Jaclyn Lin should have been excited to welcome a new baby, but an unexpected diagnosis sidelined her pregnancy – and her life.
Jaclyn, 35, had some lower back pain and flu-like symptoms, including chills and a low-grade fever. Even though the lower back pain could have been a pregnancy symptom, her OB/GYN suggested she go to the hospital to get checked out.
The River Edge resident was admitted to The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood at 27 weeks while carrying her second child. After running tests and checking on the baby, the medical team thought a urinary tract infection (UTI) was the cause. She went home with a prescription for antibiotics, which seemed to help relieve the symptoms.
But a month later, at 31 weeks pregnant, Jaclyn returned to the Labor and Delivery ward of the hospital with the same symptoms. Additional testing showed increased liver enzymes, but that also can be part of the pregnancy process, so she went home once the levels decreased a bit.
At her 32-week appointment, in August 2023, Jaclyn knew she needed to make sure both she and the baby were healthy, so she pushed for more screenings. Two days later she was in the hospital – again – with the same symptoms. This time, she requested abdominal scans, and an ultrasound of her abdomen and a CT scan were ordered.
The following morning, a team of more than five doctors came to explain what the CT scan showed: a mass on her pancreas and lesions on her liver. “This confirmed my worst fears,” says Jaclyn, “but also validated my sanity and concerns that something was not right.”
Jaclyn had to be induced 5 weeks early, when the baby was healthy enough to be delivered, so she could move forward with a biopsy. Those results revealed both the mass and the lesions were malignant: Stage 4 pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
“‘Innumerable’ was the word used to describe the number of tumors on my liver,” Jaclyn says. “There is no magic number of treatments or timeframe, like there is no magic cure.” Chemotherapy, which has helped shrink the tumors and is showing positive effects, began immediately and will continue indefinitely. She is being treated at a leading cancer hospital in NYC/Montvale.
With only a 13 percent 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer, according to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Jaclyn has a battle ahead. She said she is committed to spending as much time as possible with her two daughters, age 3 and 8 months, and her husband.
She is also raising awareness that pancreatic cancer can affect young women and encourages everyone to advocate for their health. You can vote for her in the Super Mom contest, where the winner will appear in Woman’s World magazine, win a trip to Palm Springs and get $20,000. Jaclyn said she would use the money to pay her medical bills, plus travel with her family. Donations made through the voting process support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
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