What started as a seemingly harmless problem during a flight to Chicago turned into a months-long medical nightmare for a young California mother — and ultimately led to a shocking cancer diagnosis.

Aida Burkins, 22, of Hemet, California, first became concerned last year when her ears refused to pop after she flew to Illinois.

At first, the strange sensation seemed like nothing more than a lingering effect from the change in altitude.

But after returning home, Burkins’ condition began deteriorating — and the symptoms became increasingly alarming.

“I started bleeding into my throat, which would only come out of my nose if I was bent at the hip at about 90 degrees,” Burkins told Newsweek.

The young mother of two children, ages 1 and 3, also noticed that her hearing was getting progressively worse.

“My hearing got worse and worse. Then I started getting more tired and losing weight,” she said.

Burkins sought medical help multiple times, undergoing a series of examinations and tests.

Yet she said doctors repeatedly sent her home with the suggestion that she could simply be experiencing lingering effects from the flight.

Meanwhile, the symptoms refused to disappear.

Her hearing became increasingly muffled, while a persistent ringing in her ears continued.

“Everything sounded so muffled, and I had a ringing that wouldn’t go away,” Burkins recalled.

Then one doctor finally discovered something that changed everything.

A mass was blocking her eustachian tube, the passage that helps equalize pressure between the middle ear and the surrounding environment.

Burkins was immediately referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist.

The ENT doctor quickly spotted the mass and became concerned that it could be cancerous.

But because Burkins was only 22, the possibility of cancer initially seemed difficult to reconcile with her age.

Doctors also discovered that her adenoids were severely inflamed and determined that they needed to be removed.

While Burkins waited anxiously for the results of her first biopsy, another frightening development occurred.

The left side of her throat began to swell.

She was forced to undergo a second biopsy.

“The doctor told me he had never seen anything quite like what I had going on,” Burkins said.

“He couldn’t be sure it was cancer, but he said it was very suspicious.”

Then came the results that Burkins had been dreading.

CT scans revealed extensive tumor involvement in several areas, including the cervical lymph nodes near the base of her skull.

In February, doctors confirmed the devastating diagnosis:

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

The rare cancer develops in the nasopharynx — the upper portion of the throat located behind the nose and above the back of the mouth.

For the young mother, the diagnosis immediately turned her thoughts toward her two children.

“Hearing I have cancer, all I thought about was not being able to see my babies grow up or do the things they want to do in life,” she told Newsweek.

“It was horrifying.”

Burkins soon began an aggressive treatment regimen involving chemotherapy and radiation.

The treatments have taken a heavy toll, but there has been encouraging news.

The cancerous mass has shrunk significantly, and doctors have seen signs that her body is responding to treatment.

“Everything is shrinking and responding to the treatments my doctors have been giving me, so they’re optimistic that I’ll be cancer-free,” she said.

Now, as she approaches the end of her treatment, Burkins hopes her experience will encourage others to take unusual or persistent symptoms seriously.

She also wants people to remember that cancer can affect anyone — regardless of age.

Her message is simple:

“Cancer doesn’t discriminate.”

Through the darkest moments of her battle, Burkins says her children have remained her greatest source of strength.

“My babies have definitely been my rock through all of this and have been my biggest purpose and reason for fighting and moving forward with my life,” she said.

After months of frightening symptoms, countless appointments and a diagnosis she never imagined at just 22, Burkins is now focused on the future.

And that future has one simple goal: to become cancer-free and watch her two children grow up.

Source: NYpost