cancer
Advocating for Herself A devastating diagnosis brings a River Edge family together WRITTEN BY SCOTT FALLON
Months before she was due to give birth to her second daughter last year , Jaclyn Lin suspected something was very wrong .
The Bergen County mom had excruciating back pain . Her baby was kicking all the time . She began having fevers and chills in the middle of summer .
None of these symptoms are uncommon during pregnancy , so doctors focused their attention mostly on the health of the baby . Everything appeared normal on ultrasounds .
But for more than amonth , Lin pressed doctors to check further . They finally scanned beyond her womb to reveal what was really happening inher abdomen . There was amass on her pancreas and lesions onher liver that caused it to swell .
Lin was eventually diagnosed with Stage 4pancreatic cancer , one of the most aggressive forms of the disease , in which life expectancy isoften measured in months .
Pancreatic cancer isextremely rare in pregnant women , considering that the average age of diagnosis is70 . There are not many playbooks onhow to cope with adiagnosis while seven months pregnant at age 35 . It forces difficult decisions in which the lives ofboth the mother and the child are onthe line . The disease and the treatments can be so harsh that caring for ayoung family becomes all but impossible . This is the story ofone mom trying to raise avery young family while she battles adisease whose late-stage survival rate is about one year . Lin ’ s story is one of persistence — and the importance of being one ’ s own advocate in the health care system .
It is the story of afamily coming together to help each other after a devastating diagnosis . And it ’ sthe story of ayoung woman cherishing even the most mundane moments that most take for granted .
FAMILY FIRST Jaclyn Lin with her husband and two daughters .
A PREGNANCY THAT DIDN ’ T FEEL RIGHT
Lin grew up in Monmouth County as the oldest child in alarge combined family with asister , astepsister and two half-brothers .
“ Before any of this , she ’ s the one we looked up to ,” says Angela Yee , her stepsister . “ Jaclyn ’ s the most mature out of the five of us . She ’ s always been the role model , the big sister .”
After receiving agraduate degree in public administration from Seton Hall University , Lin embarked onacareer that gave her afront-row seat to the U . S . health care system — the good , the bad and everything in between . As aconsultant , she helped some of the largest hospitals across the U . S . upgrade their electronic records systems , often working side-by-side with clinicians .
She married in 2020 and had her first daughter ayear later .
Her second pregnancy , which spanned last year , was much more difficult , with constant fatigue . “ I felt 40 weeks pregnant at 20 weeks ,” she says . In late June , about three months before the due date , Lin started feeling severe pains in her back that left her barely able to move at times . Her baby was constantly kicking for reasons that became apparent only after her cancer diagnosis .
“ I didn ’ t know it then , but my liver was half the size of my abdomen ,” says Lin , of River Edge .“ She had no space . She was kicking because she had no room .”
Lin ’ s OB-GYN recommended she go to anearby hospital for observation . Because of her fever and chills , doctors there gave her antibiotics
PROVIDED BY THE LIN FAMILY
26 2024 EDITION ( 201 ) HEALTH