An Alabama woman got into a car crash the day before her wedding, only to learn at the emergency room later that night that she had stage four cancer.
Melissa Adams, 31-year-old mother with young children, said the accident happened in November. She was driving back home from her rehearsal dinner when she was T-boned at a stop light.
When she went to the hospital to check herself out for potential injuries, doctors did a CT scan and found 18 tumors all over her body. She has masses in her abdomen, her chest and one near her heart.
'Had I not been in the car accident, I wouldn't know,' Adams told WHNT-TV. 'I'm thankful that God hit me with the car, and that I get the chance to fight for my life.'
The very next day, she tied the knot with her now-husband, Matt Stewart, refusing to let the horrific turn of events ruin what was supposed to be a happy day.
'The show must go on,' she said. 'My cancer has taken away so much from me; I wasn't going to allow it to take away from me on that day.'
Initially, doctors did not know what kind of cancer she had. The Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville performed a biopsy that ended up being inconclusive.
She then traveled to MD Anderson in Houston where she finally learned her diagnosis.
Months later, she was diagnosed with Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma, an extremely rare form of cancer. She began chemotherapy this week.
'They came back with Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma, which is an extremely rare cancer that only a few hundred people have ever been known to have,' she said.
On Wednesday, she began chemotherapy.
'I'm really excited to start chemo because it has been about 19, 20 weeks of a journey to get to this point,' she said. 'All I've wanted for those weeks was just to start a treatment plan and just to, you know, have a goal and something to work towards.'
Adams said she has had a history of autoimmune issues and back pain, neither of which she thought were precursors for cancer.
'I thought I just needed to toughen up, you know,' she said. 'Other people have back pain, but mine was steadily getting worse and that was actually because of the masses inside my body pushing on my organs and moving things around.'
That's why she now tells people to go to the doctor when something feels wrong, a message she preaches to her audience on TikTok.
She made her first post about her cancer diagnosis on December 20. She answered people's questions about her symptoms, explaining that she had hives, rashes, gastrointestinal issues and nerve pain, all of which she thought were being caused by an autoimmune disorder.
Other videos of hers show the reality of dealing with cancer as a young mom when her prognosis is not positive.
TikTok has become Adams's emotional outlet to share her struggles.
In March, Adams celebrated her 31st birthday, which she acknowledged could be her last.
'It's such a taboo thing to talk about, and it's not cool to get online and cry, you know, or share your feelings, outwardly with just the world,' she said.'But I think that does kind of help other people who are maybe in the same boat as you.'
Adams has set up a GoFundMe to pay for her medical bills. The fundraiser is also giving her family a cushion to pay for everyday expenses while also paying off her totaled car, which she still owes money on.
It has raised nearly $35,000 toward a $100,000 goal as of Friday morning.