A 22 Year Love Story’s Battle with Cancer

Hello, I’m Pau. I’m Myrted “TJ” Joyce Legaspi’s husband and the father of our 5-year-old son, Iñigo Sebastian.

I’m writing our story in the hopes of gathering financial support to help my wife push through, and continue her fight against breast cancer.

TJ was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer in November 2016 at the age of 26, Stage 4 recurrence last June 2019, and more recently, Stage 4 Metastasis to her bone, liver and lungs last June 2020. She had been battling cancer for 4 years, with her head held high and with positive hopes that our family will pull through from another challenging time in our lives.

I’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to read our story, including us in their prayers, imparting their words of strength and encouragement towards my wife’s recovery, as well as to those who will be in their good of heart to share their generosity and donate.

The 22 Year Love Story.

I met my wife back in grade school - way back 3rd grade. She had always been energetic, competitive and had the purest of heart. Our love story didn’t really take off at grade 3, but we’ve always known somehow that we’ll be together. She and I had been a couple since 3rd year high school, got married after college and had a son a year after. We vowed to forever and live happily ever after - or so we thought.

The Heartbreak and the 4 Long Year Battle

On June 2016, just when we’ve celebrated our son’s first birthday – heartbreak struck. My wife happenstance found a lump in her left breast, which we immediately had checked and later on found the lump as a malignant tumor. Amidst the heartbreak, results were still in our favor. The cancer characteristic was ERPR Positive and HER2 Negative, a type of cancer that is very responsive to hormone treatment. For safety, the family opted to undergo the full left mastectomy surgery (having her left breast removed). Sentinel lymph nodes were also removed to ensure that the cancer would not spread to other parts of her body – showing good results as the lymph nodes are negative of cancer cells. She did not undergo chemotherapy then nor radiation given the early detection and the positive results. We were then advised to take hormonal treatment, a single tablet of Tamoxifen daily, to suppress hormone generation and avoid cancer resurgence. At this point, it took the combined effort of family and friends, through their prayers, emotional and financial support to get us through our challenge. In spite of, the fear of recurrence lingered and the emotional scar never really healed.

Almost 3 years after, faith seemed to be testing us again when my wife found another lump on her left chest wall – where the original cancer was found. She was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer recurrence. TJ had to undergo 4 cycles of Chemotheraphy: Docetaxel and Cyclophoshamide in 3 weeks interval with Filgrastim injections to boost her immune system. Each cycle costing PHP 40,000. The situation only deepened our existing emotional scar. Seeing her lose her hair bit by bit, eventually personally shaving it all off, and losing weight – it broke my heart in pieces. In spite of, she remained strong and optimistic. Right after chemotherapy, she underwent 34 cycles of radiation – total cycles amounted to PHP 80,000. The same hormonal treatment - Tamoxifen – followed.

The Ongoing Battle – Stage 4 Metastasis

2020 came and the years seem to be growing shorter, when a routine check turned out to be another turning point in our lives. From her routine workups, the doctors found that the cancer metastasized to her bone, liver and lungs. At this point, we are hollow. We can’t seem to understand why the cancer, starting from a very positive and early detected Stage 1, turned out to become stage 4 metastasis in a short span of 4 years. The doctors always say that an upside of having cancer at a young age is that the body is young enough to endure the therapy. The downside is that the cancer can match the body’s tenacity and also be aggressive.

From here on out, it’s going to be different and harder battle for us. In spite of the pain, we are still hoping, praying, and believing in a silver lining. My wife wants to live, though there are times where physical and emotional pain tries to overcome her, she is still fighting and hoping for our family’s dreams to come true. She is doing it for our son, for her husband, for her family and friends.

22 years after, she remains to be that energetic, competitive, and purest of heart kid I knew from 3rd grade.

Her treatment options are still vast, and we still have time. I am humbly asking for your help, to support her medications in the hopes of providing her a longer life spent with her loved ones.

There is no donation too big or too small – any donation would go a long way towards her healing.

Thank you for taking the time, reading our love story.