Today we’d like to introduce you to Tracy Jimenez.
Hi Tracy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am a single mom of three amazing kids. I got pregnant at 18 and had my kids all before I was 30. I had never gotten a degree or even a career and because of being on welfare and not having good insurance, my well women exams got put off for so many years. After my last child in 97 I may have seen the doctor 3-4 times through the years and then I had no insurance so I put it off completely. I had never been told about HPV or even know what Cervical Cancer was. When I was in my early 40’s I started getting lower back pain and still did not have insurance so I would go to the ER and they ended up telling me I had sciatica in my back. Because I thought doctors knew everything I went with that for a couple of years but then I started having pain during sex and more bleeding than usual and pain in the backs of my legs. I went to the ER more times and they still kept telling me it was the sciatica. I did this for years believing that was what was wrong with me and then when I was getting close to turning 46 something came out of my vagina that was not a blood clot. I knew right then that what I had been feeling the whole time was not what they had been telling me and that I should have listened to my gut a long time ago. I let some days pass and then 4 days after my 46th birthday I went back to the ER and I told them about the thing that had come out of my body. They decided right then to do a Cat scan and they saw a mass. They handed me a card to a doctor and told me to call her the next day and to get in as soon as I could to see her. I did get into see her in the next few days and she did an exam on my in her office and then had me get dressed. She sat down next to me and said I am sorry Mrs. Jimenez but you have Cervical Cancer. I felt like something had just been dropped on me because all I had ever known about cancer was that it killed you and that was what I thought was going to happen to me. I was in shock, I did not know what to say or do so I just sat there with a surprised look on my face. She informed me that she would be sending me to a couple of other doctors close to my home and they would get my treatment plan started. I still had no idea what I was up for and I still did not know if I was going to make it through the cancer to see my grandkids grow up. I left her office in tears and by the time I got to my car I was bawling so bad I can not even tell you for how long. I sat that and just asked God why and kept crying. I decided to call my kids, my mom and the rest of my family and tell them what I had found out. Everyone was just as shocked as I was and could only cry and tell me they loved me. Through the next few days, I went to see a Radiologist and an Oncologist and they made a plan for me to go back and get a biopsy done by the first doctor so she could tell me exactly what stage I was and then they would be able to set up a plan to fight the cancer. They assured me that they were going to do everything possible to get rid of it and to just know that at that moment I was hopeful that I may not die from it. I did go back to the first doctor and she did a biopsy and a few days later told me I had HPV and Stage 2b Squamous Cell Carcinoma. I ended up going back to see the other two doctors and they made a plan to have me do 28 Radiation 6 chemotherapy and 4 internal Radiation also known as Brachytherapy. Over the course of 6 months, I got all of the treatments done going every day of the week and going through what I can say was the worst thing I have ever been through in my life. In May 2017 I was done with the treatments and I then had to wait for 3 months before they could do another PET scan to make sure there was no more cancer in my system. I will tell you those three months of waiting seemed like a lifetime. I was so confused and did not know if that disease was one and that I would live or if I would have to go through other things. But in Aug 2017 I was tested again and then I was told I was NED (No Evidence of Disease) hearing those words was the best thing I had heard in a very long time and I just bawled. I knew then that I would life to see my grandkids grow up and I would live to spend more time with my family.
After cancer it really made me see that life can be to short and that we all can die anytime. I feel like my life flashed in front of my eyes and really made me realize that I should never take it for granted again. I was introduced to a Non Profit called Cervivor and shared my story on their webpage. It did take a lot of encouragement from a fellow Survivor who had gotten a hold of me during my treatments. She kept telling me how important it was for us to share our story to the world to teach people about HPV and what kind of cancers it can cause. Cervical Cancer is just one that it causes. I finally decided she was right and did share my story with Cervivor. I learned after sharing my story that they had ambassadors who raised awareness on behalf of the organization and that you had to be accepted for an interview and then into school to become one so I was eager to get a chance to do that. When it came up they were doing school again in 2019 I put in my application and got accepted for an interview and got past that and then I got an invite to go to Cervivor School 2019. I did go to that school later in the year and let me tell you that it changed my life forever. It showed me that there are so many more women out there just like me who went through something like I did and who were there to tell about it. It showed me that Cancer is way more than I ever thought and that it will take more women like me to raise awareness. I graduated out of Cervivor School and became an Ambassador and am now advocating as much as I can. I have had my story put out in so many places, you can type my name on Google and you can see a lot of my stories. I lived in Colorado where I am born and raised and did all my treatments there and raised my family there. Before leaving the state to me here to Texas I got the Governor to make January 2021 a Proclamation saying January 2021 would now be Cervical Cancer Awareness month. My latest story was also shared with Yahoo Life with my mentor and friend Tamika Felder who is also the Founder of Cervivor. Raising awareness is so very important to me because there was so much I did not know before. I had no idea about the Gardasil shot before all of this happened to me and that was because I did not stay on top of my Pap tests and seeing the doctor. This is a big reason why I do what I do because I want women and men to all know about HPV and that it can affect us all. It is causing more cancer out in the world than we all realize. Not just in our lower areas, there is throat and neck and tongue cancer caused by it. While at Cervivor School we were asked what our Why is, and I learned that my Why is to raise awareness so that more women do not have to go through what I did and that so many others did. I want to share my story far and wide and answer any questions I can so that more people understand how bad this disease is and how it can be prevented. I highly encourage anyone Men, Women and children to get the shot and to stay on top of the exams that we all need to get. I am so glad to be alive today and I pray every night and thank God for another day. I am so grateful to have the voice now that I do and to be able to share my story. You can see my story and so many other stories on the Blog part of Cervivor.org and like I said you can see many more of my stories on Google or Yahoo.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The road was not smooth during treatments because I did not know if I would die or live. I was so tired all the time and the Radiation and Chemotherapy was the worst thing I have ever done to my body.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am proud of what I have become from Cancer. I am not saying it was good I am saying that I believe God put me here to raise awareness and share my story and teach about the disease.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was a shy overweight farm girl. I got made fun of at school and did not have to many friends. I enjoyed playing outside daydreaming about what I wanted to do when I grew up.
Contact Info:
- Email: cervicalcancersurvivortj@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cervicalcancersurvivoradvacator
- Other: https://cervivor.org/the-er-diagnosed-my-pain-as-sciatica-instead-of-advanced-cervical-cancer/
Image Credits
Tamika Felder (founder of Cervivor.org and also Erica Lindsey Photography)
