‘Cancer was devouring my pancreas while I ignored the red flags
A beauty pageant has revealed how she dismissed the red flag symptoms that were alerting her to an aggressive tumor in her pancreas.
Tirah Ciampa opened up about her grueling battle with the disease after it left her fearing for her life and prompted her to start planning her funeral.
The Miss World Australia finalist was diagnosed with aggressive pancreatic cancer after doctors discovered a 15x15cm mass gnawing away at the abdominal organ.
Fear kicked in when medical experts told Ciampa that half of her organ had already been ravished by the disease, leaving her with little hope of survival.
The pageant told The Mercury: “What’s crazy is that I went on living for months with a pancreas functioning at 50 percent capacity.”
Like many, however, Ciampa brushed off her symptoms as minor niggles, despite the signs persisting for months.
In the case of the 27-year-old, these included bouts of excruciating pain that radiated from her abdomen and back, which she’d dismissed as “just cramps” until the pain became too unmanageable to ignore.
“Initially, doctors thought it might be a heart problem,” she explained. “My resting rate was really high, somewhere around 110 BPM.”
Additionally, the Australian model noticed her weight plummet by nine kilos – from 58 to 49kg – within a short space of time; which is a classic side effect of all cancer types.
“I’d go to work with 48-hour heart halter monitors on, but scans found nothing,” Tirah explained. “The worst part was that I didn’t know the severity of the cancer until weeks after my diagnosis – or if they had successfully removed it all.
“For a long time after the diagnosis, I was in limbo. I felt pushed into a corner where I couldn’t feel anything.
“I couldn’t show people I was terrified for my life because then they would freak out.
“I was writing letters to my loved ones, sorting out my superannuation, cleaning out my laptop, and spring cleaning.
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“I wanted to make sure my funeral could be paid for, that it would be an easy mess to clean up. I was getting ready to be gone.”
After undergoing a major eight-hour operation to remove the pancreas, leaving her with a permanent clot in her spleen and a long scar spanning her upper body.
Fortunately, the pageant is now cancer free and has a poignant message for anyone scared of going to the doctor.
“Don’t hesitate because it could save your life. And get a regular GP – I can’t stress that enough.”
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