Jodie’s basic story and treatments are available here:
http://www.jodiesjourney.com
BIO & INFORMATION
NAME: Jodie Guerrero
CONTACT: jodie@jodiesjourney.com
LOCATION: Brisbane, Australia.
SKILLS: Consumer Health Advocate, blogger, writer & speaker.
More details @ www.jodiesjourney.com
BIO: Jodie Louise Guerrero, is a young mum with two beautiful special needs girls. She is an ‘extreme medical survivor’ who is a triple cancer survivor, transplant survivor, medical negligence and rejection disease survivor (GVHD x 5). In total, Jodie has dealt with six medical traumas, all of which could have easily taken her life. Jodie has endured Medical Negligence | Lymphoma 01 | Lymphoma 02 | MDS (RCMD) | Bone Marrow Transplant & GVHD Rejection Disease (mouth, throat, skin, eyes and lungs).
Jodie has a medical diploma in dental nursing, plus over ten years in consumer experience, as an on-going Hematology patient, continually educating herself in medical science and consulting with some of the best doctors in the southern hemisphere. Additionally, she has a working background in customer relations and quality improvement, in both airlines and aerospace industries, both in the United States and Australia. She is a former radio announcer and book industry professional with several years’ experience in book retailing.
Jodie loves dipping her toes into anything artsy and creative. Currently, she enjoys blogging, vloging, writing and media. Jodie's family are Australian-American, her husband is from San Francisco and now living with Jodie in Brisbane, Australia.
During Jodie’s search for answers to her initial symptoms, she experienced a delayed diagnosis - Nov/05 to Sep/06. She visited seven (7) doctors – twenty-one (21) consultations but was basically told she was a hypochondriac and concerned about nothing. Many months later and close to death, she discovered in desperation, via the local emergency room that she had extensive and profuse stage four (4) Follicular B-Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL), eating into nerves | bone & muscle. NHL is a blood cancer that (in Jodie) was caused by two random & common viruses - Glandular Fever and Epstein-Barr Virus. As a result of the extensive disease and tumours – she was losing her R leg mobility – her R leg is still weakened and she has atrophy of the R leg muscles, due to tumour scarring of the S1 nerve. Because of this, she wears a supportive leg brace.
Since that first encounter with blood cancer in 2006, she relapsed again in 2008 and had to then leave full-time work. Jodie then developed another new blood cancer, caused by the toxicities needed as chemotherapy for Lymphoma one & two. The new cancer was Myelodysplasia or Pre-Leukaemia and she needed a transplant to then save her life, once again.
In 2014, she had an Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant, using the bone marrow of a 30-year-old male, from the United States. After fighting through this extremely risky procedure, she has now made it to recovery mode. All up, she has endured ninety-four (94) doses of chemo & radiation and now takes over fifty (50) pills a day, with monthly plasma infusions to maintain her survival. The odds against Jodie surviving have been narrow and her success has been remarkable.
The fact that she is still alive is often regarded as a miracle, by her followers and her medical consultants. Jodie’s Journey, via her online platform and social media presence, has assisted thousands of patients worldwide – many of whom are also in the fight of their lives. Jodie’s positive demeanour in the face of incredible challenges; has inspired many fellow fighters and survivors to keep going, no matter what.
Jodie is committed to serving the cancer and chronic illness community, as an ambassador and an advocate, giving back and assisting as many health consumers, worldwide from the tip of the northern skies to the bottom of the globe.
Jodie uses her skills as a ‘Consumer health Advocate’ – assisting patients in how to speak with doctors, family, friends and how to navigate the hospital and medical systems – receiving the very best treatment possible.
A quote from Jodie: ‘Multiple challenges; mean multiple opportunities to prove that you are strong enough to press on and turn your sour lemons into the sweetest lemonade of all’.
