The music of her life used to be the sound of gloves hitting the bag, sneakers gripping the mat, and laughter echoing through the gym after another exhausting round. Fitness wasn’t something Jovita did, it was who she was. “Before cancer, fitness was just part of who I was,” she says, smiling softly at the memory. “I loved being athletic. It made me feel confident and strong. Back then, I focused more on aesthetics and performance than on health itself. I didn’t realize how much it would later become my lifeline.”

In those days, she was training to become an athlete, moving through life with rhythm and drive. “Honestly, it just felt natural,” she says. “I was always drawn to movement, running, training, and pushing limits. There wasn’t one big moment, but more a series of small ones where I realized this is where I feel most alive. Competing, sweating, challenging myself, that’s when I knew this wasn’t just a hobby, it was who I am.”

At twenty-four, Jovita carried the kind of energy that filled a room before she even spoke. “I was full of energy and dreams, a confident, fun-loving person but also focused on my goals, and living life fast,” she recalls. “I thought I had everything figured out, not knowing life was about to test me in ways I couldn’t imagine.”

And then, suddenly, everything changed. The body she had spent years training, the one that had never failed her, started sending silent signals she couldn’t ignore. A small lump. A few medical visits. And words that no one is ever ready to hear. In a single moment, the girl who had once fought for medals found herself preparing for a different kind of battle, one for her life.

The discovery

It began as a dull ache she could not quite explain. “I first noticed a small lump, and it would slightly hurt whenever I threw a punch or a jab during training,” Jovita recalls. “At first, I brushed it off, but deep down I knew something felt off.