Janeth Leon Martinez shares her journey as a young person diagnosed with stomach cancer

Life Before Cancer

  • Early Life & Career: Born and raised in Los Angeles, Janeth became a certified nursing assistant at just 16 and joined the U.S. Navy at 17 [02:21]. She later became a registered dental assistant and a client services supervisor for a home care company, always driven by a passion to help others [03:09].

  • Motherhood & Surrogacy: She became a mother of two by the age of 23. Her altruistic nature led her to become a two-time gestational surrogate, giving birth to a baby for her best friend in 2018 and another in May 2020, right at the start of the pandemic [03:25].

Diagnosis and the Start of Her Battle

  • Initial Symptoms: After giving birth in 2020, she experienced lingering pain on her lower left side, which she initially brushed off as normal postpartum discomfort [04:30].

  • The Turning Point: On May 30, 2020, she woke up in excruciating pain and took a traumatic trip to the ER, where she was initially told the pain was due to an ulcer [05:15].

  • The Diagnosis: After her first endoscopy on July 14, 2020, she received a life-altering phone call a few days later on July 17: she had stomach cancer [06:36]. On July 28, her tumor board results revealed it was Stage 3 poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma with signet ring cell [08:01].

Treatment and Life Without a Stomach

  • Chemotherapy: Janeth started her FLOT chemotherapy regimen on August 20, 2020. Due to pandemic restrictions, she had to endure these terrifying and exhausting appointments completely alone [10:02].

  • Total Gastrectomy: On December 2, 2020, she underwent a robotic total gastrectomy, completely removing her stomach [11:39]. Thanks to an eight-day walking epidural, her initial recovery was manageable, and she was walking laps on her very first day [11:58].

  • Adjusting to the "New Normal": Since she no longer experiences physical hunger cues, Janeth has had to relearn how to eat and drink, relying on alarms and reminders to nourish her body [12:11]. Despite severe complications during post-op chemo, she made it to the other side and achieved a status of No Evidence of Disease (NED) [13:01].

Advocacy and Building a Sisterhood

  • Seeking Connection: Refusing to accept the grim internet statistic of a 32% five-year survival rate, Janeth took to social media to find other survivors [13:10].

  • Stomach Cancer Sisters: She connected with other young women, ultimately co-founding a Facebook support group called "Stomach Cancer Sisters." The group has since grown to around 400 women worldwide, providing a space for love, true understanding, and shared grief over the losses of fellow sisters [13:46].

  • A Call for Better Care: Janeth's ultimate message is the critical importance of self-advocacy. She pleads for medical teams to fight as hard for their patients as the patients are fighting to stay alive, highlighting the frustrating lack of standard care for stomach cancer patients [15:41].