I’m a mom of two littles, and my life changed dramatically when my youngest was just five months old. What I thought was a difficult pregnancy and postpartum turned out to be stage 3b rectal cancer. My major symptoms were extreme exhaustion, change in bowel habits and blood in stool (that was mistaken as hemorrhoids). Following my diagnosis I completed 8 rounds of folfirnox, 28 rounds of radiation and surgery where I now have a temporary illeosomy bag to allow healing. Im currently completing clean up chemo and plan to get reversal surgery once life slows down a little. Being a mother to young children while battling cancer is pretty indescribable. You don’t have time to be sick you need to put their needs above your own. My children are my reason to keep going and doing everything in my power to survive.