Advocating for Your Health
- Timothy Bobrovitsky, 24, thought he had a pulled muscle in his thigh, but when it didn’t go away after three months, he went to get it checked out. This led to Timothy finding out that he had incurable sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer, and by the time they found it, the disease had unfortunately already spread to his lungs.
- The Canadian, who raises awareness for cancer on TikTok with upbeat humor and sass (and even manifested a meeting with his idol Selena Gomez earlier this year), just completed his fifteenth chemotherapy treatment, and his zest for life appears to be propelling him forward full steam ahead, refusing to let the cancer dampen his spirit.
- When facing cancer or another disease, it’s important to do things that bring you joy every day, and Timothy’s story shares the importance of advocating for you health. If you have lingering symptoms that aren’t going away, or something doesn’t seem right with your diagnosis, treatment, or lack thereof, speak up — and be sure to get a second, or multiple, other opinions until you find out what your body is going through.
This led to the 24-year-old finding out that he had incurable synovial sarcoma, and by the time they found it, the cancer had unfortunately already spread to his lungs.
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Raising Awareness
In his uplifting videos, Timothy raises awareness about his disease, explaining symptoms to look out for and urging people to go to the doctor for any sort of lingering pain or strange symptom.
“I think I’m like a lot of people, when something hurts I don’t really go see the doctor,” he shared. “Because seeing the doctor takes forever, you have to make an appointment and it’s just inconvenient in Canada. But I decided that because this knot and this pain in my thigh wasn’t going away, it was like three months at that point, I should go get it checked out.”
@timothyy.b Stage 4 cancer update!!
Timothy explained that when his medical team found the sarcoma, they hadn’t yet realized that it had spread. He had started radiation for the area on his thigh and everything was “going smoothly.”
Then his doctor called him 12 hours later, “telling me that I actually had a lot more sarcomas and a lot more cancer that spread to both of my lungs as well as my tibia which is just lower down on my thigh.”
Unable to have surgery on his lungs, Timothy is now on life-extending treatment to manage his cancer, and finding comfort from his online community, which can often be a rewarding experience — and a nice distraction — for people going through something of this magnitude.”
Manifesting Meeting Selena Gomez
Timothy’s story has even attracted the attention of superstar singer and actress Selena Gomez, who shared one of his TikToks and eventually wound up meeting her “number one fan” in person with the help of his fans tagging and sharing his story.
“I am literally shaking and sweating … I cannot believe this is real life,” Timothy said in a pinned TikTok with visual proof, sharing the moment of their first online encounter to his fans. The screen grab shows Gomez asking Timothy for his “Insta,” meaning his Instagram page handle. Addressing the celebrity last year, Timothy sweetly said he will be in LA for his birthday in February and March (earlier this year), and would love to see her, “but I know you’re probably busy,” he said with his super sweet smile.
The message got through to Gomez apparently, who follows Timothy on TikTok, because the duo wound up meeting up on that special birthday trip to LA. “Happy little cancer kid,” Timothy shared. “We don’t have Make-A-Wish in Canada! This is my Make-A-Wish.”
It appears that Gomez’s Rare Beauty team made it happen, and Timothy was invited to the Los Angeles offices, spoiled with beauty goodies and even shared a meal with his idol, casually sitting together on a bench in front of a giant window looking out into the palm trees and blue skies of the city.
Learning About Sarcoma
Sarcomas are cancers that arise from the cells that hold the body together. They can occur in muscles, nerves, bones, fat, tendons, cartilage or other forms of connective tissues.
“There are hundreds of different kinds of sarcomas, which come from different kinds of cells,” Dr. George Demetri, director of the Sarcoma and Bone Oncology Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.
The word sarcoma refers to a large array of bone and soft tissue cancers; those are then further broken down into more specific forms of the disease, however, we will not list them all as there are more than 50 types of soft tissue sarcomas.
“Sarcomas are rare and the cause in most patients is unknown,” Dr. Vishal Gupta, site director of Radiation Oncology at The Blavatnik Family Chelsea Medical Center at Mount Sinai, previously toldSurvivorNet.
The word sarcoma refers to a large array of bone and soft tissue cancers, and individual cancers within that set go by unique names. For instance, other types of sarcomas include:
- Ewing’s sarcoma is a cancer that typically occurs in and around the bones, often in the arms or legs, or the bones of the pelvis. It most commonly occurs in children and young adults.
- Kaposi sarcoma is a very rare type of cancer that causes lesions on the skin, in lymph nodes, organs, and the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, and throat. It typically affects people with compromised immune systems, such as those with HIV.
- Epithelioid sarcoma is a type of soft tissue cancer that grows slowly. It is likely to begin under the skin of areas like the finger, hand, forearm, lower part of the leg, or foot.
- Synovial sarcoma, also called malignant synovioma, is a cancer that can form soft tissues such as muscle or ligaments, commonly close to joints or in areas like the arm, leg, or foot.
- Osteogenic sarcoma, also called osteosarcoma, starts in the bone, often as it is forming as a young person grows.
- Spindle cell sarcoma is very rare, comprising as little as 2 percent of all primary bone cancer cases. It can start in the bone, often in the arms, legs, and pelvis, and usually occurs in people over 40.
- Angiosarcoma: a rare cancer that develops in the inner lining of blood vessels and lymph vessels. It can occur anywhere in the body but is most often found in the skin, breast, liver and spleen.
Sarcoma Symptoms
The typical symptom of sarcomas is a slow-growing, painless mass. But sarcoma can be hard to detect through symptoms.
“Unfortunately, most sarcomas do not cause many of the symptoms that may be associated with other cancer,” Dr. Dale Shepard, director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute Phase I and Sarcoma Programs, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.
Shepard explained that this often leads to large tumors at the time of diagnosis. “Soft tissue sarcomas are typically painless.”
“Bone sarcomas may be mistaken for orthopedic injuries. A mass the size of a golf ball or larger and growing should be evaluated as a potential sarcoma. It’s important that patients who do have symptoms are not dismissive of them.”
Being your own advocate: Don’t delay going to the doctor
Alex Echols, patient advocate and lymphoma survivor told SurvivorNet that “one of the biggest things” he did “from the very beginning was ask the right questions,” he said of advocating for his health. After all, “it’s our lives on the line,” he added.
He credits those questions with making sure that doctors took him seriously and viewed him as a partner in his treatment. If something doesn’t seem right with your diagnosis, treatment, or lack thereof, speak up — and be sure to get a second, or multiple, other opinions.
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