“Stephanie Fewsmith Overcomes Rare Cancer, Gears Up for Future with Daughter and Husband”

Stephanie’s Remarkable Journey: Overcoming Rare Cancer at 32

As Stephanie Fewsmith and her spouse, Chris Prince, navigate through their family milestones, their apprehension is understandable.

Two years prior, on their sixth wedding anniversary, Steph unexpectedly fell into a coma and required an emergency airlift to a hospital.

A week later, she collapsed at her daughter Rose’s first birthday celebration, prompting an urgent trip to the ER.

Fast forward six months, Steph celebrated her 33rd birthday while recuperating from a stem cell transplant and five chemotherapy sessions, battling a series of rare and aggressive diseases that had puzzled her family and doctors for years.

Chris jokingly expressed his concerns about important family events. “On our anniversary, you were comatose; and you passed out on the table at Rose’s birthday party,” he said to her.

With a gentle smile, Steph agreed. “And when I finally came home after my birthday, I was exhausted. I had no strength, food didn’t taste good, I had a PICC line trailing me. Looking back, I have to laugh, or I’ll cry. But I was alive – I was alive – and I was home.”

The couple’s humour, commitment and mutual support have been tested in ways that many older individuals have not experienced.

They couldn’t have predicted when they met 12 years ago at a language immersion program in Taiwan – she, a recent graduate of Boston University and he, a rising senior year at George Mason University – that they would confront a trial that would include an early-stage IV cancer diagnosis in their marriage, just a year after the birth of their daughter.

“Going through something like this and not knowing the outcome, you spend some time grieving your life,” said Steph, now 34, watching her 2-year-old play with dolls in their Thornton living room. “And with Rose being so young, I worried if she would have any memories of me.”

Rare Cancer Diagnosis: The Newlyweds’ Challenges

The couple’s journey to their metro Denver townhome was a winding one. They started dating in the summer of 2011 at National Taiwan University in Taipei. She was a recent BU graduate in French language and literature, and aspired to become a high school language teacher. Chris, a Tennessee native, was about to major in global affairs at George Mason. When they first met, he noticed her bandana wrapped around her head in the style of Rosie the Riveter, which perfectly matched her spirited, playful, and resilient attitude.

After Chris graduated the next spring, they returned overseas to teach English in rural China, Beijing, and Taiwan, before moving back to the U.S. They married in 2015 and, three years later, moved to the Denver area where Chris worked in software production and Steph in the nonprofit sector. They purchased a house in December 2019, and were preparing to explore the city’s social and cultural scenes when they discovered she was pregnant, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our dreams for an exciting night life in the city ended quickly,” Chris said with a laugh.

But there were more serious concerns ahead: As Steph’s pregnancy progressed, she noticed bruises all over her body. She wasn’t immediately alarmed but mentioned the bruises to her obstetrician who told her not to worry. Looking back, she recalls the medical technician who administered her epidural during labour commenting on the strange blotches.

“They didn’t hurt but were lumpy, and I assumed my pregnant body was behaving strangely,” she said.

Her daughter Rose was born in October 2020. While she and Chris were overjoyed with their healthy baby girl, Steph’s health was raising alarm bells.

“More bruises appeared, and at my six-week post-partum checkup, I told my OB that I was extremely fatigued – though it was challenging to separate it from the tiredness of being a new mom.”

After inconclusive results from bloodwork and a biopsy on the bruises, a rheumatologist diagnosed her with lupus, an autoimmune disorder that can cause symptoms similar to those Steph was experiencing. She began taking hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to suppress the immune system and treat malaria and rheumatoid arthritis.

However, as spring turned into summer and then into early fall 2021, Steph’s health deteriorated. Looking back, it was easy to justify her worsening condition. She was a new mother, she had returned to work, she had a high pain tolerance, and perhaps her illness was worsened by the germs Rose brought home from daycare.

“I was taking this powerful drug, but I wasn’t getting better. I had a cough, bruises, I kept seeing doctors, I was having several fevers a day. I was sweating, shivering, vomiting. I took numerous COVID tests but they were all negative. I was very, very sick.”

Despite her condition, she persevered, juggling work, caring for Rose, and hoping for some relief or at least some answers to why she wasn’t improving despite her lupus diagnosis. In October of that year, she minimized her fever and chills as she and Chris prepared to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary and a decade of being together with a trip to Telluride with family and friends.

“I felt unwell, but the scenery on the drive was stunning, and we were trying to stay positive.”

The positive atmosphere quickly disappeared that night when Chris woke to find his wife incoherent and unresponsive, with shallow breathing and no motor function. He called 911, and the paramedics stabilized Steph, but since the local hospital was full of COVID patients, Steph had to be airlifted to a hospital in Grand Junction, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit. Back in Denver a week or so later, she was still unwell but determined to put on a brave face for Rose’s first birthday.

“I was determined to make her cake, but I could barely finish it. I couldn’t inflate her balloons. I tried to perk up for a Zoom call with my parents and the last things I remember were getting up to get water and a piece of pizza. Then I sat down at the table and passed out.”

This time, though, Chris decided to bring Steph to the ER at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus.

For the first two weeks, Steph’s diagnosis remained unclear as medical experts conducted multiple tests and searched for answers. Had the 32-year-old contracted a strange fungus during her time in Beijing? Maybe a bite from an animal or bug in rural China? Could she have contracted a bird virus from her travels abroad?

Her UCHealth care team performed more biopsies before they discovered something: Steph was finally going to learn what had been making her so ill, although the answers were heart-wrenching.

Steph and Chris Grapple with Three Serious Diagnoses, Including a Rare Cancer

Chris was with his wife when she received the news: it was not just one diagnosis, but several:

• HLH, or hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare disorder where a person’s immune system abnormally overreacts and attacks the body
• Stage IV natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma, a very rare type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• An Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection, which had triggered both conditions

EBV is a herpes virus, and more than 90 percent of the global population has been infected with it. Typically, it causes a brief illness in children or “mono” in teens, then becomes dormant and causes no symptoms for most people for the rest of their lives. However, in some unfortunate few, perhaps those with an underlying genetic condition, the virus becomes harmful and is the source of a host of serious autoimmune disorders.

“Essentially, my cells that were supposed to destroy the cancer were causing the cancer,” Steph said. “We all have Epstein-Barr but for some of us, it goes haywire.”

While Steph was unfortunate with the news she received, she was lucky in the UCHealth physician who diagnosed and treated her: Dr. Brad Haverkos, clinical director of the Mature T and NK-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma Program. An expert in the battles that Steph faced, he oversees clinical trials for those with EBV-related cancers to discover why it occurs with hopes it leads to better treatments and patient outcomes.

“Steph’s symptoms were challenging as she presented with a constellation of symptoms that were challenging to diagnose: rashes, bruises, inflammation, and an immune system out of whack. It was a bit puzzling, but once she came to UCHealth, we managed to piece it all together,” said Haverkos who is also an associate professor of medicine and hematology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

The day after her diagnoses, Steph was immediately started on the paradoxically named “SMILE” chemotherapy regime consisting of multiple potent drugs. She completed four chemo rounds lasting a week each, heartbreaking days during which she couldn’t see Rose, and friends and family visits were limited because of strict COVID protocol. Her sadness was compounded by the news that the chemo would negatively affect her fertility. For the couple, who had always tried to see the bright side in even the darkest scenario, their grief was palpable.

“Oh my gosh, I was devastated. There was a lot of crying,” she recalled.

“A lot of mental breakdowns, too,” Chris added.

“You want to look for the silver lining, but a lot of false silver linings have led us to that point. We are both very optimistic people,” she said.

“Or at least we were,” he added with a smile.

“But at that moment, it seemed so bleak,” she said. “But we had found Dr. Haverkos, and we were so lucky he was an expert at this rare cancer I had. He is awesome.”

Steph Returns Home with Rose, Chris and a Surge of Hope

After completing her taxing chemo treatment from October 2021 through February 2022, Steph chose to undergo one more chemo round followed by a stem cell transplant in March “for additional insurance” and “to nuke” the deadly string of diagnoses that had tried to bring her down: HLH, NK/T and EBV. In April 2022, after celebrating her 33rd birthday in the hospital, she was able to return home for good and straight into the arms of Rose, who was waiting.

“Cancer is awful, especially for a young person,” she said, tearing up as she snuggled with her daughter, who loves the color pink and dressing up like a princess. “You end up missing years. I still feel guilty missing time with Rose. It’s terrible. It’s physically terrible, it’s emotionally terrible. But I’m still the optimist, and I feel fortunate that if I had to get cancer, I got it when I did because of all the medical advancements.”

Two subsequent PET scans have shown no signs of cancer and that Steph is in remission. And while she was initially given a 50-50 prognosis, she is more than a year out, and all signs point to a continued positive recovery. She goes for regular blood work, is regaining strength and stamina, and planning her next passion project.

Vicki Hall, a close friend who has been with Steph since their happy days at Boston University and more recently, in more harrowing days when she was airlifted out of Telluride and underwent grueling chemo treatments, describes her friend as unyielding, caring and loving.

“She’s such a fantastic mom, and she genuinely cares about others. She has an incredible way of connecting with people,” Hall said.

Steph has thrown herself into staying busy: She and Chris have two dogs, two cats and two fish, and their house is filled with plants, pets and even a worm compost. A staunch believer in social justice causes, Steph is trying to squeeze the most out of every day by taking courses in ecology restoration and herb growing, volunteering at a nearby butterfly pavilion, working at a mushroom farm as well as a city park foundation and even taking drum lessons. As if that weren’t enough, she started her own online Etsy store while she was in the hospital to channel her creativity and stress.

That includes bouts of anxiety; for instance, when she glances at the small bruise that Chris mentions on her left leg.

She remembers that she got it from knocking into a table: To reassure him, she pushes the small purple blotch, tells him it hurts (which is a good thing) and not to worry. Both are relieved and are quick to point out how much they mean to each other.

“I’m so excited to share a future with her and see what next steps she is going to take. I know she’s going to take on a thousand things and excel at all of them.”

As for Steph, she calls Chris her “best friend and most supportive partner.”

“Before cancer, I was motivated by the fear of being lazy. Now I am motivated by wanting to do everything I can in the time I have. I just want to learn everything, do everything, make things grow and leave the earth a better place.”