Arm pain in 20-year-old woman leads to tragic “just months left to live” discovery

Julie Aneca was just 18 years old when she first felt a strange twinge in her arm. Nothing serious, she thought – maybe just a strain from studying, working too hard, or poor posture. Something a painkiller and a few days’ rest would fix. But the discomfort didn’t ease. Instead, it grew sharper, deeper. Until her life changed forever.

Shock cancer diagnosis

In what was meant to be a routine doctor’s appointment, Julie received the news that split her world in two: advanced bone cancer.

The process moved quickly – tests, referrals, biopsies – everything in a matter of days. The diagnosis struck like a hammer: an aggressive tumor in the bone of her left arm, with a grim prognosis from the start.“My arm swelled up; I couldn’t move it properly. They sent me to an oncologist in Ghent. That’s where everything began,” Julie told Belgian media.

What followed was a whirlwind of surgeries, chemotherapy, intense radiotherapy, and eventually, the amputation of her arm and the fitting of a prosthetic. But even that wasn’t enough. The cancer spread to her lungs, and her condition worsened. In March, her doctors gave her the crushing news: there was nothing more conventional medicine could do.

“Last month they told me I wouldn’t recover. That I probably only have a few months left,” she shares, with a blend of calm and courage.

Living life to the full

Faced with this reality, Julie chose life.“I want to live everything I can, while I can,” she says. Determined to squeeze every drop from whatever time remains, she’s planning to participate in experimental clinical trials, even if they offer only a few more months.“If I get two more years, that’s already a gift,” she insists.

By her side is Jens, her partner and a basketball fanatic, with whom she dreams of making one last trip to New York to watch an NBA game together.“I want to create memories, not just goodbyes,” she adds.

But the hardest part has been confronting conversations no young woman should ever have. “They’ve asked me to plan what to do if I don’t wake up one morning. That’s something you shouldn’t have to think about at 20,” she says.

Yet even in the face of this brutal process, Julie refuses to let cancer dim her spirit. She’s learned to choose carefully where she invests her energy, to stop forcing smiles for those who don’t offer genuine love.“Some bonds have broken, and that’s okay. The ones that remain are pure gold,” she reflects.

Julie doesn’t seek pity – only awareness. She believes her greatest lesson is in cherishing the smallest moments.“My message is simple: appreciate everything, even the tiniest things. Don’t take anything for granted,” she shares. She already has tickets for the reunion concert of K3, her favorite childhood band, and she’s pouring her energy into making it to Christmas, to spend the holiday with her family.

Becoming an inspiration for others

“I focus on what matters most: the people I love and the good moments. I don’t need anyone’s pity – unless it’s real,” she says with a smile.

More than anything, Julie hopes her story inspires others – not just those facing illness, but anyone who’s lost their way, weighed down by problems that, in perspective, might be fleeting.Before judging someone, she suggests, take a moment to understand what they might be going through.“Empathy costs nothing,” she says. “But it can change a life – or at least lighten it.”

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