Shocking Stage 4 Diagnosis After “Minor” Symptoms

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Jennifer Dennis started feeling sick after a Halloween party in 2020. She was vomiting and feeling fatigued. When the symptoms went away, Jennifer figured she’d caught a bug or eaten some bad food. However, the mysterious symptoms cropped up again around Christmas and continued to get worse into the new year.
She made an appointment with her doctor. During that meeting, they did some bloodwork, which revealed she was anemic. The doctor referred her to a GI specialist for an endoscopy and colonoscopy as a precaution.
Jennifer learned she had stomach cancer on March 10, 2021. She recalls feeling devastated about the news and unsure about the future. Later, Jennifer learned she was at stage 4. Above all, the hardest part was breaking the news to her three daughters at home.
Jennifer’s treatment started with four rounds of chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the cancer didn’t respond to the chemo. She managed to convince her care team to consider HIPEC, but they were skeptical - they told Jennifer she’d likely have to do chemo for the rest of her life. The doctor estimated that she’d have 18 more months to live in her current state.
Jennifer refused to accept sitting back and doing chemo for the rest of her life. As she did her treatments, she continued researching other options on the side. She discovered a CAR-T clinical trial, but sadly, they told her she was ineligible for the trial at the time. However, her fortunes changed a month later when they called back and said they’d retested her sample - Jennifer was positive after all.
The first round of the CAR-T cell treatments was a huge success. They saw a significant reduction to Jennifer’s tumor. Further, Jennifer felt fantastic after the initial treatment and got to enjoy time with her family as she waited for the next infusion.
Jennifer started to feel ill again in late 2022. She was quickly going downhill: it was hard to walk from the kitchen to the living room. Upon testing, they found out her blood levels were low, so they did some radiation to control the bleeding in her stomach. After that, she was ready for her third and final CAR-T cell treatment.
Now, Jennifer continues chemotherapy with immunotherapy while she continues looking for other clinical trials. Her advice to anyone starting this journey is to advocate for yourself. Don’t just listen to whatever the doctor says - do your research and speak up if you’re not comfortable. Jennifer also recommends finding a doctor who can fight alongside you and be your cheerleader at every turn. Lastly, she emphasizes the importance of having a positive mindset.