I was diagnosed with stage IIIB anal cancer in the summer of 2023, at 26 years old. It was fast and aggressive. I had a colonoscopy for my Crohn’s less than 8 months beforehand that showed nothing, and suddenly I was at stage III. Luckily, it was local and treatable, and with intense rounds of chemotherapy and radiation until January of 2024, I was eligible for a surgery that would leave me cancer-free.
Unfortunately, thanks to months and months of delays from insurance, it spread. I now had metastatic tumors to my pelvis and lungs, I was restaged to stage IV, I was no longer eligible for the surgery, and I was told I would only have a few short years to live.
Luckily, after changing insurance and becoming a patient at City of Hope, things have been looking up. I am responding very well to the multiple chemotherapies I am on, and soon I will be able to have a very similar surgery to what I was going to have originally. It will still leave me with a permanent colostomy bag, and this time I won’t be cancer-free. Still, my doctors have confidence that with the regimen of chemotherapy and potential radiation to the metastatic tumors, there is hope for me.
Jordan’s LifeList:
- Meet and greet with Critical Role or Dropout.TV