New mom Whitney Cox's doctors may have put an expiration date on her life, but she's determined to beat their expectations and inspire others with her new, and popular, blog.
The 27-year-old mother of two was diagnosed with stage IV cancer shortly after the holidays. At first, doctors thought it was lymphoma, which would have been curable. But they soon learned they didn't know where the cancer originated, and it was aggressive, she wrote.
They gave her six months to live without treatment, she wrote on her blog. If she underwent chemotherapy, she could have five years.
"I was doing the math in my head about how old they [her children] would be when I was supposed to die and I just -- it broke my heart," she told ABC's Charleston, South Carolina, affiliate WCIV-TV.
Most Surprising Allegations in Ebola Nurse Nina Pham's Lawsuit Pregnant Women Turn to Alternative, 'Personalized' Birthing Options Scientists Make a Million Dollar Bet Who Will Die LastHer daughter is 6 and her son is 6 months old. WCIV was there when photographers snapped their first official family portrait as a family of four. Cox said she was hoping to do it before her hair fell out, but she was bald and beautiful for the cameras.
Since Cox started her blog a week ago, more than 12,000 people have viewed the posts about her journey with stage IV cancer. She writes that she hopes to renew others' faith in God through her experience and that she's praying for a miracle.
"I want people to realize how precious life is and how quickly it can be taken away from us," she wrote in a post. "I want them to value their time on this earth with their families. I want them to hug their children a little tighter. I want them to believe in miracles, because I will get my miracle."