CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Darcey Meus’ faith is what keeps her spirits high.
“So, it’s easy for me to then say, 'alright wait a minute, this picture is way bigger than just me,'” she shared with WCNC Charlotte.
This is especially true when things are not picture-perfect.
“I had a pain in my shoulder blade. Up my left shoulder blade,” Meus recalled. “In typical fashion, most people end up making excuses. I’m a single mother. 'Oh, I’m just a tired, working single mom like it’s fine.'”
In November of 2021, she eventually went to the doctor for an X-ray. Shortly after leaving, she got a call asking her to come back.
The X-rays showed a mass in her chest. She immediately received treatment in the cardiac intensive care unit.
“Then they biopsied the mass in my chest," she said. "I was told the news it was primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma."
It’s a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Dr. Alan Skarbnik, an oncologist with Novant Health, says it’s a rare disease that usually affects young women.
“The danger with this particular type of lymphoma is the location where this is growing is right between your heart and your chest wall," he said. "There is a potential to compress the blood vessels around the areas."
Meus said the pain in her shoulder was so bad that she couldn’t lie down.
“I had to prop myself up. Dr. Skarbnik literally looked at me and was like 'this is going to sound weird, but your body is going to feel better after you start chemo,' and I just trusted that,” Meus recalled. “I thought 'okay, this is going to be a road that we’re going to walk.'”
The road would have its ups and downs. In the middle of her treatment, she remembers developing mouth sores.
However, in April 2022, after several rounds of chemo, Meus got the all-clear from doctors.
“I think there was almost like a disbelief,” she said.
Meus says she had a fantastic support system around her and is now paying that support forward.
“Ii kind of was the start of people in my life who had cancer,” Meus shared. “There have been so many people that I have been able to then turn around and encourage.”
In December, Meus will graduate from an MBA program at UNC Pembroke.
Contact Nick Sturdivant at nsturdiva1@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.