Woman living with cancer details the grim realities and secret symptoms nobody talks about

A woman who is battling a rare type of cancer has laid bare the grim realities of living with the disease… and the secret symptoms that nobody talks about.

Natasha Allen, 28, from New York City, was diagnosed with stage four synovial sarcoma in 2020, a cancer that is located in the soft tissue lining of the joints.

Over the years, she has documented her journey on TikTok, and her honest look into her harrowing cancer battle has transformed her into a viral star.

Now, Natasha has spoken exclusively with DailyMail.com about her extensive and year-long battle to even get a diagnosis, as well as the what it was really like to discover that she was suffering from the deadly disease at such a young age.

She also opened up about the gruesome side effects of her treatment which have not only affected her physically, but also mentally.

While chatting with DailyMail.com, Natasha explained that she was fit and healthy before her diagnosis.

‘I had a clean bill of health. I would get a cold once in the winter and once in the summer and that was basically it,’ she shared.

‘I played basketball [for eight years] before I had a knee issue that [made me] stop playing organized sports, but I would go to the gym and loved biking.’

A woman who is battling a rare type of cancer has laid bare the grim realities of living with the disease… and the secret symptoms that nobody talks about

Natasha Allen, 28, from New York City, was diagnosed with stage four synovial sarcoma in 2020, a cancer that is located in the soft tissue lining of the joints. She’s seen in 2020

She explained that her first symptom arose in early 2019, when a sudden and severe pain developed in her right knee while she was in her last semester at college.

As she had previously injured her left knee playing basketball, her doctor initially brushed off her pain.

‘He said it was likely because I had put more weight on the right leg because of the surgery [on my left],’ she explained.

By the summer of 2019, however, the pain had gotten so bad that Natasha said she was having trouble walking.

Her doctor then recommended physical therapy, but after three months of that and no relief, she finally got an MRI in November 2019. 

‘It showed some damage of the knee, as well as a lump, which he chucked up to being a cyst,’ she continued.

Her doctor scheduled her for surgery in early 2020 to get the cyst drained, and said he was going to send a sample of the lump for a biopsy. 

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, everything got delayed which meant the sample never ended up being sent for testing.

While chatting with DailyMail.com, Natasha explained that she was fit and healthy before her diagnosis. She’s seen in 2017, three years before her diagnosis

She explained that her first symptom arose in early 2019, when a sudden and severe pain developed in her right knee while she was in her last semester at college. She’s seen in 2019

In July 2020, more than a year after the pain first arose, she discovered she had synovial sarcoma. And in mid-2021, she discovered that her cancer had spread to her lungs

Months passed before Natasha said her physical therapist finally urged her to push her doctor. 

Finally, in July 2020, more than a year after the pain first arose, she got the biopsy and learned that the lump was not a cyst, but rather a tumor, and she had synovial sarcoma.

‘I felt like my whole life was falling apart. I was one year out of college, still trying to figure out who I was and now I had this huge diagnosis,’ she recalled.

‘I was alone during that appointment, and I was crying the most I had ever cried. I was 23 and told I had a rare and aggressive cancer.’

She began treatment in September 2020, which concluded in February 2021.

But seven months later, she discovered that her cancer had not only returned, but had also spread to her lungs during a routine follow-up scan. 

She is now receiving chemotherapy, and often posts about the horrific downsides to battling the disease on TikTok.

‘It’s hard because you never know how your body will show up each day,’ she told DailyMail.com about living with cancer.

She said one of the hardest symptoms is its affect on her skin color. She’s seen left early on in her treatment and right recently

She told DailyMail.com that the medication she’s taken has lightened her skin and her hair, adding, ‘It’s been hard grappling with the change because I don’t see myself as light-skinned’

‘You have all these side effects while trying to live a life as a 20-something-year-old. It takes more for me to [even] get out of bed, to go out to social events. 

‘I have to do body check-ins to make sure I will be able to do the things I want and sometimes my body has to make the decisions for me which sucks.

‘I started documenting the journey when I started treatment because my cancer is so rare. 

‘There was little to no information on it, and I didn’t see young people talking about going through cancer.

‘I used TikTok sort of like a way to process the whole experience and coping with it as well.’

One of her most viral videos featured her discussing a symptom that most cancer patients don’t talk about: its affect on her skin color.

Natasha, a black woman, wrote in the clip, which has been viewed more than 1.6 million times: ‘When you have lost so much melanin people accuse you of being biracial,’ as she pretended to cry.

She told DailyMail.com that she believes her skin lightened because of one of the medications she is taking.

‘After a few weeks [of taking the medicine], I noticed that I was getting some rashes on my face and my skin was lightening up in patches,’ she shared. 

‘After a few weeks [of taking the medicine], I noticed that I was getting some rashes on my face and my skin was lightening up in patches,’ she shared

Natasha admitted that it has ‘been hard mentally’ on her, but added that she tries to ‘tell herself’ that her body will return to the way it was after she completes her treatment

‘I knew I was lighter but I didn’t realize it was that big of a difference until I looked back on photos from months ago. 

‘It’s been hard grappling with the change because I don’t see myself as light-skinned.’

Another unexpected symptom that she has endured is the ‘lightening of her hair.’

‘My body hair, everything started growing out white,’ she revealed. ‘My hair on my head [even] started growing out depigmented and it made me look like I was fully graying.’

In addition, she said she has developed severe ‘rashes on her legs and arms,’ which get so bad they often ‘bleed.’ 

But the most difficult part? Learning to accept all the changes.

Natasha admitted that it has ‘been hard mentally’ on her, but added that she tries to ‘tell herself’ that her body will return to the way it was after she completes her treatment.

‘And on the rare chance it doesn’t, I will find a way to love myself,’ she concluded.

‘Cancer has changed a lot about myself without my permission, so having to relearn to love yourself through every change, has been hard but necessary.’