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Woman's cancer discovered after she questioned initial diagnosis

She was told she had an STD, but, it turned out to be skin cancer and she's very lucky she questioned the initial diagnosis.

NEW ORLEANS — A cancer survivor from Harahan is telling a very personal story about a type of cancer people rarely talk about. And even though she was just getting over being very sick from COVID, she did not ignore the symptoms. And that saved her life.

Ann Heslin is telling this most personal health story to educate and encourage others. It all started around Christmas more than a year ago. She got her first COVID vaccine, but days later, before immunity could build, she got very sick.

“When they come into the treatment room and all their PPE on, I blacked out briefly for a moment. I just cried,” said Ann Heslin, 44. 

It was the original form of COVID. It took a month to get better, but then two lesions appeared on her genitals. It took courage, but she questioned the original diagnosis that it was a sexually transmitted disease.

“Nothing was working, so after a couple of weeks of just being in so much pain in the beginning of March, I could no longer walk,” she remembers. 

Ann's dad Jerry Hesline had passed away of skin cancer in his sinus cavity. It was squamous cell carcinoma. She had had skin cancers removed before as well. And right around her COVID illness, she started having a chronic skin inflammatory condition called lichen sclerosus. Ann was right to ask questions. It was squamous cell carcinoma. The lesions were removed in a four-hour surgery. 

“The biopsy results showed that this tumor that I had removed, had been growing underneath the second or third layer of my skin since probably the summer of 2019,” said Heslin.

 Weeks of daily, difficult radiation and chemotherapy followed at the Ochsner Cancer Institute.

“Reproductive cancer is something we really don't talk about that much. It means that I will not be able to have children, because of all the radiation that I endured, but it  means I'm going to live.”

Ann credits the 32 members of her health care team at Ochsner with saving her life. Her gynecologic oncologist, Dr. Katrina Wade, says while the skin condition that put Ann at risk for vulva cancer is rare, there are other more common causes.

“The most common are going to be the infection with HPV or the human papillomavirus, and then smoking, which reduces our immune system's ability to clear that virus,” explained Dr. Katrina Wade, Gynecologic Oncologist  at Ochsner Health System.

And there's another lesson from Ann’s story, especially during pandemic.

“If you feel in your heart that something is not right, you know, make an appointment with your doctor. Don't put off that yearly exam,” said Heslin. 

“The earlier a cancer is diagnosed, the more likely we are to be able to deliver cancer therapies that are curative,” said Dr. Wade. 

When asked why she is telling such a personal story now, Heslin replied, “You can beat cancer and don't be afraid. Just face it with courage every day, even on the hard days, and you'll get through it,” Heslin said.

Ann says if getting sick with COVID is the reason she started seeing outward warning signs of the skin cancer that had been growing, she is thankful for catching it, but her doctor says researchers are studying to see if there are any possible links.

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