Pregnant woman diagnosed with cancer credits baby girl for saving her life after triple cancer diagnosis
Jessica first found out she had cancer while pregnant with her baby girl. Putting her daughter first she focused on getting better for her child. But little did she know this bump in the road was only one small part of what was to come when she was diagnosed with cancer a second and a third time.
Cancer knows no bounds. It invades the bodies and lives of anyone and everyone regardless of age or gender.
Joan Berg faced breast cancer when she was 32 and again at 41. So when her daughter Jessica Storm felt a lump on top of one of her breasts, she knew she needed to have it checked right away because of her family history.
“Breast cancer would always be something that was on my mind.”
Except there was one hitch. Thirty-four-year-old Jessica was 28 weeks pregnant.
“Every week, I would celebrate. When I got into the 20-week mark, I was like ‘Oh my gosh. OK. This is really going to happen for me. I was super excited.”
Initially, Jessica thought the lump she felt was a clogged milk duct. Only it wasn’t…
“I’ve never really heard of anyone getting cancer when they were pregnant.”
After undergoing a sonogram and biopsy, Jessica was given the devastating news. She had triple-negative breast cancer.
The account executive from Wisconsin was informed by her team of doctors at UW Health Cancer Center at ProHealth Care that she needed to start chemotherapy immediately.
But before she could even process what was happening to her and what she needed to do, all she could think about was her baby. She had endured two miscarriages and couldn’t bear to lose another baby.
“When I got the diagnosis, I just thought to myself, ‘How could this be?’”
Her doctor, Christopher Hake, said cancer diagnoses during pregnancy are rare. Referred to as pregnancy-associated breast cancer, approximately 1 in 3,000 pregnant women are diagnosed each year.
“It is unusual for women to get cancer while pregnant. If they get cancer while pregnant, the most common cancer they get is breast cancer. It has nothing to do with the pregnancy itself. Pregnancy does not increase your risk of breast cancer.”
Oftentimes the breast cancer formed before pregnancy and was detected while with child. Finding it early usually leads to better outcomes.
“Cancer — when it’s caught early — is always curable. Breast cancer is very curable and the vast majority of breast cancer is cured and that’s due to early detection. Early detection of all cancers should be our goal and obviously the prevention of cancer.”
Jessica was scheduled to be induced July 18, but the baby had other plans.
During her baby shower, stomach pains commanded her body. She thought she might be dehydrated considering it was incredibly hot and she was only at 37 weeks’ gestation.
“My mom said, ‘You’re going to have the baby.’ And I was like, ‘No, this is not the plan.’ And I started crying.”
Knowing that everything was out of her hands, she told herself to “let go and let God,” then headed to the hospital where she learned she was already dilated to four centimeters.
“I took a deep breath and put my faith in my medical team and my body and God and I just had to go with it.”
On July 1, Josslyn arrived. Jessica had slightly more than a week to immerse herself in motherhood and get to know her baby before she began chemotherapy. She completed 11 rounds right away.
The doctors don’t believe her limited use of tanning beds in college caused the diagnosis. Being positive for the BRCA gene tends to make one susceptible to developing other types of cancers, her doctor explained.
“That puts you at a higher risk of developing the cancers that she’s developed. So it’s a higher risk of breast cancer and there’s a higher risk of other cancers like ovarian cancer but also melanoma.”
Jessica underwent yet another procedure to have the melanoma removed. But she began experiencing headaches that wouldn’t go away after taking pain relievers and felt achy.
The busy mom blamed it on stress since she was “juggling so many different things.”
Her medical team suggested she undergo an MRI just to be safe. She’d fought cancer twice now and couldn’t bear the thought of more bad news.
The results were earth-shattering. The MRI revealed Jessica had a golf ball-sized tumor growing in her cerebellum and required surgery.
The tumor led to a diagnosis of stage four cancer. Her brain tumor was directly linked to triple-negative breast cancer.
“How did this happen? How did I go from stage 2 to stage 4 in the blink of an eye. I’m still getting used to saying that I got diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.”
Once again, Jessica embarked upon exhausting targeted chemotherapy treatments and oral chemotherapy that will run through September 2020, a full year’s worth of treatment.
The only way she has endured three cancer diagnoses, three surgeries and two full rounds of extensive chemotherapy is because of Josslyn. She and husband, David Storm, 38, have been busy renovating their home.
While Jessica tires easily, the support her husband has given her and from her mom, whom she calls her “role model,” helps her dig deep and find the strength she needs to keep moving.
“I constantly said this entire journey, I didn’t beat cancer, we beat cancer. We did it together.”
In a spin-off of her last name, Jessica created a motto that she recites whenever she begins to feel she’s spiraling out of control.
“Cancer is not the storm. I am the Storm. No matter how bad life is for you, it will get better. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. I have a very healthy baby. I have a beautiful life. Yeah, it does have some twists and turns in it but I’m overcoming them every single day.”
While Jessica’s triple cancer diagnosis isn’t rare, but it definitely is shocking. But being Josslyn’s mommy powered her through each of her cancer diagnoses and treatments with amazing strength and courage. That’s the power of love.
