JUNE CANCER AWARENESS
By Brenda Wilder April Jourdan, cancer survivor, was born in Starkville, MS and graduated from Clinton High School in Clinton, MS in 1997. April met her husband, Chris, while in college at Mississippi State University, and they married in 2003. During their 17 years of marriage, they have lived in Brandon, Bolton, Clinton, and currently Flora, MS. They are parents to two beautiful young ladies, Maily Adeline (13) and Merritt Jean (10). Maily is an artistic, musically inclined child, and Merritt loves sports and being outside. April began working at Baptist Hospital Cancer Center in 2003 as a receptionist in the radiation therapy department. This began her career in the medical field, which April considers amazing. In 2008 she began working for Medical Management Service as a receptionist at the Clinton MEA and now works at the corporate office as a Billing Manager. At work, April has many different areas of responsibility. She has 4 medical coding certifications, manages the auditing of provider’s charts and, offers education, as needed. She loves her job. April’s cancer journey began when she noticed some blood in her stool and became concerned, but she kept it secret for 6 months, telling NO ONE. She finally told one of her doctors, who scheduled a colonoscopy a few days later. Looking back, April realizes there were other symptoms she had ignored, thinking they were stress related, such as weight loss, fatigue, loss of appetite, and irregular bowel movements. Upon the diagnosis of cancer, April’s
first reaction was shock. Chris was told she had a cancerous tumor while April was in recovery from the colonoscopy. When Chris told her, there were tears, lots of tears. In time by herself, she asked God “Why? Why me?” She was 36 years old with two beautiful little girls that needed her, and she needed them. “After a couple of days, I told myself to snap out of it and get back to the real world. This cancer wasn’t going to be the boss of me! I told the world and asked for prayers, and I got them. I believe a positive attitude and a strong belief in God can get people through anything. There is no room for feeling sorry for myself, I do not allow it.” The first treatments April received were radiation and chemo in 2016. Radiation included 6 weeks of daily treatments. Chemo consisted of
wearing a chemo pump for 6 full weeks. April would go in once a week to change the needle in her chemoport and apply new dressings. After surgery to remove parts of the rectum and colon where the tumor was involved, there was the placement of an ileostomy or “poo bag,” as her children called it. This allowed what remained of her rectum and colon to fully recover (they were sewn back together, called an anastomosis). After 6 weeks the ileostomy was reversed, and all intestines put back in use. After 4 days in the hospital, April was discharged to go home. After 6 weeks of recovery, she received another round of chemo, which consisted of a weekly infusion. After that, no evidence of disease was found. April considers herself lucky to have had no side effects of the radiation and limited side effects from the chemo. The worse side effects
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