Jace Yawnick is far from your typical terminal cancer patient.
He is 25, is in excellent physical shape and eats only grass-fed meat and whole foods.
So when he first started feeling chronic fatigue last year, he attributed it to being a ‘workaholic’, having recently co-founded a marketing agency and working for an organic food delivery company.
He then developed a cough that doctors thought was acid reflux and back pain that was dismissed as golf and sports injuries.
Scans later revealed that stage 2 tumors were putting pressure on his lungs and spine
Yawnick was finally diagnosed with a rare and aggressive type of blood cancer in February. His tragic case highlights the changing face of cancer – with much younger and healthier people now being diagnosed with the disease.
And many doctors are feared to be missing the increasing number of cases in young people because they are not screening them or evaluating their symptoms properly.
Jace Yawnick said he first started feeling symptoms about eight to 12 months ago, but he couldn’t be sure because they started out mild
Yawnick shared that his hair had started to fall out and shaved his head with his father live on social media
Mr. Showing remarkable resilience and a positive attitude in her videos, Yawnick has amassed 500,000 followers on her Instagram and TikTok, where viewers offer support, prayers, advice and share their own experience with cancer at a young age.
He documents his chemotherapy, losing his hair, treatment side effects and how cancer has affected his social and professional life.
In his first video, posted on 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’m going to make a page to document my journey as I go through it because it’s going to be intense.
‘I want to beat this. It’s going to be really hard. It’s going to suck.’
He was diagnosed with stage 2 primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) that kills three to four people in 10 within five years of diagnosis.
The condition comprises just two to three percent of all NHL cases.
Videos posted last week show Mr Yawnick gaunt and hairless. They are a stark comparison to his first handful of videos where he appears healthy and with a full head of hair and beard
He went from being an avid runner who lived a physically active lifestyle to losing 20 pounds and being extremely tired from his chemotherapy treatments.
In a video posted after his first round of chemo, Mr. Yawnick that he had written a will with his father in the event of his death.
His cancer was determined to be stage 2 because it had not spread past his diaphragm, but the masses were very large
Yawnick said in a video: ‘My heart was drowning in fluid so (the doctor) said it would have killed me’
Yawnick first started feeling symptoms about eight to 12 months ago, but couldn’t be sure because they started out mild.
He started to feel tired but figured it was because he is a ‘workaholic’ and travels a lot for his business.
He continued to ignore his symptoms.
An avid runner, he had never had trouble exercising before, but began to experience chest pains and difficulty breathing.
Then he developed pain in his shoulder blades caused by his tumors pressing up against his spine, but doctors thought it was a sports-related injury.
When he visited several providers, Mr. Yawnick said his primary care physician would prescribe him medication, but he did not thoroughly examine him.
Eventually, he started having night sweats and lost 20 pounds very quickly—both key indicators that a person might have cancer.
He said: ‘If you think there’s something wrong with you, be an advocate for yourself. Say “I want this test” or “I want to check this to be sure” because the earlier you catch cancer the better and the more treatable it is most likely to be and sometimes primary care doctors can be caught up.
‘That’s what happened to me. We are 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 his chest cavity. A biopsy was done to confirm it was lymphoma.
He then underwent a PET scan, which creates 3D images of the inside of the body, to determine what kind of lymphoma he had. These results showed that it was primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL).
It was determined that the 25-year-old’s cancer was stage 2 because it had not spread past his diaphragm, but the masses were very large.
Mr. Yawnick said in a video: ‘My heart was drowning in fluid 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 was, doctors said.
PMBCL is not common and medical research into the disease is very limited.
It occurs most often in people between the ages of 30 and 40, and affects around one in 500,000 people. About eight out of 10 patients survive the last five years.
It is a fast-growing cancer that develops in the lymph nodes in the middle of the chest – called the mediastinum.
In most cases, PMBCL is treated with chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and steroids.
While cancer has a high survival rate, a 2020 examination found that approximately 10 to 30 percent of PMBCL patients experience recurrence of the cancer after their first course of treatment.
To stay ‘mentally strong’, the 25-year-old said he has a strong support system of family, friends and online community, and also practices meditation and recites mantras
Yawnick began sharing videos of himself in February after receiving a diagnosis of stage 2 primal mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, a rare and aggressive type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Mr. Yawnick began receiving chemotherapy in early February after he was rushed to the emergency room for severe chest pains. A week later he was able to go home, where he and his girlfriend celebrated the end of his first round of chemotherapy.
Since then, he has completed another week-long cycle of chemo, undergone more spinal taps, a lumbar puncture and had more fluid drained from his heart and spine.
Yawnick shared that his hair had started to fall out and he decided to shave his head with his father live on social media.
After treatments, he experiences intense fatigue, nausea, lack of appetite and headaches.
In an emotional video uploaded in mid-February, Mr. Yawnick that part of his cancer journey included writing a will with his father in the event of his death.
He said: ‘I had to sit down with my dad at 25 and write my will and tell him what I wanted the parents to have. It’s one of the craziest things you can do – writing your will while you’re so young.
‘All the things you value in your possessions and who they go to and you realize they don’t matter. They don’t matter because all you want is just to spend time with the people you love because you can’t take any of the things with you. You can’t take any of it with you.
‘If you have family friends 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’m not going to have to use that will because we’re going to beat this thing.’
To stay “mentally strong,” Yawnick said he has a strong support system of family, friends and online community, and he practices meditation and recites mantras.
In the latest update, he described his state of mind about his new ‘normal’.
He said: ‘I’ve been hearing a lot recently about finding the new normal when you have cancer and I found it interesting because cancer is a struggle and a problem that can very easily take over your mind and your day-to- day life.
‘I’m finding a way to accept my new normal. Letting cancer control my mind and my day is not something I allow.’