My Story is about Hélade Izabela

 

This event took place from 3/31/2021 to 11/21/2024

 

The Discovery

In January 2021, I had an attack of renal colic, an old acquaintance of mine, which alerted me to see a specialist again, so as not to have to spend days in the hospital, as we were still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And in a finding, in a CT scan, the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer came.

As I trained and ate well, I would never think that weight loss would indicate any health issues. And I also stopped feeling hungry, another symptom that wouldn’t lead me to seek medical help, I didn’t have pain, or any other symptom, and I only discovered it due to a renal colic attack.
I underwent surgery in May 2021, a body-to-tail pancreatectomy, and after 2 months I needed radiotherapy, due to compromised margins after surgery. There were 30 sessions.

This is My Story

Many fears, anxieties, it was like seeing life come to a standstill and in an instant not knowing how or where to go. And the road is long, since the day I received the diagnosis 310 days passed, 10 months and 4 days of a real rollercoaster of feelings and a huge medical marathon I became a true onco athlete olimpica. And all stages are important, difficult and transformative, surgery, treatment, follow-up. Anxiety when exams, appointments, always deal with countless feelings. And getting back to life after all this avalanche is perhaps one of the biggest challenges. We will never be the same people as before of the diagnosis, this is a fact. But life is still there, the same life, and in front of that life a new being trying to find itself again and rebuild itself. Talking about this is important, to make the process less lonely, to understand this “new world”, to understand and find oneself and also to raise people’s awareness. Having the vision of the disease told by patients is extremely important, it validates our processes and feelings. And it helps to break down many taboos, myths and fears. Cancer is scary, it’s no joke, but it’s not the end, nor a death sentence, we are the greatest generation of survivors, and if every time a person shares their trajectory, serve as a warning so that a person can have an early diagnosis, we will be an even bigger group! Talking about prevention saves lives, because those who seek yes, yes, but whoever finds cures!

The Impact of Time

That’s why I always say, pay close attention to any unusual signs that appear on your body, maybe if it weren’t for the kidney stones, I wouldn’t be here today, telling my story, right? When I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer I went through all kinds of “unnecessary things to say to a cancer patient”, ranging from the classic ones to the more specific ones, which involve the prognosis of pancreatic cancer and its stigma of non-survival. Even once doing tests, the “professional” who did the collection asked me why I was doing so many tests, since I visited the laboratory almost daily, I told her and talked about the anguish of not finding anyone who could talk about what was going on. going through, someone who had been through it, and could share their experience. She promptly replied that it was obvious, when it’s pancreatic cancer no one survives. Unfortunately, when we talk about pancreatic cancer we still hear many people wrongly say that there is no chance of surviving the diagnosis, due to the statistics and high mortality rates, thus carrying the stigma of “non-survival”. But you can’t just consider NUMBERS when talking about LIVES! And today, 3 years after the end of my treatment, I have already met several survivors living their lives to the fullest. We EXIST