Flying pigs a sign of hope
TANYA ROCHELL SHOWS OFF HER COLLECTION OF FLYING PIGS. THE COLLECTION, ACCORDING TO ROCHELL, HAS A SYMBOLIC MEANING TO HER AFTER SHE SURVIVED CHORLOCARCINOMA, WHICH SHE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH WHILE PREGNANT WITH HER SON 13 YEARS AGO.
Many people collect an item because it reminds them of something from their childhood, or evokes a memory of a vacation. Tanya Rochell’ s obsession with flying pigs has a much deeper, emotional connection. It began 13 years ago.“ I had cancer. A very rare cancer and I just had a baby. I was diagnosed two weeks after I had him,” she said. Rochell had just given birth to her first born and two weeks later she was hemorrhaging.
Choriocarcinoma.“ It is rare.” She said it is also extremely aggressive. Online information now indicates 1 in 40,000 cases globally are reported. It was already in stage 4 when it was discovered, having spread to other areas in her body.
“ So it appears through hemorrhages and usually the cancer appears through miscarriages. And my son was the first one that my doctor had ever treated that the baby actually made it and survived. And he was totally fine.”
So, why collect flying pigs?“ I’ m alive, obviously. So after that, I don’ t know. I took the symbolism of that pig and I read something about it one day, and I was like, anything’ s possible,” Rochell said.
“ I was just your normal 27-year-old. It has honestly changed my life,” she said.“ But it really turned my heart. I was treated in San Antonio because it was so rare.” For six months, every Monday she was checking into the hospital for treat-