Florida entrepreneur documents his heartbreaking battle with lymphoma in his 20s – as doctors warn cancer patients are getting younger: ‘I had to sit with my dad at 25 and write my will’

Jace Yawnick is far from a typical terminal cancer patient.

He is 25, in excellent physical condition and eats only grass-fed meat and whole grain foods.

So when he first started experiencing chronic fatigue last year, he attributed it to being a “workaholic,” having recently co-founded a marketing agency and worked for an organic food delivery company.

He then developed a cough, which doctors thought was acid reflux, and back pain that resolved with golf and sports injuries.

Scans later showed stage 2 tumors were putting pressure on his lungs and spine

Yawnick was eventually diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer in February. His tragic case highlights the changing face of cancer, with many younger and healthier people now being diagnosed with the disease.

And many doctors fear they will miss the rising number of cases in young people because they don’t screen them or properly assess their symptoms.

Mr Yawnick has shown remarkable resilience and a positive attitude in his videos, which have helped him amass a following of 500,000 people on his Instagram and TikTok, where viewers offer support, prayers and advice at a young age and share their own experiences with cancer.

He documents his chemotherapy, the loss of his hair, the side effects of treatment and how cancer has affected his social and professional life.

In his first video, posted to his TikTok on February 1, he said: “I’m 25 years old and I just found out I have cancer. It’s the worst thing you can hear, no matter how old you are.

“I want to make a page to document my journey as I go through it because it’s going to be intense.

“I’m going to beat this. It’s going to be very difficult. It’s going to suck.’

He was diagnosed with stage 2 primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) that kills three to four in ten people within five years of diagnosis.

The condition comprises only two to three percent of all NHL cases.

In videos posted over the past week, Mr. Yawnick is seen thin and hairless. They’re a stark comparison to his first handful of videos in which he appears fit and with a full head of hair and beard

He went from being an avid runner with a physically active lifestyle to losing 20 pounds and being extremely fatigued from his chemotherapy treatments.

In one video, posted after his first round of chemotherapy, Mr Yawnick revealed that he had written a will with his father in case he died.

Mr. Yawnick first started feeling symptoms about eight to 12 months ago, but he wasn’t exactly sure because the symptoms started out mild.

He started to feel tired, but thought this was because he is a ‘workaholic’ and travels a lot for business.

He continued to ignore his symptoms.

An avid runner, he had never had any problems training before, but he developed chest pain and difficulty breathing.

Then he started experiencing pain in his shoulder blades, caused by his tumors pressing against his spine, but doctors thought it was a sports injury.

As he visited more health care providers, Mr Yawnick said his GP would prescribe him medication but would not thoroughly examine him.

Eventually he started having night sweats and very quickly lost 20 pounds – both major indicators that someone might have cancer.

He said, “If you think there is something wrong with you, be an advocate for yourself. Say ‘I’d like this test’ or ‘I’d like to check this to make sure’ because the sooner you get cancer, the better and more treatable it is likely to be and sometimes GPs can be caught up.

‘That’s what happened to me. “We’re here now and luckily I was an advocate for myself and listened to my body.”

After tests, doctors discovered he had three masses around his heart and chest cavity. A biopsy was done to confirm it was lymphoma.

He then underwent a PET scan, which takes 3D images of the inside of the body, to determine what type of lymphoma he had. Those results showed it was primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL).

The 25-year-old’s cancer was determined to be stage 2 as the disease had not spread beyond his diaphragm, but the mass was very large.

Mr Yawnick said in a video: ‘My heart was drowning in liquid so (the doctor) said it would have killed me.’

That amount of fluid could have been fatal if he wasn’t as active and healthy as he is, doctors said.

PMBCL is uncommon and medical research into the disease is very limited.

It occurs most often in people between 30 and 40 years old and affects about one in 500,000 people. About eight in ten patients survive the past five years.

It is a fast-growing cancer that develops in the lymph nodes in the center of the chest, called the mediastinum.

In most cases, PMBCL is treated with chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy and steroids.

While the cancer has a high survival rate, a 2020 study found that approximately 10 to 30 percent of PMBCL patients experience a recurrence of the cancer after their first course of treatment.

Mr Yawnick received chemotherapy in early February after being rushed to the emergency department with severe chest pain. A week later he was able to go home, where he and his girlfriend celebrated the end of his first chemotherapy treatment.

Since then, he has completed a second week-long course of chemotherapy, undergone multiple spinal taps, a lumbar puncture and had more fluid drained from his heart and spine.

Mr Yawnick said his hair had started to fall out and he decided to shave his head alongside his father live on social media.

After treatments, he experiences intense fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite and headaches.

In an emotional video uploaded in mid-February, Mr Yawnick revealed that part of his cancer journey included writing a will with his father in case he died.

He said: ‘I had to sit down with my father at the age of 25 and write my will and tell him what I wanted my parents to have. It’s one of the craziest things you can do: write your will while you’re still so young.

“All the things you cherish in your possessions and who they go to and you realize they mean nothing. They mean nothing because all you want is to just spend time with the people you love because you can’t take any of that stuff with you. You can’t take any of it with you.

“If you have friends or family in your life, know that they are the most valuable thing in the whole world. And make sure you tell them.”

However, he stated, “I don’t have to use that will because we’re going to beat this thing.”

To stay “mentally strong,” Mr. Yawnick said he has a strong support system of family, friends and an online community, and he practices meditation and chanting mantras.

In the most recent update, he described his state of mind regarding his new “normal.”

He said: ‘I’ve been hearing a lot lately about finding the new normal when you have cancer and I found this interesting because cancer is a struggle and a problem that can very easily take over your mind and your daily life. to live.

‘I find a way to accept my new normal. Allowing cancer to take over my mind and day is not something I allow.”