A beauty queen has urged everyone to ‘listen to their bodies’ after months of ignoring crippling stomach pains.
When she finally went to the doctor, Tirah Ciampa, 27, from Somerset Tasmania, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
She was so ill that she spent days writing farewell letters to her loved ones while doctors devised a plan to remove the 6-inch growth.
‘Listen to your body! Especially women who attribute every strange feeling to their menstrual cycle or hormones,” she said.
‘Your body is a temple; it is all we have to live in this beautiful world. Don’t take it for granted.’
Pancreatic cancer is often fatal – with a survival rate of just over 12 percent.
It is expected to be Australia’s second biggest cancer killer by 2030. In 2023, 4,500 people are expected to be diagnosed and 3,669 people are likely to not survive the first 12 months.
This is why, despite her ongoing health struggles, the former Miss World Australia is considered ‘one of the lucky ones’.
She underwent a grueling seven-hour operation to remove the enormous mass and that was it more than a week in the hospital connected to nine different tubes and fed a liquid diet to survive.
In the months before, Ms. Ciampa knew something was wrong, but admits she ignored the warning signs.
“It felt like I was punched in the back,” she wrote on Facebook.
‘I was constantly lying on the floor at work and going to physio. I thought I had hurt myself at the gym or maybe just slumped at my desk.”
Tirah Ciampa, 27, has revealed how she felt symptoms for almost a year before doctors operated to move a huge 15x15cm tumor that had already devoured half of her pancreas
Ms Ciampa had written “farewell letters” to loved ones because she thought the cancer would kill her
Ms. Ciampa said her heart rate would increase and she would have random cramps.
“I’ve been in and out of the doctors since November last year trying to figure out what was going on,” she explained.
‘I had a cardiologist looking after me but it wasn’t until February that I was booked in for an abdominal ultrasound and that’s when I saw the huge mass.’
Doctors had finally discovered the cause of her pain: a 6-by-6-inch tumor in her pancreas, which had already eaten half of the organ.
Ms Ciampa will never be able to drink alcohol or exercise again and she has a permanent clot in her spleen
She urged people, especially women, to listen to their bodies and not dismiss “any strange feeling down to their menstrual cycle or hormones.”
She said it was “crazy” to have to live so long with a pancreas functioning at 50 percent capacity.
“I wrote letters to my loved ones, arranged for retirement, cleaned out my laptop and did some spring cleaning,” Ms. Ciampa said. The Sunday Tasmanian.
“I wanted to make sure my funeral would be paid for, that it would be an easy mess to clean up. I was getting ready to leave.”
After her marathon surgery, the grueling recovery process began, requiring extensive physical therapy.
But Ms Ciampa miraculously overcame her battle against all odds and is preparing to take the stage at the Miss World Australia national finals on the Gold Coast in August.
Unlike other contestants, she will have a long scar that runs from her chest to her navel.
But she says she’s “not afraid to show it – even in a two-piece bikini on stage.”
The Hobart-based model will compete in the Miss World Australia finals next month
Her seven-hour operation left her with a long scar that runs from her chest to her navel
Although Ms. Ciampa will never be able to drink alcohol or exercise again due to a permanent clot in her spleen, the model says she is incredibly happy.
“I’m so lucky that I still have the head of my pancreas and because of my healthy lifestyle I may not develop diabetes until a much older age,” she said.
Ms. Ciampa did that raised over $2,500 toward her $5,000 goal for the Variety Children’s Charity, which helps disadvantaged children.