It isn’t every day that a typical dentist visit could end up saving your life, but for a 11-year-old girl from Edmond, Oklahoma, that is exactly what happened at her recent dentist visit.
Eleven-year old Journee Woodard went to her dentist for a routine check up for a cleaning and cavity check up. But while dental hygienist Rachel Stroble was conducting her tooth examination, she noticed something abnormal. She saw that Journee’s eyes were discolored, and yellow. While this would be an issue on its own when pertaining to teeth, the problem is even more concerning when the eyes are the target.
Stroble told the dentist, Dr. Michael Chandler, that Journee’s eyes looked yellow. The dentist took a look and agreed that something wasn’t right.
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Upon noticing this yellow discoloration, the young girl was brought to the doctor to receive various tests, including blood tests, an ultrasound, a CT scan, and an MRI. They discovered that Journee had a large mass on her pancreas, and she would need extensive surgery to remove it.
Her parents began documenting their daughter’s surgery and recovery online:
“Friday she underwent a 9 hour surgery to remove a grapefruit-size tumor. Surgeons performed ‘Whipple Procedure,’ a major operation that removed part of her pancreas, stomach, gall bladder and part of the intestine.”
The family reports that Journee will be in the ICU for the next 7 to 10 days. As a means of collecting funds to pay for the medical costs, the young girl’s parents are asking for donations on YouCaring.com, a crowd-sourced fundraising website.
“Thank you so much again for everyone’s continued love, prayers, support and amazing generosity,” Journee’s mother Anna Woodard wrote on the website.