Faces of Blue: Jennifer Ortega

Jennifer Ortega was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer on October 8, 2017. With no family history of colorectal cancer, or any type of cancer, Jennifer was shocked and found it hard to accept. “It was pretty hard to comprehend or accept because you really don’t expect to hear that. I know, we know, a lot of people now that have cancer, and it just seems like it’s so common now, I hate to say it like that. But you just don’t think it’s going to happen to you. It was tough; it’s still hard.”

Jennifer went into the hospital on October 7th, after seeing blood and mucus in her stool. When she first saw blood and mucus in her stool, it went away for a while and she didn’t think much of it. Then after having some stomach pains, pain in her sides and lower back, she changed her diet. “It got a little bit better for a while, and then the pain just intensified and the blood started showing up again. And that’s when we went to the emergency room. They had originally diagnosed me as having diverticulitis, with a lesion in my colon. And they found a small mass, about the size of a marble, maybe smaller, on my kidney.”

The hospital decided to admit Jennifer and started giving her antibiotics to try to treat the lesion on her colon. The next day, she met with her doctor to do blood work, a CT scan, and other tests. It was after the results of those tests were in, that Jennifer was asked to bring her family together. Jennifer’s mother was already with her, so she called her boyfriend, her kids, and her sister to join them as well. “My mom and I, kind of had an idea, after the doctor said, ‘Can we get your family together?’ We just flat out ask her, ‘Is it cancer?’ And she said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to go ahead and say it is. I’d just like for you to have more of your family here so we go over your options and what’s going to happen.”

Jennifer was told she had stage IV colon cancer. “There was a large tumor on my sigmoid portion of the colon. So she said she would go in and remove that and she was going to put a colostomy on my stomach.” Jennifer said that the doctor did not believe the small mass on her kidney was a big issue, but instead wanted to focus on the tumor. She stayed in the hospital for two and a half weeks.

“I went back on October the 27th, after I got out of the hospital so she could remove my staples because she had had a MRI requested also. So we did that and another CT scan, more blood work.” Jennifer was now stage II. Her doctor was positive that she was able to remove the entire tumor and had mentioned that chemotherapy wasn’t needed. “She did want to recommend that I do some form of chemotherapy just in case, but she didn’t see anything there.” Just recently, Jennifer had met with her oncologist to run some tests with her, and said that on April 4th, she would be able to know more, but was also told that she might not need chemo.

Navigating through all this, Jennifer was lucky to have an amazing support system behind her. “My family, friends, people in my community, have just gone above and beyond. They’ve done fundraisers and helped me out. I was self-employed so I didn’t have insurance at the time. I did apply for Medicaid three times and was denied. So everything we’re doing out of pocket. We’re paying it ourselves. It’s still tough, a little tight, but we’re getting through it, and like I said, everybody has just been great. My kids have been so supportive and everybody’s just been amazing.”

With Jennifer being the first in her family to be diagnosed with cancer, her doctor had recommended her four kids get tested when they turn 30 years old, as a precaution.

Sharing her story, any time she can, Jennifer has been making sure to let everyone know they should get tested. “I tell them, ‘Go get checked, even if you think it might just possibly be that.’ That’s what I tell anyone if they’re curious; they want to know. I tell them because word of mouth is what’s going to help us. Everyone has to help each other.”

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