My name is Nicole Body and I am a stage 3 undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma cancer survivor.
In 2014, I married the love of my life, Wes Body, and couldn’t be happier. The first 3 years of marriage were truly beautiful. Only one thing lingered: I was constantly sick. I struggled tolerating food. I tried every diet and went through many tests to try to figure out why this was happening. But no one could figure out why. It seemed this would be a struggle for the rest of my life.
In the summer of 2017, I finally reached a point where I was unable to tolerate food entirely. We went to a doctor to have more tests run on me. Even though they were the same as I had been undergoing for years through an ultrasound of my gallbladder and the surrounding area, I was desperate.
Even though nothing was found wrong with my gallbladder, a round lesion was discovered positioned between my pancreas, gallbladder, and small intestine that required further testing. The more invasive testing actually found out that my gallbladder was failing and that had been the cause of the pain and suffering for the last 3 years. Even though they were unable to diagnose what the lesion was, they decided to remove it in addition to my gallbladder.
After surgery in July 2017, I found out that my gallbladder was gone but only part of the lesion was able to be removed. After twelve days of the lesion being tested in pathology, I was diagnosed with sarcoma cancer. I was advised to have a surgery called the Whipple Procedure down at a cancer center in Houston.
My husband and I temporarily relocated to Houston but found out quickly through further testing that I would need chemotherapy first. I was scheduled for 6 rounds of chemo, radiation, and then the Whipple Procedure. My tumor began to shrink after the first 2 cycles but after the 4th cycle, my body stopped tolerating chemo and my tumor wasn’t shrinking enough to be considered responsive. In addition to that, it was decided that radiation would be too dangerous for my small intestine due to the location of the sarcoma. So it was time for surgery.
On December 13, 2017 I went back to receive the Whipple Procedure. When I woke up, I found out that I had only been under anesthesia for a little over 2 hours and that when the surgeons went in, they could not find cancer anywhere. It was a complete miracle!
I have had 4 follow up scans and remain cancer free today. I will be celebrating 2 years cancer free on December 13th and could not be more excited! I am so thankful for the life that I have and want to spend it bringing hope, love, joy, and light to the world while searching for a cure!
Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you!
God bless you!
Nicole Body