Thanks for visiting Hanna's CaringBridge website. We hope this will relieve some of the pressure on Hanna to have to relay updates to everyone.
Hanna was diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma (thyroid cancer) last month (November 2019) and is now starting the road to recovery. Hanna recently had a surgery called the "sistrunk procedure" to remove the cyst/tumor in her neck and will soon need to have her entire thyroid removed. The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in your neck that is responsible for metabolism and many other body regulations that affects every system in our bodies. Thyroid cancer is much more prevalent in women, and typically appears before the age of 50 (Hanna is 29). The unique aspect of Hanna's case is that the cancer traveled outside of her thyroid and into her neck, creating a thyroglossal duct cyst. Most of her doctors have claimed that they have never seen this type of cancer behave this way; it only occurs in 1-2% of patients with thyroid cancer.
As of now, we do not know what all her immediate treatment entails, so we are anxiously awaiting the next steps. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts.
For anyone wishing to help out, there are a couple ways to do just that! Links are in the “how to help” section.
