Stephology
My Cancer Story
A personal journey of persistence, loss and transformation. What started as a routine ultrasound quickly unfolded into one of the most challenging seasons of my life. This is my story told in full, with honesty and intention. It’s not dramatized. It’s what happened. I’m sharing it now to help others find strength, clarity, and a path forward through their own personal journey.
A Long Road to Diagnosis
Months of questions, symptoms and being dismissed
For years I managed Hashimoto’s with regular thyroid checkups. In January 2023 a routine ultrasound revealed a large cyst on my Thyroid and a suspicious mass called a parganglioma in my neck. Paragangliomas are a rare type of neuroendocrine tumor that originates from cells called paraganglia which are located near blood vessels and nerves.
The first thyroid biopsy performed was Jan 2023 and was extremely painful. The doctor didn’t numb the area properly and hit a nerve in my neck while attempting the needle biopsy. After multiple attempts, she stated she wasn’t confident she got a viable sample. 24 hours later I was in the ER. My heart was racing. My blood pressure was dangerously high, something I had never experienced. The diagnosis was a thyroid storm, a life threatening condition.
In the weeks that followed, I developed hoarseness, neck swelling and needed medications to lower my blood pressure and heart rate. I was referred to multiple specialists and underwent CT scans, MRIs, PET scans and additional biopsies on the paraganglioma. Doctors stated that they would not biopsy the Thyroid due to the increase risk of another THYROID STORM. The biopsy on the thyroid came back negative but the paraganglioma revealed atypical follicular thyroid cells. No conclusive diagnosis could be made that it was cancer. I still had no answers and symptoms persisted and worsened. None of the additional scans or testings were able to provide any solid conclusions. Eventually, I was referred to UC Davis Cancer Center due to the suspicious cells in my neck. A surgeon there reviewed everything and presented my case to there cancer board.
Surgery & The Answer I Feared
My results were inconclusive. Surgery was the only way to know for sure. August 2023 I underwent a seven hour surgery that included removing my thyroid and thirty surrounding lymph nodes in my neck. When I awoke, the Dr. confirmed what I had feared: My thyroid was cancerous and it had spread to the lymph nodes in my neck.
What began as a routine ultrasound had become a battle for my life and yet, nothing could have prepared me for what came next.
Stephology
The Moment That Changed Everything
Loss in the middle of survival
As I woke up from surgery the surgeon let me know that he removed my thyroid and 30 suspicious cells in my neck. I was devastated to hear the news - then my phone rang.
It was a family member calling me to tell me something I’ll never forget
My twin brother Steven, had passed away during my surgery.
My twin, the person I'd shared my entire life with. The one who called me everyday, who stood by me through every test, every scan, every tear that was cried.
I laid in my hospital in disbelief, tears streaming down my face. The pain of that moment is impossible to put into words. Steven was my rock. He held me together through the darkest months of my life and suddenly he was gone.
The Moment Two Souls Became one
Survival met with unbearable grief
An hour after learning about the loss of my twin brother my body began to have severe cramping in all of my limbs. I was having a medical emergency.
My muscles started cramping to the worst pain I have ever felt in my life! My hands, feet, and chest cramped uncontrollably and I was having a hard time breathing. I pushed my call button in a panic letting the nurses know what was going on.
A crash cart was rushed in and and team of medical staff as they began injecting medicine into my IV and asking me to chew as many calicum tablets as i could. I was in extreme pain and unable to communicate clearly. I really thought I was going to die in that moment and be with my twin. I learned later that day my calcium levels had dropped to zero due to injuring my parathyroid gland during surgery. A Life threatening emergency.
In the quiet that followed that day as I laid there in the hospital bed. I came to realization, something profoundly personal: Steven gave his life so I could live. Two Souls Became one
Healing Isn’t Just About Recovery , It’s About Transformation
Moving forward with purpose and intention.
Healing didn’t begin when I left the hospital. It began the moment I accepted that I would never be the same.
It’s not about returning to the person I once was. It’s about creating a new version of myself someone more grounded, aligned and compassionate.
That the healing process begins with the choices we make every day: the food we eat, the way we speak to ourselves, the products we use on our skin, and the energy of the space we live in.
It’s in the small, intentional steps that support our physical health, soothe the nervous system, and nurture emotional and spiritual growth.
Stephology was built to support that kind of transformation—a life where healing becomes the foundation for everything that follows.
This Struggle Is for All Women
This story isn’t just mine. It’s a reflection of something much bigger.
It’s for the men and women who show up every day with quiet strength, even when they’re breaking inside. For the ones who keep going without applause, who fight for answers when no one’s listening. Those who navigate heartbreak, illness, and loss and still give, care and keep moving forward.
This struggle is for those who been told their pain is imaginary. For the one who’s felt unseen in exam rooms, unheard in boardrooms, and underestimated in life. It’s for those who have carried grief or loss in their lives and hope in their hearts.
Stephology was born to honor those people. To stand as a symbol of their strength and a space for their healing not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. It’s about turning pain into purpose and survival into a story worth telling.
Because we don’t just survive. We transform. We rise from the ashes of what tried to break us. We rebuild our lives with grace, wisdom, and a quiet kind of power that can’t be measured.
Through skincare that restores, nutrition that strengthens, rituals that ground, and home spaces that bring peace. Stephology exists to support the whole person.
For every human who has faced unimaginable pain and still chooses love, healing, and growth this is for you.