Nightbirde Is Wishing Upon Stars
- Former America's Got Talent frontrunner Jane Marczewski, aka Nightbirde, is feeling disappointed she couldn’t continue to compete on the show as her health declined. In her recent Instagram post, she shared a picture of star-shaped balloons floating over the ocean saying she was wishing on every one.
- She’s been battling stage four breast cancer and inspiring millions along the way with her commitment to positivity and faith.
- There is technically no cure for metastatic breast cancer, but there is a wide variety of treatment options used to battle the disease including hormone therapy, chemotherapy, targeted drugs, immunotherapy and a combination of various treatments.
Marczewski was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer on New Year's Eve in 2019, and she's still fighting for her health. The 30-year-old pop artist's world turned upside down when doctors found multiple tumors on her liver, lungs, lymph nodes, ribs and spine. They told her she had three to six months to live, but she's proved them wrong. And though she had to leave the hit competition series due to her declining health, she’s gained quite a following after her ‘Golden Buzzer’ audition performance of her original song It’s OK.
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“It's so hard for me to not be on the @agt stage for the finals this week,” she wrote in her caption. “I bet you never saw someone win so hard and lose so hard at the same time. This isn't how the story was supposed to go.”
The post included a picture and a video of “wishing stars,” or star-shaped balloons, being released over the ocean. Taking in the view, she said she wished on every one.
“Here we are, you and I, signing off on the risk of REBELLIOUSLY HOPING for better days,” she wrote. “Let us not be blind to our own glory. I'm raging and crying and hoping with everyone who needs to rage and cry and hope tonight. Also wishing on helium balloons.”
Understanding Metastatic Breast Cancer
Metastatic breast cancer also called "stage four" breast cancer means that the cancer has spread, or metastasized, beyond the breasts to other parts of the body. It most commonly spreads to the bones, liver and lungs, but it may also spread to the brain or other organs.
When Breast Cancer Spreads to the Bones
And while there is technically no cure for metastatic breast cancer, there is a wide variety of treatment options used to battle the disease including hormone therapy, chemotherapy, targeted drugs, immunotherapy and a combination of various treatments.
In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Elizabeth Comen, an oncologist with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, explained how she tries to management breast cancer when it has progressed to a later stage.
"With advanced disease, the goal of treatment is to keep you as stable as possible, slow the tumor growth and improve your quality of life," she said.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer, but there are so many breast cancer survivors and people living with the disease today. The American Cancer Society reports that there were more than 3.8 million U.S. women with a history of breast cancer alive at the start of 2019. Some of the women were cancer-free, and others still had evidence of the disease, but they also reported that more than 150,000 breast cancer survivors were living with metastatic disease, three-fourths of whom were originally diagnosed with stage I-III. And with ongoing advancements in treatments and options out there today that can dramatically reduce systems, there are many reasons to be hopeful.
Faith During a Cancer Battle
Faith has played a huge role during Jane Marczewski’s cancer battle, and she’s been very open about her relationship with God through moments of joy and hardship. When she recently shared her thoughts regarding her inability to keep singing on America’s Got Talent, she admitted feeling a mix of emotions towards God but always believing he has her back.
“I spend a lot of time squeezing my eyes shut and trying to remember what I believe; counting my breaths in the grief cloud; burying my face into God's t-shirt.\,” she wrote on Instagram. “I remind Him sometimes, (and not kindly) that I believed Him when He told me the story He wrote for me is good, and that He never stops thinking of me. I must be a fool in love, because even from under all this debris, I still believe Him. And when I'm too angry to ask Him to sit on my bed until I fall asleep, He still stays.”
For some people, turning to faith can be a great way to keep spirits high when cancer starts taking an emotional and/or physical toll. Monica Layton, for example, also believes in the power of faith during a fight with cancer. She turned to her church congregation for support as she battled ovarian cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic and then went through recovery.
"[I've] gone to the same church for a long time, so it's like another family that really supports me," the cancer survivor told SurvivorNet in a previous interview. "We're Episcopalian, and when I was having surgery my priest came to the hospital and stayed and prayed with my family the whole time and it was a long surgery. And then he came back to the hospital every day to pray with me."
Ovarian cancer survivor Monica Layton shares how her church was her biggest support system
In addition to praying for her, Layton's church also sent flowers, cards and a prayer blanket and often visited her.
"They were so kind," Layton said. "I think my faith has been very important, crucial for me. Just the prayer really helps, I think."
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