Kent State graduate student Grace Grant, 24, received a shocking stage 4 cancer diagnosis after initially seeking treatment for what she thought was a routine case of pink eye.
According to People, the avid golfer and fashion student woke up one day in May with a swollen eye, setting off a medical journey that would eventually reveal a rare and advanced cancer. Despite the devastating diagnosis, Grant has remained optimistic and focused on her athletic mindset while undergoing aggressive chemotherapy.
At first, there was nothing about Grant’s symptoms that suggested cancer. After waking up with a heavily swollen eye, she went to urgent care, where doctors diagnosed her with pink eye and prescribed steroid drops and antibiotics.
The pink eye was partly caused by a tumor on the left side of her neck
When the treatment failed to help, Grant traveled to her parents’ home in Bradenton, Florida, to get another medical opinion.
Her primary care doctor quickly referred her to a neurologist, which ended up changing everything. During the examination, the neurologist noticed that he could not properly detect blood flow on the left side of Grant’s neck.
He immediately told Grant and her mother to go to a hospital emergency room. It was there that doctors first found a tumor on the left side of her neck.
Because Grant was only 24 and otherwise healthy, doctors initially suspected lymphoma, which is more common in young adults. But a full-body PET scan two weeks later produced a result that nobody expected: Grant’s pancreas “lit up” on the scan.
Doctors initially questioned the finding, since pancreatic cancer is extremely uncommon in someone as young as Grant.
“The most shocking thing wasn’t that it was cancer,” Grant said. “It was that it was pancreatic cancer.”
To get a definitive diagnosis, Grant traveled to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. After a biopsy and additional scans, doctors confirmed that a small tumor on her pancreas contained the same cancer cells found in the tumor in her neck. Grant was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is known for being aggressive and is one of the deadliest forms of cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, the average age at diagnosis is 70, and the disease is more common in men than women.
Grant had been healthy and had no symptoms before her eye suddenly swelled, but doctors determined that her overall health put her in a strong enough position to handle aggressive treatment.
Her oncologists placed her on a high-dose chemotherapy regimen that is stronger than what would typically be given to a 65-year-old patient. Before starting treatment, Grant also had a brief window to freeze her eggs, allowing her to preserve her future fertility.
She’s staying positive
Luckily, her diagnosis also came around the same time as the FDA’s August 2026 approval of daraxonrasib, a targeted drug aimed at treating pancreatic cancer.
As she continues with treatment, Grant has had to put some of her academic plans on hold. She is now taking her classes online while continuing to work toward her master’s degree in fashion.
For now, Grant is taking her treatment one day at a time and encouraging others dealing with serious illnesses to do the same.
Published: Sep 6, 2026 10:30 am