From Kayelle Allen: This week on Romance Lives Forever I’m sharing
stories by authors who have faced cancer either in themselves, or a family member.
The importance of friends and family, and having a support system is vital. One
key to success is being able to ask for help — and then being willing to accept
it. It’s a lesson I’ve had in my own life during various times. I don’t accept help
well. It’s something I fight with all the time. I’d like to think “I’ve got
this” but sometimes I don’t have as good a grip as I thought I did. I have
a friend who’s dealing with cancer right now. A friend’s brother died from cancer
last year. Cancer affects all of us. I hope I’m even half as good a friend as those
you’ll read about in this series.

I’m presenting these posts as an opportunity for the authors
to share their real life stories, as well as their fictional ones. There’s a short
list of ways you can show your support at the end of each post.

I’d like to start by thanking Kayelle
for inviting me to participate. Having the opportunity to talk about my experience
will hopefully help others who find themselves in the terrifying position of receiving
an ovarian cancer diagnosis.

This past July I was diagnosed with
an early stage of a rare form of ovarian cancer, specifically- a granulosa cell
tumor. To say the news was shocking is an understatement. We received it during
a post-op visit where had anticipated hearing great results about a surgery and
anticipated a routine recovery. We did not plan to hear, “We think you should
have the other ovary removed and have chemo.”

My husband described that visit as
“it was like being punched in the nads.” I’d heard men say that expression
before, but never had a reference point until that meeting. Apparently, ladies,
the “nad-punch” experience is mind-numbingly painful and can cause you
to forget any other thought.

We’d been warned not to Google ovarian
cancer and get worked up over what we read because this type of cancer was so different
and so rare. Of course we Googled, but we Googled granulosa cell tumor. We narrowed
our search and we searched high and low and came up with not a whole heck of a lot
of data.

Granulosa Cell Tumors make up about
4% of ovarian cancers. There is not a great deal of research to share because of
this. Unfortunately, most of the data is “after the fact” sort of information
because the cancer is not well known. There is not a central repository for doctors
to link patients and share information on what’s happening, when it happened, types
of treatments, what worked or didn’t. There’s not a standard protocol for measuring
hormone levels in advance of surgery, which would be very helpful for every patient.

This is a cancer with high probability
of recurrence, though a great prognosis if detected early with women living many
years past the original diagnosis. It’s a slow growing cancer with definite indicators
of potential recurrence like monitoring the Inhibin and AMH levels quarterly, then
every six months after the first few years.

There are great resources for women
through the Granulosa Cell Tumor Research Foundation and the Ovarian Cancer National
Alliance. There is also a Facebook group of GCT Survivor Sisters! (you must have
a diagnosis of GCT to be a member of the FB group).

If you find yourself in the unfortunate
position of receiving this diagnosis, please utilize the groups above and feel free
to contact me at contactjordan@jordankrose.com.
I’m more than happy to share what I’ve learned or to lend an ear and be a support
to you.

I sought a second opinion at the Dana
Farber Institute in Boston. I encourage anyone receiving a cancer diagnosis to receive
a second opinion before deciding on treatment.

After all my research I decided against
chemo or surgery as there was no indication any cancer remained in my body. Thus
doing something drastic “just in case” made no sense. But everyone’s decision
is personal and patients need to make decisions that feel right to them.

At the Dana Farber Institute I’ve
signed up to participate in a research study to allow them to better understand
the genetics of this cancer, thus leading to a cure. I’m happy to participate and
hope other patients will consider doing the same to help find a cure.

Below please find the information
on one of my free books, Her Vampire’s Promise, Novella One in the Romance In Central
City Series. Losing myself in books has gotten me through some difficult times and
I wanted to share a book that everyone can afford. As well, if you sign up for my
newsletter, you’ll get the second novella in the series, The Vampire’s Partner for
free.

Wishing every cancer patient all the
best in diagnosis, treatment and recovery.

Jordan

Reade Hayes knows better than any vampire that nothing good ever
comes out of Central City. So he isn’t surprised the beautiful blonde he meets in
the dive bar is crazy. What does surprise him is how fast she moves, how hard she
hits, and the fact she’s wearing a ring he last saw two decades ago on the hand
of his dead friend.

Was this the little girl he swore a blood pact to protect? Why
had her uncle lied about her death? And what had he done to make her so lethal?

Amazon http://amzn.to/1mwINHA

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iBooks http://apple.co/1cIaZZS

Google http://bit.ly/1E1S55v

Kobo http://bit.ly/1cp6YJc

Jordan loves vampires. She also loves to laugh. And if you know
anything about Jordan, you know her vampires will make you laugh.

A few years back Jordan received a copy of Twilight from her
husband as part of her anniversary gift. By the end of that week she’d read the
entire series and moved onto Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. Eight weeks and eighteen
vampire books later the idea for her first book came to her followed very quickly
by Eva Prim.

Having lived in Rhode Island for most of her life Jordan uses
the state as a backdrop for all her books, though many of the cities and towns and
businesses (especially the ones run by vampires) are all fictitious.

When she’s not writing about one vampire or another Jordan enjoys
spending time with her husband, Ken and their lovable Labradors, Dino and Enzo on
the beautiful beaches of New England.

For more free books join Jordan’s newsletter at http://bit.ly/1Vk2TWn

Website www.jordankrose.com

Twitter https://twitter.com/jordankrose

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Amazon Author Page http://www.amazon.com/Jordan-K-Rose/e/B007D06OUU/

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