I was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma at 23 years old in January of 2022 along with a genetic mutation called Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which was passed down from my father. My dad passed away from cancer when I was 11 and my family didn’t know about this mutation until my diagnosis.
I had abdominal surgery in December of 2021 to remove a mass that I had discovered in my pelvic area a couple of months prior. I was about to enter my last semester of college and, thankfully, I was able to still graduate while undergoing surgery recovery and intense chemotherapy. My doctors didn’t give me much hope of remission after this chemotherapy failed and I proceeded to do a clinical trial drug and low-dose chemo in July of 2022. My condition continued to worsen and I came off the drug in January of 2023. Surgery seemed to be the only option left and, after getting turned down by five different surgeons around the country, I finally found one who would operate on me in California. I had my second abdominal surgery in February of 2023 and around 50 tumors (99% of them) were removed. After this surgery, my subtype of sarcoma was finally identified as myxoid pleomorphic liposarcoma. Since I had residual disease and tumors that started to reoccur I began a different chemo in August of 2023. This chemo wound up not working after five cycles and my situation started deteriorating rapidly so I had a semi-urgent surgery this past December. This was my third abdominal surgery and my surgeon removed a 22 pound tumor along with other tumors in my abdomen. It was a long recovery with some mild complications but I am now doing so much better. I am currently six months post-op and on a new chemotherapy that I started in March. I recently found out this chemo has shrunk all of the tumors and I have been tolerating it very well. Overall I feel really good right now and I am so grateful!
Carissa’s LifeList:
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A trip