I begged doctors for answers to my excoriating jaw pain but they dismissed symptoms… then came an aggressive cancer diagnosis

When Nancy Major developed a lump in her lower jaw, she assumed it was a routine dental issue.

But what started out as a minor problem quickly developed into an extremely rare and aggressive cancer which saw the 39-year-old, single mother-of-two fighting for her life. 

Major, from Fannett, Texas, first felt like something was wrong when she developed what appeared to be an abscess, a swollen pocket of pus, near the back of her wisdom tooth in January.

When it emerged, she thought it was linked to a cold she was battling at the time. 

But along with the lump and cold, she had also been experiencing weight loss and shortness of breath, which made even climbing stairs difficult. 

Her doctor had prescribed her antibiotics but the medication was not helping to ease the pain.

The pressure from the abscess had grown so strong, the teeth in the back of her mouth had also started to become loose.

A dentist removed Major’s back tooth but sent her home once again with medication that made no difference.

‘Three weeks later I was still in pain, still losing weight, I dropped from 139lbs to just 108lb, and I just knew something wasn’t right,’ the mom-of-two said. 

She claimed that she returned to the hospital repeatedly, begging for answers. 

Doctors performed a series of CT scans, three in total, but the mass in her mouth kept growing. 

Medical practitioners could see the mass on scans but still thought it was just an abscess.   

At one point, they attempted to drain it when antibiotics failed to reduce the swelling.

‘I could hear them pulling and scraping,’ Major remembered.

‘But nothing came out. There was just blood.’

The pain was unbearable, Major said. She couldn’t eat or drink. She was exhausted, frightened, and wasting away.

Finally, a nurse took one look at Major’s face and her scans and sounded the alarm.

The medical practitioner immediately realized it wasn’t an abscess and ordered another urgent scan followed by a biopsy.

This time, the real cause was uncovered: the mass was cancerous, and she needed specialist care immediately. 

She was transported to a more advanced hospital in Texas and given a devastating diagnosis: a rare and extremely aggressive B-cell lymphoma with a shockingly low long-term survival rate.

Luckily, Major’s cancer was caught early and it was stage one, meaning it hadn’t spread to other parts of her body.

Despite this, doctors warned her she had just a 14 to 20 percent chance of living for five more years.

B-cell lymphoma is a type of cancer that originates in B lymphocytes (B cells), which are a type of white blood cell responsible for producing antibodies to fight infections. 

In B-cell lymphoma, these cells grow uncontrollably and accumulate in the lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow, or other organs, interfering with the body’s normal immune function. 

Symptoms may include swollen lymph nodes, fatigue, fever, night sweats, and unexplained weight loss. 

Jaw B-cell lymphoma is very uncommon, accounting for about 0.6 percent of all non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL).

Due to its extreme rarity and the lack of a specific cancer registry for this precise location, there are no specific annual case statistics for the US. 

Treatment depends on the cancer’s stage and may involve chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, or stem cell transplantation.

‘I had a complete meltdown,’ Major said, following her diagnosis.

‘A panic attack right there. I couldn’t breathe.’

She was sent home yet again to wait for a follow up with an oncologist. 

Fortunately, Major’s cousin works as a doctor and recommended she apply for a clinical trial to help cover the costs of her cancer treatment.

After undergoing another series of biopsies and scans, Major was accepted into the lifesaving clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, 1,400 miles away from her family.

‘NIH saved my life,’ she revealed. ‘If I didn’t have those resources, I wouldn’t be here today.’

The tumor that once took over her jaw began shrinking rapidly once chemotherapy from the clinical trial started. 

By her third cycle, scans showed only a tiny speck remaining.

‘My cancer is almost gone and it hasn’t spread,’ she recently shared with her TikTok followers.

‘I have a very high chance of remission now. It’s crazy how fast things changed in just a matter of weeks.’

But treatment has come at a heartbreaking cost.

‘I’m a mom; being away from my children for months has been the hardest part,’ she said.

Her sons, D’siah, 8, and Kannon, 7, who she calls her ‘entire heart’, remain in Texas and are being cared for by her aunt and uncle.

Her dream is to complete treatment and return home to her sons.

Major previously worked in property management doing, along with bartending and waiting tables. 

But since her diagnosis, she hasn’t been able to work and she is currently on Supplemental Security Income.

She relies on just $900 a month from Social Security to support herself and her children. 

So, she has turned TikTok into her lifeline, sharing her journey, selling products, and encouraging others never to lose hope.

‘I’ve been a fighter my whole life,’ she said in one video.

‘This is just part of the journey and I’m okay with that. Help me out, guys. I know you’ve got my back. Let’s do this. Let’s be a team.’

Major remains deeply grateful for her online community: ‘This journey has been made so much easier with all this support. Maybe I’ll be the cure for this type of cancer. A girl can dream, right?

‘My calling is bigger than I can see right now. Something huge is going to come from this.’

As she underwent her fifth and sixth rounds of chemotherapy, Major donated her hair to help children with cancer.

She said: ‘A wig for a cancer baby; that’s something beautiful that can come from this.’

To help cover the costs of care while she is undergoing treatment, Major has set up a GoFundMe, and has currently raised more than $15,000.