{"id":27122,"date":"2021-06-02T16:06:51","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T16:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmshub.wpengine.com\/?p=345716"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:14:54","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:14:54","slug":"woman-diagnosed-with-cancer-a-week-after-her-honeymoon-helps-others-as-she-fights-for-her-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/woman-diagnosed-with-cancer-a-week-after-her-honeymoon-helps-others-as-she-fights-for-her-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman Diagnosed with Cancer a Week After Her Honeymoon Helps Others as She Fights for Her Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A young woman who is fighting for her own life after a terminal cancer diagnosis is using what\u2019s left of her time on this planet to help other people who also have cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jill Bertolini<\/a>, from Salem, Connecticut, has a unique story to tell. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in August of 2019, shortly after she returned home from her honeymoon with her husband.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: News 8 WTNH<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOne week after we got back from our honeymoon, I was diagnosed with stage-zero breast cancer<\/a>,\u201d she recalls.<\/span><\/p>\n

At that time, Jill considered herself remarkably lucky. The cancer had been caught early and was highly treatable. She opted for a double mastectomy<\/a> to completely get rid of the cancer and decrease the odds that it would ever come back. And that, she thought, would be the end of the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: News 8 WTNH<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u201cI really considered myself to be so lucky,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t need radiation or therapy. They got all the cancer during that surgery.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After surviving cancer, Jill decided to start a project that would help other people who had been through something similar. She began creating \u201cJill Baskets<\/a>\u201d to give to other women fighting breast cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: News 8 WTNH<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI wanted to create gift baskets of all the items that really helped me through my recovery,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Jill had no idea that her own battle wasn\u2019t over yet. In the fall of 2020, she endured a much worse diagnosis: stage IV pancreatic cancer<\/a>, which seemed to be unrelated to her breast cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: News 8 WTNH<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As far as the prognosis goes, things are looking rather grim. Jill isn\u2019t giving up on her life yet, but she\u2019s been told she only has a short time left to live.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe stage 4 means it already metastasized to my liver and my lungs,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: News 8 WTNH<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But she\u2019s not giving up her positive attitude or her mission to help others for as long as she can. She\u2019s now raising money at the Inaugural Jill Bertolini Symposium<\/a> for her project so that it can continue for years to come.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The basket project will continue for as long as she and her husband are able to do it, and Jill is determined to continue helping other women to cope with a breast cancer diagnosis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn more about Jill\u2019s heartwrenching but beautiful story in the video below.<\/span><\/p>\n

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