The Diagnosis

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​During Luca's pregnancy, Gabby noticed blood in her stool. Her OB dismissed it as hemorrhoids, and she put her trust in the medical professionals, which made her believe not to worry during her pregnancy. The day before Luca was born, Gabby noticed a large amount of blood and went to the OB triage at the hospital where she was delivering. The medical staff said Luca was okay and it wasn't baby related. Gabby and Mike decided to induce labor on Luca's due date which was the next day. The issue was again suspected to be hemorrhoids and she was sent home. 

The next day, Luca was born on June 25, 2024. The large amount of blood was again brought up to the OB and Gabby requested to get the issue checked up on while in the hospital. Gabby was told she would be given a referral to see a GI doctor and was left feeling the issue was not a great cause for concern. Gabby followed up and received the referral to the GI specialist. 

Nearly 4 months later, just before Halloween, she finally got into the GI specialist and the doctor confirmed that she still had blood in her stool. They also suspected it was hemorrhoids and prescribed her steroids. However, out of an abundance of caution, the doctor asked her to schedule a colonoscopy. Gabby's colonoscopy was just before Thanksgiving and the doctor found a large mass nearly blocking her colon. She met with a surgeon and got a CT scan the next day, which showed two lesions on her liver. 

A week after the mass was found, Gabby went in for colon resection surgery to remove the mass, lymph nodes and margins. The care team decided not to touch the liver during the colon surgery and instead did a biopsy while she was still recovering in the hospital. An MRI of her liver identified 5 lesions on the liver vs. the 2 by the CT scan. Further testing showed the mass to be adenocarcinoma and 7 out of the 18 lymph nodes were affected. About a week after the colon resection surgery, Gabby met with an oncologist, who confirmed the Stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis, which metastasized to her liver. Additional blood samples and tests were ordered and Gabby underwent a port surgery to prepare for chemo to begin in early January.

Gabby is continuing to recover from her surgeries. 

After numerous doctor appointments, Mike and Gabby have decided to move forward with getting treatment from City Of Hope. She will be starting Chemo Friday January 3rd. 

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