good news.
“The tumors in my brain have shrunk so much that they are microscopic, I can’t even see them, and most of the tumors in my lungs have disappeared, except that there is only one left,” she said.
But doctors found new tumors in his liver and hip. Now she is on a new drug regimen and hopes it will help. She admits that having lung cancer sometimes feels overwhelming.
“We were completely shocked to hear that I had it,” Sherrie said. “I haven’t really seen young people like me in cancer treatment.”
But spending time with Regina, 1, and her growing pursuit keep Sherrie motivated.
“I could not wear it and walk around the house. I should sit down … it was a hard time for me, “Sherrie said. “I just want to keep my daughter. But it’s okay now, I can keep it all the time. ”