<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4HAPAn_0zfnpQyd00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4HAPAn_0zfnpQyd00" width="375" height="500" ></figure>In the summer of 2020, the world was still amid a pandemic, and it seemed whenever anyone became sick the first thought on everyone’s mind was COVID. So that July, when Kristy Connolley began experiencing a sore throat, that was what the doctors looked for.Kristy was given a medication to help with the throat pain, and even tried some essential oils to gain some relief. However, the reprieve that she was able to get from those treatments was only temporary.“As time went on my sore throat would come and go, so I kept going to different doctors,” Kristy recounted. “Some would prescribe medications and run blood work, but everything kept coming back normal so we kept trying to figure it out.”By November, four months after the onset of her symptoms, Kristy sought the help of an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist. He recommended doing a CAT scan, which they did, and Kristy eagerly awaited the results.“When I went back he proceeded to tell me I had a spot there, but it was not big enough to cut out. So he said he would see me in six months and I was to take this prescription until it was gone,” said Kristy.But her sore throat did not go away. Desperate, she sought the counsel of yet another doctor, who like the others, ran blood work that all came back normal.In March of 2021, though she was still dealing with her symptoms, Kristy and her family took the trip to Disney that they had been planning. By the end of May she had gotten worse, and her tongue went numb. She began feeling worse while helping with summer school in Lexington, so she went back to the doctor.“He looked at my CAT scan and asked when I was supposed to see the ENT again, and I told him in a week,” Kristy recalled. “He said if the ENT did not give me the answers I wanted, I was to call back and he would get me into another ENT. So that is what I did.”When Kristy returned for her follow-up with the ENT she had seen, she was told she had thrush. Not satisfied with that diagnosis and believing what she had was much more than thrush, Kristy left there and called the Lexington office back to arrange to see a new ENT.After sharing her history with the new ENT at her first visit, he did a scope of her throat and immediately told her they needed to do a biopsy. Unfortunately, the biopsy itself ended up being a bad experience as well.“There were four techs in the room and they did not even biopsy the right spot and they stuck me twice in the middle of my neck,” said Kristy, with obvious frustration. “They would not listen to me or pay attention to the fact that you could see this spot sticking out under my right ear. I ended up having to go back to a different hospital to get them to biopsy the right spot.”Once a proper biopsy was eventually done, the results came back diagnosing Kristy with squamous cell carcinoma.“We did a PET scan, and it showed that by that time it was in my hips, spine, and in my chest,” Kristy shared. “After the PET scan, I learned at that time that I should have pushed one of the other eight doctors that I had seen to check more into what the spot could be.”One week after getting her biopsy results, Kristy had a biopsy done on her spine. That also came back positive for the same squamous cell carcinoma. In November of 2021, a year and a half after her throat began hurting, Kristy began chemotherapy treatment.She was on three different chemo drugs until March of 2022, when her body began attacking her red blood cells and she had to stop the treatment. Kristy then had three blood transfusions.“During this time I became depressed, sad, and very emotional,” Kristy recalled. “We sold our house and moved 20 miles out in the country, which I thought was the right move for our family at the time. Thank goodness we are currently back in town.”Kristy has been on two different chemo medications that have kept the spots stable for the past year and a half. Since the cancer was staying isolated to those two spots, she and her doctors decided to do radiation on those spots. She underwent seven weeks of radiation to her head and neck, but had to wait an additional month for insurance to approve doing the spine. She was also off of her chemo medicine for those three months until her next scan.“While waiting to radiate my spine, the cancer decided to become active and move, so I had to start back on chemo,” she said.Kristy now gets scanned every three months. Her most recent scan showed that her cancer was active again, so she had to start back on the chemo drug. “The side effects of this one have been rough. Sometimes I cannot use my hands or talk because of the sores and how much my hands swell,” she shared.Her journey has taken her to the Riodan Clinic in Kansas, where she began taking high doses of vitamin C, which she does weekly. She has also been to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and doctors in Omaha and Kearney.“Currently I am working with a doctor out of Texas who has put me on a lot of new natural products along with chemo to see if we can get my body back to healthy,” Kristy explained. “I get to see how all of this is helping in my upcoming scan this month. I just pray that some spots are gone and/or less.”Kristy’s ordeal has racked up some large medical bills for the family, and the Gothenburg Lions Club wants to help. The club is hosting a pancake feed on Sunday, March 30, at the Gothenburg Senior Center. Serving will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a free will donation. There will also be a silent auction, with all proceeds from the event going directly to Kristy and her family.If you are unable to attend the pancake feed but would like to help, accounts have been opened at both Flatwater and Dayspring banks under the name Kristy’s Cancer Journey where you can make your donation.</div></body>

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In the summer of 2020, the world was still amid a pandemic, and it seemed whenever anyone became sick the first thought on everyone’s mind was COVID. So that July, when Kristy Connolley began experiencing a sore throat, that was what the doctors looked for. Kristy was given a...

A Desperate Search For Answers

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In the summer of 2020, the world was still amid a pandemic, and it seemed whenever anyone became sick the first thought on everyone’s mind was COVID. So th

A Desperate Search For Answers

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