On Nov 5, 2013 I woke up with excruciating pain high in my abdomen. With a little Ibuprofen, I successfully abated the pain and went to work. Unfortunately it returned mid-day, further down in my abdomen and on the left side. Again Ibuprofen put the pain off and I continued with work. That is, until the pain returned again in a way I have never experienced. It was low in my abdomen, and I could barely stand. I felt as though I would pass out at any moment. I do skincare, and since I was with a client, I dismissed myself asking her apologies but I literally could not finish my work.
My story is one that I can not leave my faith out of so I'll start here. I laid down on the cold floor in an empty room, tears running down my face asking my Lord to help me. A friend of mine called the ambulance while a few other clients and fellow work friends came to check on me. One friend came to pray with me. When the ambulance got there she grabbed my hand as they rolled me out on the stretcher and said don't worry Ashley, God has something He wants to show you. The ambulance kept me a few minutes while my husband got to me. We were encouraged not to go in the ambulance as it would be costly and would not ensure I would be seen any quicker.
The traffic was backed up, it was just after 5, and it seemed to take forever before we arrived at the hospital. The pain was so intense that I could not stand and I was sure I couldn't sit either but the nurse encouraged me to try. So I draped myself across a chair and prayed. They rolled me back to get me registered and then rolled me to the waiting room.
Here is why I told you those details. The pain was almost a 10, and then without any medication as soon as I was registered the pain vanished....I never had pain like that from this again!!! I believe God made the pain so bad that I couldn't ignore it.
Once I was there, they began their series of tests. Hours later, the doctor came in to tell my husband and I that they had found a mass on the left side of my abdomen. They didn't know what it was and wanted to test further.
Although over the next few days, there would be many fingerprints of Jesus in all that happened, I will leave those details out for time sake. On November 6th, I was asked to come to the oncologist office for my appointment which was a shock to my husband and I. Miraculously, the doctor had an opening in the OR at 3:00 the next day, November 7th. The surgery would be exploratory and worst case scenario would be cancer and I'd wake up with a hysterectomy and a port for chemo. When I woke from surgery, I was met by the doctor. She said pathology cut the tumor 10 different ways but could not find cancer. We all celebrated!! I didn't have cancer and all she had to remove was my left ovary and Fallopian tube.
However, 10 days later, the doctor had the full pathology report. It was, had been cancer. It was stage 1A ovarian cancer. It is nearly unheard of to be found at that stage. I felt blessed knowing that although I had it, it was completely encapsulated and now it was gone. Praise God!!! The next thing I realized is that if she had found it that day, I would have awakened with a hysterectomy.
I still have my right ovary and in my mind, Gods "right-hand" of blessing. My husband and I felt this was God's plan and prayed that we may be blessed with one more child. So we tried and found Him faithful.
December 12, 2015, I gave birth to my baby boy. He is a miracle and a testament to Gods glory and goodness. He is proof that God provided protection from ovarian cancer and hope that early detection is the key to victory over this horrible disease.
Many blessings and let's continue to raise money and find ways for early detection.
#SURVIVORS #Faith #Kancer #Under40 #EarlyDetection #Stage1A #BabyAfterCancer #OvarianCancer