It all started in the summer of 1984. I started having a sore throat. I was told I have tonsillitis. We were told that I had to take antibiotics to cure the infection before the tonsils could be removed. Needless to say my tonsils were never removed. In August of 1984, I was on vacation visiting my grandparents in Michigan. We were coming back from a air show and stopped at one of the great lakes. I was playing with my cousin and started vomiting blood. My aunt thought I had a nose bleed, but there was a nurse at the lake that day to and she said the blood was to fresh to be a normal nose bleed. I was taken to the local hospital and they just put me in an ambulance and ship me to another hospital. My parents and I were there for a while and they sent us home. I woke up the next morning and I started vomiting blood again. Back to the hospital, we were at the hospital eight hours and once again they were sending us home with no answers. As I was walking out the doors to go home I started vomiting again. This time I was put on a helicopter and sent to a children’s hospital 100 miles away. I was scared because my mother could not come with me. My parents had to drive.
When I arrived at the children’s hospital they started running all kinds of test. They found two tumors, one in my left lymph node and the other in my nasal pharynx (behind my nose). One tumor had ruptured and that was causing me to vomit blood. They admitted me in the hospital and final my parents arrived. Over the next few days they did a biopsy and told my mother I had cancer, and it was in stage 3. I was given only a few months to live. I was 14 years old; I know that had to be hard on my mother. The doctors made arrangements for me to get treatment in North Carolina at the Baptist Hospital. After being in the children’s hospital for 14 days I got to go home and spend a few more days with my grandparents.
We went home (North Carolina) and my journey began. In October I started a round of 40 radiation treatments. I was given the maximum amount of radiation to my head and neck area that you can have. After the radiation my mom was told that my cancer was gone but that we need to do chemo because the tumor was so close to my skull bone. I had four treatments of chemo with five different drugs. Each time I had to stay in the hospital a week.
I don’t know if you know anything about radiation but it is very bad for you. Over the next 20 years of my life I have had a number of medical problems due to the radiation. I developed a jaw problem and could not open my mouth very wide. I started having problems with my teeth. The dentist could not get in my mouth. Before I met Doctor Jensen, I could not even put a Heresy Kiss in my mouth unless I bite the top off. My mouth would not open. Dr. Jensen was the only doctor who believed that maybe he could help me. In April of 2011, I had yet another surgery. Dr. Jensen removed fibrosis for my jaw socket and removed excess bone. I also had to remove my five remaining teeth.
This brings us to date, know I am hoping to get new teeth so I can look, eat and speak somewhat normal. You might wonder why I just don’t go and get a pair of dentures but my mouth is still very small. I can’t wear normal dentures because they would not allow me to eat or speak (too big for my small mouth). I need implants to have room in the mouth to eat. I need upper and lower implants. Any were from 24-26 teeth.
Remember me saying radiation is bad for you, well now due to the amount of radiation I received 28 years ago I have a brain tumor. It is growing and my doctors want to remove the tumor. It is not causing any life threating problems right now so I have decided to have it removed early 2012. I am just a little scared.
A nurse told me the other day that I was an inspiration to her. We were talking about God and she said that God would never give you more than you could handle and that I must be very strong. I have shed many tears but I thank God every day for being alive.
I am married and have 4 beautiful children that I was never supposed to have. I call them my miracle baby’s.
My children are:
Brittany 23 years old
Anthony 19 years old
Hailey 11 years old
Jeremy 6 years old
My grandchildren are Ian- age 5 and Katlyn- age 3
I have 3 dogs (1 golden retriever named Emma, 2 American bulldogs- Pete and Elizabeth), 2 horses (Abby-Quarter Horse and Misty- Paint House) and Ming Ming our cat.