Inside 30-yr-old mom's heartbreaking fight to be able to watch her 10-yr-old son 'grow up'
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA: A young mother, who has been diagnosed with cervical cancer three times in the past three years, has spoken up about her desperate battle to watch her 10-year-old son grow up. After learning that her cancer had returned and was now thought to be incurable, Elissa Blake insisted on undergoing an expensive treatment that would cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
The Brisbane-based nurse, who had to postpone her 30th birthday celebrations because of her diagnosis, suspected there was a problem when, just months after treating cancer for the second time, she was "taken out" by excruciating agony.
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'They just gave me pain killers'
She told a news outlet, "I kept going to the doctors, but they just gave me pain killers and sent me home. 'I knew something was wrong, it wasn't normal for someone to be in that much pain." The mother claimed that she would spend days in bed, with her ten-year-old son visiting her and giving her cuddles. She informed that "I lost 15kilos because I lost my appetite completely," as reported by DailyMail.
Elissa has decided to try immunotherapy as a last resort in order to see Chase, 10, grow up. Shondi, her aunt, said that the family had to fight for the treatment, which costs $7,000 per person up to a maximum of $63,000, as per reports.
Elissa's best chance of beating cancer
"Doctors never offered it to us; we only learned about it from friends who told us to look into it." Doctors have admitted that it is Elissa's best chance of beating cancer. She added, "The fact it isn't free for her cancer, but is for others, is the hardest pill to swallow. That's why they don't tell people about it, but they need to give families that option," she added
Extreme spotting between periods and a few "rogue cells" on a pap smear in 2019 began Elissa's cancer nightmare. According to doctors, the stage two precancerous cells would "resolve themselves" as the body fought them off.
Yet when a follow-up pap smear was performed six months later, it was discovered that they had instead developed into stage four pre-cancer cells. They assured her that she need not be concerned because it takes those cells 10 to 15 years to develop into cancer. She then received an unforeseen call from her doctor's office three days before Christmas in 2019 requesting her to come in.
Her cervix was where the cancer was detected, so physicians planned her surgery, which she underwent in March 2020. But when she started bleeding more frequently a year later, she realized something was wrong. This time, cancer had advanced too far up her cervix, necessitating treatment with chemotherapy and radiation. Chemotherapy was hard; Elissa had to rely more than ever on her support system and the assistance of her now ten-year-old.
Elissa was once more assured that she was clear after the chemo. Then the backache began. Despite having a history of cancer, doctors kept prescribing her potent painkillers and telling her to relax at home. This time, the disease had spread to adjacent tissue, including her lymph nodes and ovaries (which have since been removed). She would not be cured, according to doctors. Yet, the nurse has no intention of abandoning her loved ones, particularly her ten-year-old son.
She has high hopes that immunotherapy will be the difference in her being able to treat the condition successfully. Even her aunt started a Go Fund Me to relieve the strain on the frantic family.
Elissa's sister, said it was "unbearable" to witness her in such agony
Alison, Elissa's sister, said it was "unbearable" to witness her in such agony. She works in the healthcare industry, but witnessing it from the perspective of a patient's family has been eye-opening. "It's almost like we need a foreman to get all the messages from all of the teams and feed it back to us. It is so confusing, especially when you ask someone something and they tell you that's no their job," she continued. Elissa has been going "day-to-day," but she is eager to get better so she can arrange a trip with her partner Travis and enjoyable activities for her son, as reported by DailyMail.