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Jo Green, to outside appearances, is an example to the rest of us.
Fitness is her passion. For years, she’s lifted weights, practiced yoga, and ran. She eats healthy and avoids junk food and alcohol.
So when she began experiencing hot flashes, cramps, and diarrhea when she was 19, she didn’t think much of it. Her doctors diagnosed her with irritable bowel syndrome and sent her on her way.
However, she continued to suffer these symptoms for years.
In addition to the IBS symptoms, she also felt tired all the time, and her symptoms only got worse. This kept happening, until four years ago, when her pain got so bad that she was rushed to the hospital.
When she got to the hospital, doctors thought she had gastroenteritis, but after she left, she continued to have problems.
She went through blood tests, biopsies, and a colonoscopy, and it was found that she had a “leathery web” of tumors that had grown across her bowels, bladder, uterus, and ovaries.
It was a rare type of cancer of the neuroendocrine system, one that grows slowly and takes over the entire system.
She was able to get surgery to get most of the tumors removed. She had a meter of her bowel removed to stop the cramping. But she says if she could go back, she would have seen a doctor about it earlier.
Strangely enough, she blames her fitness for how long it took for her to get her diagnosis. “It must be difficult for doctors to know if something is wrong with someone when they present as fit and healthy as I seemed,” she said. “Perhaps that’s why it took so long for me to be diagnosed. I was in good shape and got used to the pain.”
Unfortunately, though a lot her tumors were removed, there’s no doubt that her cancer will come back.
“I’ve been told that my cancer will regrow,” she said, “but I’m hoping that surgeons have bought me years by removing the tumors I had.”
She still stays in shape. Now, she runs for charities, like PLANET—Pancreatic, Liver, and Endocrine Tumors—which funds research for cancer like hers.
