Meet Eryka R. Vasquez

Hi! My name is Eryka Vasquez. I am 28 years old and in April 2023 I found out I had Ewing Sarcoma in my lower mandible. I’ll be honest, I was.. AM stubborn. Even though I was in excruciating pain I didn’t want to go get this weird bump checked out. I was killing it at work, I  didn’t want to focus on myself, I figured I’d eventually get it looked at.. or maybe it would go away with ice? Heat? Pain meds? But none of that was working and one day on my way to work I kept feeling like I shouldn’t go in. As I drove closer I heard “turn back”. When I walked through the door of our building again “turn back”. I hesitated when I clocked in, but I did it anyway. When I was at the threshold of our door, I heard “leave”. So, I walked in, told my supervisor I needed to go to the ER and she helped me find the closest one with our insurance and I left. To make a long story short, I went to the nearest hospital with my sister by my side, and they told me it was an abscess that needed to be drained but something felt off to the nurse and he asked If I wanted CT scans. I agreed. The CT showed what looked like a spur. The nurse told me it looked like osteosarcoma but wasn’t sure and advised me to get another opinion. I knew from my extensive experience in tv medical dramas that ~sarcoma~ was associated with cancer. But that’s it. It looked pretty big, and for the first time I saw just how big my chin had gotten.. I was scared.. The nurse had given me numbers to set up appointments with specialists but all appointments were at least 3 months away. A family friend had told us that University Hospital was really great when it came to cancer SO my mom drove in the next day and took me to their ER. We were there for close to 8 hours. They ran all kinds of tests. Blood work, Ct scans, a biopsy, a nasal endoscopy (absolutely terrifying). All of the doctors, nurses, and techs took such great care of me, around 3 in the morning mom and I went home confident that I was in good hands. After that day, it was a whirlwind of appointments, I met doctor after doctor and at times I felt like it was taking SO long for any type of treatment to start. I met with an ENT surgeon who was excited to get the tumor out but knew that it was in my best interest to reduce the size of the tumor before removing it.

 

I then met with Doctor Aaron Sugalski and his/MY amazing pedi hematology oncology team. It felt right from the start. They were goofy, a little sarcastic and they were all very knowledgeable, I was immediately put at ease. They answered all the questions I and my family had at the time and when I came up with more questions, they answered those also. I had a pet scan, a biopsy, another biopsy, port ~installation~ and then finally, I started chemo right before my 27th birthday. On said birthday my family took turns shaving my hair off, it was fun, we had cake, it was a celebration. Round after round of chemo I got more and more tired.. and on occasion sick. I was cracking less and less jokes but still managed to smile. Always smiled. Always tried to smile. It was incredibly hard. I hated seeing my family stressed and worried. I fought for them. It was easier to focus on them and not me. It helped. Then it was surgery time. I met with my ENT surgeon as well as my ENT Reconstruction surgeon. One was going to remove the tumor (along with my whole lower mandible) and one was going to reconstruct a bone from my leg into a new lower mandible. Amazing. For about 3 weeks I couldn’t talk, smile, laugh, nothing! It was rough. Surprisingly I only broke down a couple days away from my discharge. I just wanted to leave and go home, see my dog and my cats, Lay on my lumpy couch while NCIS plays in the background. And finally that day arrived! I was home. No more wires, drains, wound vac, twice a day shots, IVs, feeding tube hookups, suctioning, trach, mucus plugs, multiple day/night vitals, bad sleep, no more silence. After about a week at home I could eat soft foods! Mashed potatoes, egg, egg, and more egg. Thank you God for making egg and potatoes so versatile. Then some soups got mixed in. I’m a Hispanic Texan, I was really missing my tortillas.. after I was nice and recovered (kind of) I was fixing to start chemo again but my team wanted to wait one more week because my leg wound wasn’t quite there yet. Well.. that week my grandpa passed away. I was so glad I got to go home and see him before he passed and glad I was there when it happened. My family would have been with me in the hospital had my team not waited. I was able to attend his services. I got to see family who had me in their prayers from the beginning. It gave me more hope to keep fighting. To fight for my grandpa. To make him proud..

 

I started chemo again a week later. While my meal options were scarce, my parents and my sister made sure I got my nutrients whether it was a smoothie, a boost shake, soups from potbelly or some yummy goopy oatmeal. Thanksgiving came but so did an after chemo infection so back to the hospital I went! Mom and I spent thanksgiving together in the hospital and her amazing cousin brought us a whole meal! Turkey, stuffing, all the sides, AND dessert. It made that day so much better! December flew right by, I was always so tired and my sister was working so we weren’t even able to put up our Christmas tree.. my poor cats missed their sparkling lights. Ct after ct came back clear. Food was getting easier to eat and my attitude was improving. I could see the light at the end of this dark troubling tunnel. I finished chemo in February, got another infection and landed myself back in the hospital a week later. But then I was actually home for good and had my first long stretch between appointments. It was slightly terrifying to not be monitored constantly. But a good terrifying. I went back to work in April. Thankfully, I still had my job after a year of being in and out of treatments I was looking forward to “normalcy”. My journey isn’t over, I still get tired, I’m limited in some things at work but I’m there. I have a schedule. I see my coworkers. The ones who checked up on me and prayed for me. The ones who kept me updated on the ~Tea~. It’s been nice being back, but nothing is the same. There is no going back to before cancer. I know that now. It’s a hard adjustment. Every week/month it feels like something pops up. Since I’ve been back at work, I fell in the freezer and badly sprained my wrist, my car had problems and eventually needed a new battery, I had major dizzy spells that I now know is POTS, I got shingles (horrible, 10/10 do not recommend), and my beautiful crazy aunt has passed away from angiosarcoma. It’s been a wild ride. I don’t know what the future holds but I knew God had something BIG planned for me. This Foundation is it, I’m SO excited to help those who are in the same situation I was in.