A young woman who thought she had a pimple behind her ear was told on her 21st birthday that it was actually a cancerous tumour - and there's no cure.
At an age where her friends are out having fun, travelling the world and starting their careers, Emily Foreman, 21, faces an uncertain future as she gets ready to begin treatment for a large cell undifferentiated carcinoma in her main salivary gland.
She first noticed a small lump behind her right ear early last year, which she originally thought felt like a pimple.
The early childhood teacher from Taranaki, New Zealand got the lump checked out several months later after it doubled in size.
After weeks of scans, she received the heartbreaking news she had the cancerous tumour.
Emily Foreman, 21, has a large cell undifferentiated carcinoma in her main salivary gland
Ms Foreman had a six hour operation to remove the tumour before she started radiation.
Despite the right side of her face being left paralysed, she thought she was on the road to recovery.
She had returned to work and was planning her 21st birthday party earlier this year when she got the heartbreaking news that a CT scan revealed the cancer had spread with multiple lesions across both of her lungs.
'There was always that chance of the cancer coming back, but never in a million years did I expect this, or for it to happen so soon,' Ms Foreman wrote on her Give A Little fundraising page.
'This changed everything. Because the lesions were so small and spread across both my lungs surgery wasn't an option, we were also unable to do radiation as this would damage my lungs too much.'
Emily and her mum Sarah (pictured together) were on a day trip looking for a dress for Emily's 21st birthday when they got the news that the cancer had spread to Emily's lungs
Her mother Sarah recalled the moment the a brutal but helpful oncologist delivered the devastating news.
'He said 'Emily, I don't think I can cure you,' Mrs Foreman told Stuff.
'They don't quite know what the tumours on her lungs will do – they know they're not going to go away by themselves.'
Surgery wasn't
