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A young woman was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor because of the beauty trend – “Death Sentence”

Sarah SmithFebruary 10, 2023

Known as Gua Sha (scrape petechiae), the practice of skin care involves using a skin scraping tool to stimulate blood flow and encourage lymphatic drainage. Popular in beauty circles, Helen praises the practice for saving her life. “I started using it to try and slim my face when I noticed this bulge,” Helen said.

“I wasn’t sure what it was. I often get colds and stuff, so at first I thought it was just a swollen lymph node.”

Then a real estate agent from Alabama, America, remarked that she had “lost a lot of weight.”

“I liked to think, ‘I’m so skinny’ without realizing it was cancer,” she said.

“If I didn’t use [Gua Sha] so early, I probably wouldn’t have had time to watch it. I could die.”

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Recalling April 2022, when medical practitioners were figuring out what it could be, Helen received a disturbing phone call.

“I was running errands and they told me to come right away because it’s urgent,” she told the Daily Mail.

“I went alone and called my fiancé to stay by his phone. The doctor came in, he sat down and said, “This is stage four cancer.”

“I remember looking at my face with a blank stare, it was so blurry… there were like 20 bumps.” [as the cancer] spread all over my body.”

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Helen recalled: “I asked my doctor how long he thought I would have, and he said that someone had approached him at a similar stage, and they died six weeks later.

“My fiancé came and met me in the doctor’s office, we were both crying.”

Helen didn’t have the heart to break the news to her family, so the doctor shared the disturbing news with her.

“I couldn’t tell my father, it’s so hard to tell such news to family members. So the doctor told my dad and my dad told my mom and sister,” she said.

READ MORE: ‘I was in complete shock’: bowel cancer patient wasn’t too worried about his symptoms

“They just hugged me and said we can handle it. It was very hard to see them, especially my sister.”

By early June, Megan had begun a two-year course of immunotherapy at the Mitchell Cancer Institute in Alabama.

“There’s a 50/50 chance it will work for you or not,” she said of immunotherapy. “And if not, then it’s actually a death sentence.”

The treatment caused her tumors to “swell up” at first, but now her cancerous lesions, which she still has, are not clearly visible.

“I’ve been on treatment for about seven months and so far it’s working,” Helen said.

“I have another year and a half of treatment and they predict I will be in remission in less than two years.”

Cancer Symptoms

Cancer Research UK points out the signs of cancer but adds: “Listen to your body and talk to your doctor if you notice anything that is not normal for you.”

Key signs of cancer may include: