Sep. 5--BENICIA -- At first, Janessa Sales seems like any other spunky high school sophomore. But the petite 16-year-old has learned to cope with far more than the average teenager. After being diagnosed six years ago with a mass of malignant brain tumors, the Benicia teen has faced many obstacles: Sudden hearing loss, stunted growth, cognitive difficulties and social and academic challenges.
Nevertheless, Sales says she's learned to embrace these challenges, meeting life head on. Now in the clear for four years, Sales said whenever she tells her classmates at Rodriguez High School in Fairfield about her battle with cancer, they react with "shocked faces."
"Last year in the cancer awareness club we were asked if anyone knew anyone with cancer. I said, 'Yeah, me,' " Sales said. Sales and her family are so candid about what she went through that her mother, Lorraine Sales, co-authored a book about it. Titled, "Janessa's Journey Through Her Mother's Eyes," the self-published work is available through online bookseller
"If it can touch anybody and help in any way, I will have served my purpose," Lorraine Sales said. She said she's sold dozens of copies since June when the book was published. Sharing her mother's urge to write, Sales said she wants to publish her own version of her story. "I want people not to be afraid of having cancer," Sales said. "And to just stay positive."
Before she was diagnosed with germinoma in 2003, Sales' mother said the first sign that something was wrong was that her daughter had a tremendous thirst. When eating at a restaurant, she said her daughter would drink entire pitchers of water.
"My first thought was, she had the symptoms of a diabetic," her mother said. Tests revealed malignant tumors in Sales' pituitary gland. The prognosis was a roughly 75 percent chance of survival. Doctors removed one of three tumors, her mother said. Sales then underwent three months of chemotherapy and 27 days of radiation. Doctors thought she was in the clear, but a year later she relapsed. Sales then endured more aggressive chemotherapy that caused her to lose most of her hearing. She also underwent stem cell procedures to help rebuild her immune system. "After her stem cell transplant, she didn't eat for a year," her mother said. "She lost her appetite." Instead, doctors fed Sales intravenously. As a result of her hearing loss, Sales wears hearing aids and attends Rodriguez High School, which is home to Solano County's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program. An interpreter accompanies her to her classes. She is also learning sign language with about 11 other deaf and hard of hearing students, Sales said. In addition to pulling good grades, the 4-foot, 9-inch Sales is also the president of the school's cancer awareness club. Things are going well now, but Sales said she faced bullies in middle school due to her disabilities. "The hardest part was trying to fit in again," said Sales, who during her ordeal was home schooled, when she wasn't in and out of public schools. Despite the challenges, which included being the target of bullies in middle school, Sales said she never felt sorry for herself. And her buoyancy in facing a near-fatal disease has helped her become who she is. "I looked at having cancer as an adventure, not like, 'Boo hoo, I have cancer,' " Sales said.