A North Carolina woman diagnosed with a deadly cancer while in prime physical shape is urging people not to ignore changes in their body.
Holly Shawyer was training for a marathon in May 2023 when she began suffering severe stomach ache, which she understandably dismissed as a bug.
While doctors believed she just had a stomach ulcer, Ms Shawyer’s pain became so severe that she had to drop out of the marathon. She refused to take no for an answer and sought out a specialist.
Further scans revealed a grapefruit-sized tumor on the tail of her pancreas. In December, she was diagnosed with stage one pancreatic cancer, America’s third deadliest cancer.
Holly Shawyer, 35, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year despite being in peak shape and training for a marathon
‘I have always been pretty health conscious – watching what I eat and regularly exercising. I rarely got sick, maybe once every few years I would get a stomach bug,’ Ms Shawyer said
‘Getting diagnosed in my 30s felt like a huge pause button was slapped on my life,’ the math teacher said. ‘I was in great health before this.’
However, Ms Shawyer is one of the few lucky patients who are diagnosed in stage one, before the cancer spreads and becomes incurable.
Pancreatic cancer, which kills eight in 10 patients within five years, has been dubbed a ‘silent killer,’ as the majority of cases are caught in later stages due to a lack of symptoms.
By stages three and four, the condition becomes virtually untreatable, with a survival rate of just three percent. Meanwhile, stage one has 15-fold greater odds, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The diagnosis came as even more of a shock to Ms Shawyer, as she maintained a healthy lifestyle and steered clear of risk factors like smoking, though the exact cause of the disease is largely unknown.
This gave her ‘a lot of hope,’ as doctors believe her prognosis is far better than most patients with the disease.
She added: ‘I have always been pretty health conscious – watching what I eat and regularly exercising. I rarely got sick, maybe once every few years I would get a stomach bug.’
Now, she’s urging others to get checked out at the first sign of trouble and avoid putting off vital care.
Ms Shawyer completed 12 rounds of chemotherapy. Each round involved spending one day at the hospital and another 46 hours hooked up to the chemo at home.
She noted that while she was ‘mentally prepared’ for the diagnosis, as doctors had given her a one in three chance of the tumor being cancerous, ‘I don’t think there’s any way I could have mentally prepared for how this diagnosis and chemotherapy would impact me.’
Ms Shawyer is also one of the millions of young, fit Americans forced to put their lives on hold due to a cancer diagnosis, despite steering clear of smoking, drinking, and unhealthy diets.
‘It was really hard sometimes to be going through this physically taxing treatment and then on top of it feel like I was missing out on life,’ she said.
‘I had friends get engaged, get pregnant, get promoted, and give birth in the course of my treatment, and it was really difficult navigating feeling happy for/celebrating them and feeling sad for myself because I had no idea when I might get to experience those things.’
Most cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed after they have spread, leading to a low survival rate. However, Ms Shawyer is one of the few with stage one, bringing her survival odds to 44 percent
Ms Shawyer is now cancer free and working to get through her bucket list. ‘My biggest take away from all of this is just to take advantage of the time you have while you know you have it,’ she said
In July, Ms Shawyer was declared cancer free, though doctors are closely monitoring her to make sure it does not return. However, she notes that life isn’t as pre-diagnosis.
”Just because someone is “cancer free” or done with treatment doesn’t mean their life automatically goes back to normal,’ she said. ‘I still have many side effects from chemo affecting me even a month later, such as my hair falling out and nerve issues in my hands and feet.’
‘When you’re going through treatment it’s like you’re in survival mode and all you can focus on is getting through the physical aspect.’
‘Now that I’m done with treatment, I feel like I can finally start to process the emotional and mental toll this has taken on me.’
Ms Shawyer is now working on her bucket list out of a ‘greater desire to not waste a single moment’ and encourages others to be their ‘own biggest advocate’ when it comes to their health.
‘My biggest take away from all of this is just to take advantage of the time you have while you know you have it,’ she said.
