Jessica

Mother, sister, daughter, girlfriend and fighter. I believe happiness comes from freedom and beauty comes from deep within. The recipe for a strong romantic relationship is honesty, trust and love. I wish women did less criticizing because judgement ruins relationships. I'd tell a 12 year old version of me to slow down. My biggest emotional insecurity is feeling not good enough. The day my daughter was born was the best day of my life. It's not easy to balance everything with being a mom. I worry a lot about my health. I began having double vision and awful headaches a while back. An MRI concluded there was a mass in my brain. I was diagnosed with Glioblastoma stage 4 on March 7th of this year - a very aggressive brain tumor. I felt like my world had collapsed. I asked the Neurologist if this was a death sentence. I felt a lot of fear, anger and unhappiness. I kept asking God, why me? The cancer is located in both of my frontal lobes and it can cause memory loss and make it hard to control my emotions. We operated on it but the surgeon was not able to get the whole tumor out. The brain is very complex and she had to be careful to avoid brain damage. I followed up with 3 weeks of radiation along with chemo pills. My hair fell out and I lost a lot of weight. Today I don't feel as bad about my diagnosis. I'm learning that it isn't always a death sentence. I have my daughter to live for so guess what? I'm not going anywhere! I feel alive when I'm with my family and friends. I'm proud of my determination and I wish people knew how sensitive I am. I am Jessica. I am compassionate, resilient and kind. And I am stronger than I think.