Brennan Elliott’s Wife Cami Talks About Cancer Journey For First Time

ByGeorgia Makitalo
Photo: Brennan Elliott Credit: ©2020 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Gabriel Hennessey

Recently, Hallmark star Brennan Elliott went to social media to ask for prayers for his wife, Cami. Usually, Elliott is very private about his personal life. However, she is now a Stage IV cancer patient and is in the battle of her life.

Since Brennan’s post, his wife, whose full name is Camilla Row, has shared her cancer battle from the beginning.

She revealed that “Initially, I was secretive of my stage 4 status because I didn’t want people to look at me as a sickly cancer patient, but now I feel like I am on a mission to spread awareness and hopefully be an example of a stage 4 patient who is thriving.”

Here is Cami’s story.

Brennan Elliott’s Wife Cami’s First Symptoms

Writing on the Hope For Stomach Cancer website, Cami shared her cancer story from the beginning. Back in December 2015, Camilla was 37 years of age.

She was experiencing heartburn. However, it was nothing like she had ever experienced before. Unlike with her pregnancies, this was a “burning, stabbing.” Moreover, it left her in tears,

At first, Cami believed she was having a heart attack. She was referred to both a cardiologist and a gastroenterologist.

The cardiologist did not see anything abnormal. As for the gastroenterologist, her youth and healthful appearance did not cause any sort of alarm. Instead of an endoscopy, she was sent home with instructions to use Prilosec.

However, by March 2018, the pain was now intolerable. A younger gastro scheduled an endoscopy, but she had to wait two months.

Brennan Elliott-https://www.instagram.com/p/CcGC0LeLnn5/
Brennan Elliott-https://www.instagram.com/p/CcGC0LeLnn5/

When Thing Changed For Cami

Although Cami got her endoscopy in May, it was in June 2018 that she found out that the biopsy came back malignant. Worse yet, it was an aggressive form of diffuse stomach cancer. This cancer is called signet ring cell carcinoma. Fortunately, it was Stage 1A. She only needed to get surgery.

Surgery meant removing her entire stomach, and 47 lymph nodes. As two of the lymph nodes were cancerous, she had to undergo eight rounds of chemo.

At this time, Cami and Brennan Elliott’s children were 3 and 5 years old. For four months, she went through chemo, and she was cancer-free.

Brennan’s Wife Had More Surgery In 2021

After some time when she was free of cancer while getting her breasts examined, she was diagnosed with atypical hyperplasia. In May 2o21, she underwent a double mastectomy, with reconstruction afterward.

However, this was the beginning of her challenges. In early 2022, they discovered a metastatic tumor on her ovary. Thankfully, it had not spread. But, she has to go through another seven or eight rounds of chemo, including FLOT and Opdivo.

Moreover, she is doing her own research. She understands how powerful knowledge and information are to stay ahead of cancer. But, she never realized that her extended education would be used in this way.

As a clinical psychologist, I have read through countless research studies and have become pretty adept at making sense of statistics, I just never thought I would be using my doctoral level skills to digest articles about stomach cancer.

I consider myself very blessed. I have an incredibly supportive family who will move mountains to help me. As a psychologist, I have an arsenal of tools, tips, and tricks I use daily. But honestly at the end of the day, we are all human and I have my good days and bad days.

Lastly, Cami shared how supportive her family is. She is grateful for everyone and everything. Cami admits she is human, but in reality, she seems super-human. She has been graceful in dealing with a very challenging disease, and she is bringing hope to others who are battling Stage IV cancer.

Georgia Makitalo
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