A young woman who thought her bloating was normal was shocked to find out she had cancer after being involved in an accident. Jenna Sirkiä had noticed that her stomach appeared a bit more swollen than normal but just assumed the change in her body was down to her diet. It wasn’t until the 25-year-old fell off an electric scooter that she found out the real cause.
Jenna landed on her stomach and soon after began experiencing extreme cramping and fainted. Her sister, who was with her at the time, rushed her to the doctor where she received an ultrasound.
“The ultrasound showed that there was a tumour in my ovary that had caused a cyst,” said Jenna. “[When I fell], it burst. They took five litres of fluid out of my stomach with a tube. At first, doctors said that the tumour was neither benign nor malignant. But two months later, I got a call [telling me] that malignant cancer was appearing in my abdominal cavity in the form of mucus.
“The tumour in my ovary was about 14cm in diameter, which is quite large. [Doctors believed] it had been inside me for a while considering it was that big already. I cried so much.“I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me.”
Jenna immediately began a course of cytostatic treatment to tackle the cancer – starting in September 2024 with six sessions in total in three-week intervals. She also had an operation that involved removing the tumour and one of her ovaries. It was a gruelling process, made all the worse by her suffering an allergic reaction to the medication and having to switch drugs.
Jenna was particularly devastated about losing her red hair. She said: “My hair fell out and my friend cut the rest off. It was a tough place [to be in] and [it] felt like the end of the world [at the time] but I’m happy with how well the treatments went. [I had] a couple of days of slight fatigue but otherwise I was fine.”
Jenna finished her treatment on New Year’s Eve 2024. But her battle isn’t over. Doctors also took a scan of her lungs, which revealed another tumour. She is set to have surgery this year to remove the mass. But the young woman is keeping her spirits up. Jenna, who has worked as a kitchen assistant in a nursing home for almost four years, is particularly keen to hopefully return to work at the end of February after having been off for six months.
She said: “It’s been quite a journey but I survived. “I’m proud of myself. I got over the fact that I don’t have any hair and luckily it will start growing back soon. I never thought at any point that I was sick, I lived a normal life and was completely symptom-free the whole time. Everything came as a surprise. Of course, I regret not going to the doctor earlier about the swelling in my stomach. It’s lucky that I fell in the accident, otherwise this [might not] have been found and it [could] have been too late. I hope life smiles at me this year and there won’t be any more bad news.”