A woman says she watched her cancer spread across her body for years – and didn’t even know.
Michelle Smith developed a “random” rash that slowly extended up her arm, and was diagnosed with eczema in her teens.
The 29-year-old says her skin became “so much worse” over time, with painful rashes developing all over her hands, legs, back and feet.
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Michelle didn’t realise the rashes were a sign of a much more serious condition.
Despite being treated for eczema regularly from the time she was a teenager, none of the treatments – including ointments and nutrition plans – helped Michelle’s skin.
“When it got to my toes, I knew in my spirit something was wrong,” Michelle told Need To Know.
“I also had multiple swollen lymph nodes as well.
“Every day I would feel as if I found a new one in a new place.”
Michelle, a patient care technician specialist from Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, US, says it took “forever” for doctors to diagnose her, having visited multiple doctors who all gave her the same answer in the past – eczema.
It wasn’t until her hands were sore and cracking that one doctor in Dallas, Texas, finally told her “whatever it is, it’s not eczema”.
Michelle underwent further testing, including blood tests and biopsies, before having surgery to remove a lymph node in her neck in 2018.
Once doctors were about to test the removed lymph node, they revealed the true cause of Michelle’s years-long battle with her skin – she had stage 4 peripheral T-cell lymphoma.
Michelle said: “The way I felt when I found out was shock, sad, angry and honestly disappointed in the healthcare system.
“I felt like one of the doctors that I saw should have been able to tell that there was something wrong and it was a sort of lymphoma.
“I should not have had to wait until the cancer spread throughout my body to be found.”
Michelle underwent three different rounds of chemotherapy, even ringing the bell on three separate occasions.
However, the treatment was unsuccessful and Michelle was told she would need a bone marrow transplant – something her older sister, Ashley, gladly volunteered to help with.
Despite this, the transplant was also unsuccessful.
Michelle said her treatment took her on a “real faith journey” and she often faced anxiety over the potential outcomes.
She added: “I was hopeful at first but then started to get a bit discouraged but I knew my faith in Jesus Christ would be an anchor because doing it alone was impossible.
“My life stood still, my friends were having fun, having kids, buying houses and I was just in my room living with my mom and stepdad trying to raise my son Tristian on my own.
“I was not able to work at all so the financial strain really started to increase.
“It made my family really depressed; they tried to hide it but I could tell, it was really a close call for me, this almost killed me.
“I truly almost lost my life.
“That was not easy for my family to witness.”
Finally, in 2021, Michelle went into remission – something she calls a “miracle”.
She said: “The cancer just never came back and I was healed; I attribute this to my belief in Jesus Christ, honestly.
“They had a medication that put me into some kind of medical remission but the cancer was always going to come back with that.
“They kept me on it and immediately took me into my transplant once that last round was done.
“I know that may sound confusing but my almost five-year remission actually is a miracle.
“There is no scientific explanation or medication that put me into remission, according to my oncology team in Dallas, as to why I should still be here due to the failed transplant.
“They believed the cancer would come back in the next three to six months, if that, but it never did.
“I am healed and made whole again.
“I have been in remission for almost five years now; my skin and lymph nodes are back to normal.”
Michelle described the moment she was told about her remission as “bittersweet”.
She said: “The moment felt like a victory that was quickly coming to be stolen from me.
“I was told that the remission was temporary and the cancer will be back soon.
“The only other option was to do another transplant with a better match of a donor and hope for the best, which I was not willing to do.
“I barely made it through the first one – more so mentally than physically.
“But when months started passing and my check-ups were still showing no signs of cancer and I saw my skin healing and returning to normal – joy, it was pure joy that I felt during that time.
“I get to see my son grow up and the fear of death that would be in my family’s eyes when they would look at me started to vanish.
“Hope and joy was being restored to them as well.”
Looking back, Michelle says she can hardly believe that the horrible “eczema” developing across her body was actually cancer spreading the entire time.
She added: “Looking back at that is absolutely insane to me.
“It took doctors forever to accurately diagnose me with cancer; sometimes those first diagnoses and the first time you go to the doctor, they’re not accurate.
“Sometimes there could still be something wrong with you.
“If you knew how many times they told me that what I had was eczema, you would be shocked.”
During her battle with her painful skin issues, Michelle spent time researching and discovering alternative treatments and products that would help her skin.
After her bone marrow transplant, Michelle became a licensed aesthetician in Pittsburgh to help her understand skin better, to identify problems – and spot cancer too.
She ultimately developed her own so-called Eased and Relieved Butter and launched her skincare business The Buttery Boutique.
Michelle said: “i wanted to make sure when I made my [product] that I was educated on it.
“I was trying to find something to help my skin and my doctor denied me a steroid, my butter was the only thing that provided me a little relief.
“The Buttery Boutique is now helping so many people with dry itchy skin achieve their most beautiful skin and relieve their suffering.”
Michelle is also encouraging others suffering with similar problems to “not lose hope” and to “always advocate for yourself”.
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