My Story

It all started one day in July 2019. Looking in the mirror, I saw a small lump on my neck. I immediately went to my EPS (Health Promoting Entity), Coomeva, which was in financial trouble. They ordered an ultrasound of my neck, but it was denied two months later. I immediately turned to my family for support and had the ultrasound done privately.

The moment Dr. Harold was performing the ultrasound, he told me I had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He was a very religious person, a pastor of a Christian church, and he gave me a lecture, practically telling me to repent of all my sins. This made me very angry; I didn’t believe him and discredited the doctor, thinking his specialty wasn’t sufficient. At that moment, he recommended I see an oncologist. I ignored him because I didn’t believe it and went to see Dr. Adriana, a specialist in head and neck.

She immediately looked at the ultrasound, performed an examination where she inserted a camera through my nose and checked my neck. She was very cautious, did not like the results, and ordered a needle biopsy on the lymph node in my neck. When performing the puncture, the doctor only told me it would be like a bee sting, but he pricked me many times because he couldn’t get the sample.

The results came back showing unusual cell activity. They sent me for a lymph node biopsy. It was a very simple surgery; Dr. Adriana is an artist, she didn’t leave a scar. They removed the lymph node, and the result came back bad again. At that moment, they told me it was lymphoma, but they needed one more test, a PET scan, to determine the stage.

The moment for the PET scan arrived. I suffer from claustrophobia, so it was very difficult, but the results came out: Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage 4A. Metastasis in lymph nodes, a 13cm by 8cm tumor in the neck, metastasis in the bile ducts, metastasis in the bone marrow. In short, I was in a bad way. It was a shock for me, as each test went from bad to worse until it reached the worst possible outcome. It was devastating.

My immediate refuge was alcohol and marijuana for two months until I pulled myself out of it, with my head held high, ready to start chemotherapy in October 2019.

ere she inserted a camera through my nose and checked my neck. She was very cautious, did not like the results, and ordered a needle biopsy on the lymph node in my neck. When performing the puncture, the doctor only told me it would be like a bee sting, but he pricked me many times because he couldn’t get the sample.