Diagnosed at 17: A Teen’s Mesothelioma Story
Maliyah H. was only 17 when doctors confirmed she has peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer that forms in the lining of the abdomen. At 19 now, she reflects on her experience living with a cancer that is most often diagnosed in people over the age of 50.
“I was terrified,” she tells us. “I thought that this was it for me. No one can relate to me. This is so rare, especially for someone my age.”
Doctors didn’t give Maliyah a specific stage because peritoneal mesothelioma doesn’t have an official staging system. Instead, doctors use the Peritoneal Cancer Index to assess the spread of the cancer. They described hers as late stage and said it had already spread to organs, including her omentum, a layer of fatty tissue that covers the abdomen, and possibly her reproductive organs.
Her care team first suspected ovarian cancer, but further testing pointed to mesothelioma instead. “They were very shocked,” she recalls.
The months before her diagnosis were hard on her body. Maliyah dealt with ongoing abdominal pain, rapid weight loss, frequent constipation, bladder pain, night sweats and fatigue. “I knew something was up, but the abdominal pain was the number one symptom,” she explains.
Maliyah tells us getting answers wasn’t easy in her hometown of Barbourville, Kentucky. “The doctor here, he just brushed it off and told me I had health anxiety,” she shares. Local doctors repeatedly sent her home. Eventually, her local clinic referred her to the University of Kentucky in Lexington, where the oncology team confirmed her diagnosis.
Finding a Treatment That Worked
Doctors started Maliyah on traditional chemo. She went through multiple rounds without seeing much improvement while experiencing difficult side effects.
“My bones would kill me,” she shares. “I would want to lie in bed. I couldn’t get up. Just nauseous.”
Maliyah and her oncologist eventually discussed trying Lorbrena (lorlatinib), a targeted therapy given as a daily oral pill. It targets a specific genetic change found in some cancer cells. It’s typically used to treat metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
“I took it for one month, and within a month, I was in remission,” she says. “No evidence of cancer.”
Even with no evidence of disease, her surgical oncologist recommended she move forward with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, also known as HIPEC. The procedure combines surgery with a heated chemo wash inside the belly to target any remaining cancer cells. Maliyah had the surgery in March 2025.
The surgery went well, but Maliyah developed a small bowel obstruction after surgery and stayed in the hospital while doctors got it under control. “I ended up recovering really well,” she added. She hasn’t had any signs of cancer since.
Life After Surgery
During her HIPEC procedure, her surgeon removed her omentum, gallbladder and reproductive organs. Still a teenager, she went into surgical menopause immediately afterward.
“One of the hard parts of this is just not being able to have kids,” she says. It’s a loss she’s still processing, Maliyah told us.
However, Maliyah says she’s feeling well overall. “I feel great,” she says. “I can’t even really tell that I’ve ever had cancer before, really.” She still deals with occasional bone pain from her earlier chemo, though she says she can manage it well.
Maliyah exercises, doing cardio workouts about 4 times a week, and she enjoys pilates. She also focuses on nutrition, changing her diet since her diagnosis. She avoids processed food on the advice of her surgical oncologist, who told her to focus on foods that don’t inflame her gut. “I have a nice appetite,” she notes. “I try to be healthier now.”
Maliyah has only 1 year left before she becomes a registered nurse. She works at multiple hospitals near her hometown while finishing her degree. In her free time, she does makeup.
Support, Faith and Advocacy
“The person who helped me the most was my mom,” Maliyah says. “She stayed with me throughout it all. She would motivate me to get up on the days I didn’t want to. She pushed me to keep on going.”
Her brother shaved his head when she lost her hair to chemo, and her fiancé stayed with her through treatment, sharing in the hardest parts of it. A prayer group from her local community also rallied around her. “They were just amazing to me, too,” she adds.
Maliyah says her faith helped her through some of her hardest days with mesothelioma. “Having a good faith and outlook on this helped me get through the toughest time,” she notes. “There’s always hope in Jesus Christ.”
Maliyah has turned her experience into a mission to raise awareness about mesothelioma. “I want people to know that this is very real, and that it could happen to anyone, no matter if you’re old or young,” Maliyah emphasizes.
Her advocacy has already connected her to at least one other young survivor, a teenager from Indiana who found Maliyah’s story on social media. They now lean on each other, offering support neither could find close to home.
Looking ahead, Maliyah wants to complete nursing school and eventually study mesothelioma pathology. Her advice for others facing a similar diagnosis is straightforward. “Never lose hope,” she told us. “Keep a good, positive outlook on the situation and keep faith.”
