Jessica Pettway, a beauty and fashion influencer, died at the age of 36 from cancer. This comes about nine months after she reported that she had been diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer, according to People magazine. The social media star was a mother of two daughters. Her obituary stated that she died on March 11 at a hospice center in Georgia, United States. Ms. Pettway joined YouTube in November 2013 and has over 3 lakh followers with 450 videos on her channel.
Jessica Pettway was misdiagnosed with fibroids initially
She stated in July of last year that she had been misdiagnosed with fibroids. According to the Mayo Clinic, fibroids are “common growths of the uterus.” “I was diagnosed with stage three cancer. I’m not even sure where to begin, but I want to share why I’ve been gone for so long, hoping that at least one person is encouraged by my story,” she wrote in the post.
She stated that she experienced heavy vaginal bleeding in 2022. During her hospital stays from July 2022 to January 2023, Ms. Pettway received the same diagnosis from doctors. However, in February 2023, she saw an oncologist, who discovered a “huge mass” covering her cervix during a biopsy. “On February 8th, 2023, he did an outpatient biopsy on me. When I woke up from anesthesia, he nonchalantly replied, ‘Yep, you have stage 3 cervical cancer.’ It turned out that it was not a fibroid, but cancer. Pettway wrote, “I was misdiagnosed all this time.” She went on, “I remember hearing that and immediately telling myself, ‘I refuse to agree with that diagnosis.'” So I didn’t. Being told that I had cancer didn’t devastate me. It was the reaction of those close to me.”
Cervical cancer is the fourth most prevalent cancer in women and is caused by the abnormal development of cells in a woman’s cervix
In another post, she wrote alongside her family picture that an illness “also changes the lives of those closest to you.” “From the countless hospital stays to the financial strain, we’ve been through it all! The girls are too young to understand, yet they notice the changes. They would often ask, ‘When is mommy coming home?” Or, ‘How come mommy keeps going in the ambulance truck?’ Being wheeled into the ambulance and waving bye to my kids, only to see them crying for their mommy to stay home, broke me. And watching my husband break down in tears, was rough,” the influencer added. “We moved forward and did our best not to allow current circumstances to overtake us. It was definitely not easy, but we made it this far,” Pettway said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cervical cancer is the fourth most prevalent cancer in women and is caused by abnormal development of cells in a woman’s cervix or the entry to the uterus through the vagina. In 2020, an estimated 604,000 women worldwide were diagnosed with cervical cancer, and approximately 342,000 died as a result of the disease. Cervical cancer, while common, is one of the most curable cancers if diagnosed early. In the later stages, the condition can be managed with adequate medication.