31-year-old Melissa Adams of Owens Cross Roads, Ala., was headed home from her rehearsal dinner when she was T-boned and taken to an emergency room
Credit: GoFundMe
NEED TO KNOW
- A woman is opening up about getting into a car accident the night before her wedding and how it led to her receiving a cancer diagnosis
- 31-year-old Melissa Adams of Owens Cross Roads, Ala., said that she was headed home from her rehearsal dinner the night before her wedding in November when she was taken to the emergency room following a car crash
- “They did a CT scan, and that’s when they saw the masses,” Adams said
An Alabama woman is opening up about getting into a car accident the night before her wedding — and how it led to her receiving a life-changing diagnosis.
Speaking with WHNT, 31-year-old Melissa Adams of Owens Cross Roads, Ala., said that she was headed home from her rehearsal dinner the night before her wedding in November when she was T-boned at a stoplight and taken to the emergency room.
"They did a CT scan, and that’s when they saw the masses," she said, recounting the moment doctors discovered that she had stage four cancer.
“Obviously, my cancer has taken away so much from me," Adams continued, sharing that she and her husband decided to keep the wedding on — and they tied the knot the next day.
"I wasn’t going to allow it to take away from me on that day,” she shared.
Credit: MattGush/Getty
Doctors discovered 18 total masses in her body, and she was eventually diagnosed with follicular dendritic cell sarcoma (FDCS) — an extremely rare form of cancer that often appears in the lymph nodes, though Adams said that masses were found all over her body.
“There’s masses all in my abdomen and in my chest, there’s one that’s kind of on my heart,” she told WHNT.
After traveling around to different hospitals and oncology clinics to get her official diagnosis, Adams was finally able to start her treatment on Wednesday, April 1.
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“I’m really excited to start chemo because it has been about 19, 20 weeks of a journey to get to this point,” she said. “All I’ve wanted for those weeks was just to start a treatment plan and just to, you know, have a goal and something to work towards.”
In a GoFundMe post that is raising funds to help pay for her treatment and living expenses, Adams also wrote about her symptoms. While she had a history of autoimmune issues and had some recent back pain before her diagnosis, she never suspected she had cancer.
"Looking back, I had been experiencing pain and other symptoms for some time, but I believed they were related to my autoimmune disease. Over the past few weeks, my condition has worsened—simple daily tasks have become painful, and walking has become difficult," she wrote. "I am now preparing to begin chemotherapy treatment and have to have a second biopsy due to other complications."
"I thought I just needed to toughen up, you know,” she added to WHNT. "Other people have back pain, but mine was steadily getting worse and that was actually because of the masses inside my body pushing on my organs and moving things around."
Following her diagnosis, Adams is also taking the opportunity to advocate for others to seek out treatment for their pain as soon as possible.
“It’s such a taboo thing to talk about, and it’s not cool to get online and cry, you know, or share your feelings, outwardly with just the world,” she said, opening up about talking about her cancer treatment on social media. “But I think that does kind of help other people who are maybe in the same boat as you.”
"Had I not been in the car accident, I wouldn't know," Adams added. "I'm thankful that God hit me with the car, and that I get to, I get the chance to fight for my life. …My prognosis isn’t great, but God has the last say."
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