A woman with terminal cancer has shared the four signs she regrets ignoring before her diagnosis.
Kristi Halpin was shocked to discover what she had thought were postpartum changes after giving birth to her first and only child, Caiden, were actually signs of a severe health condition that was going to change her life entirely.
Back in October 2022, then 31-year-old started noticing physical and mental signs that her body was changing - and all of them led to a terminal metastatic breast cancer diagnosis.
She was also told that the disease had spread to her spine, lungs, and ribs.
Halpin, who is now 33, spends her time raising awareness about the cause on social media and warning others about the signs she ignored just before she was given the news.
The first sign that something more sinister was at play was the fact that she was losing weight.
In the weeks that followed giving birth to her son, she started noticing that she was losing a lot of body mass without even trying to. At first, she believed she was just getting rid of the extra baby weight she'd put on but just at a quicker rate than normal.
However, after she started realizing that her situation was getting concerning.
According to CancerCenter.com, losing weight can be an indicator that someone is suffering from something more than just simply not eating enough.
Cancer cells have the ability to disrupt signaling between nerves and the brain which can make it difficult to indicate hunger. They also take up space where normal healthy cells would be, which means they use more of the body's energy even if the person is resting.
The final link can be dehydration and the stress that comes with the body battling against the disease, especially before treatment starts.
The second sign that Halpin urges people not to ignore is fatigue.
According to John Hopkins Medicine, "Extreme fatigue that doesn't get better with rest can be an early sign of cancer. Cancer uses your body's nutrients to grow and advance, so those nutrients are no longer replenishing your body. This 'nutrient theft' can make you feel extremely tired."
The 31-year-old just attributed her tiredness to having a newborn, which is a totally plausible reason, but sadly, it was just another symptom of her diagnosis.
The third symptom was bruising.
While bruising can be a normal sign of injury, Halpin was getting bruises on parts of her body that she had not hurt. Instead, she believed that it could be because her dogs kept knocking into her, but later realized it was not.
People with cancer typically start bruising in areas that they have not injured, and they can appear much darker and in irregular shapes than typical blemishes.
And the final seemingly "innocent" sign was back pain.
Now, I'm sure we've all experienced back pain, even at an age we shouldn't, and Halpin was no different.
She assumed that because she had been carrying a child around for nine months she was just experiencing the post-pain of pregnancy.
Experts even state that back pain alone cannot be attributed to cancer without a range of other symptoms present.
However, cancers that are located in the area, which Halpin's was as it had spread to her spine, can cause severe pains.
"Back pain isn’t commonly a symptom we see before someone is diagnosed with cancer,” explained Dr. Marilyn Norton, an oncologist and hematologist affiliated with Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center. “However, we often see patients ignore their back pain because they assume it is the same pain they have always had. Worsening back pain is a concern that should be brought to the attention of your physician."
While Halpin's condition has sadly been deemed terminal, she is using her time to spread awareness about the condition via TikTok.
We wish her all the best in her journey.
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