§Annika, a 28-year-old from California, shared her battle with a rare cancer that led to losing her right eye. Diagnosed with stage four sinonasal carcinoma SMARCB1, a cancer affecting fewer than one in a million people, her ordeal began with what seemed like a sinus infection.

In 2023, Annika felt sharp pain near her right eye, which worsened throughout the day. A CT scan initially attributed her symptoms to sinus inflammation. “My face started to really, really hurt on the right side,” she recalled in a TikTok video. Prescribed medication helped briefly, but the pain and swelling returned. On her second ER visit, doctors discovered a tumor near her eye, absent just weeks earlier.

Sinus cancers, though extremely rare, are aggressive. Symptoms can include nasal blockage, headaches, and protruding eyes. According to the NIH, fewer than 200 cases of Annika’s type have been documented.

Annika began chemotherapy immediately, followed by surgery to remove the tumor and her right eye. “They also had to take surrounding tissue, which included my right eye,” she explained, noting that part of her thigh was used to reconstruct her face.

Now on an experimental treatment combining chemo and immunotherapy, Annika remains hopeful. “No doctor has sat me down and said, ‘This is how long you have to live,’” she shared, inspiring many with her courage to keep fighting.