Mom influencer Carly Douglas, who has an Instagram following of over 50,000, is staying strong and positive after announcing the week of March 24 that she has been shockingly diagnosed with stage 4 gastric cancer after heading into the ER for what she thought was simple stomach pain.
Douglas, a mom of 4 who lives in Greenville, South Carolina, host a podcast called Spill Mama along with her social media endeavors. She’s also a nurse, per her Instagram profile.
She poured out her heart to her followers in an emotional post about how it felt to suddenly realize she has cancer, and how she’s planning to fight for her life.
Carly Douglas Describes How an ER Visit for Pain Turned Into Cancer Shock
In her announcement video, which now has over 70,000 views, Douglas called the news “the life update I never thought I’d give” and told her followers she had to restart the video multiple times before saying “I’m just gonna cry through it.”
Filming from a hospital room, she explained, “I guess it was two weeks ago, I took myself to the ER.” She said her husband was out of town, so her mom came over in the middle of the night to babysit. She went on, “I drove myself to the ER because I thought I was having a bowel obstruction. My belly was just very distended and I was in a lot of pain. They did a CT scan, and it showed that I have stage 4 gastric cancer.”
She revealed the CT showed “a bunch of ascites around my abdomen, which is fluid build-up,” before further explaining, “The peritoneum of my abdomen was very inflamed. It’s called peritoneal carcinomatosis. The next day they did an endoscopy and found a very large tumor on my stomach. A bleeding tumor that they biopsied and that came back cancer. They believe that this started in the stomach and it’s just metastasized.”
Carly Douglas Staying Strong Despite ‘Nightmare’ Cancer Reveal
The social media maven is holding onto to hope and promising to fight for a future with her children. “It’s truly like living in a nightmare,” Douglas told her fans. “But it’s very much real. I think it’s anyone’s worst nightmare, especially a mother. I think I’ve walked through every stage of grief possible, but one thing that has never left is just this overwhelming sense of peace that I’m gonna be okay.”
She added, “I’m gonna fight. I have to, for my kids, and for so many people I love.”
Douiglas’ followers are swarming her with love and support. One commented, “I’m believing, praying, begging, and claiming that you’ll be completely and fully healed. One day we’ll be yapping at the salon about how faithful The Lord was through this. You are such a special friend, I love you Carly!!”
Another wrote, “Storming heaven with prayer with you from Tennessee! You are so the bravest, most joyful human I have the privilege of knowing. Love you SO much ❤️ Thank you for your testimony already my friend.”
