Black former Miss North Carolina shared a devastating health diagnosis with her followers, mere weeks after passing on her crown. Now, she’s speaking out about how she’s handling her new life after suddenly falling ill.
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Just weeks after Carrie Everett, who was crowned Miss North Carolina in 2024, handed over her crown in June, she began to feel sick. The 21-year-old experienced bloating and a cough that just wouldn’t go away. “I initially knew something was wrong. I don’t get very sick very often,” she told local Durham news station ABC 11.
She was first diagnosed with pneumonia, but her condition worsened after she began to cough up blood. Just one month later, the pageant winner embarked on a journey she never saw coming.
After undergoing a CT scan, masses in her pelvis and a biopsy confirmed signet ring cell carcinoma, an “aggressive cancer that starts in the glandular cells that line your organs,” per the Cleveland Clinic. “It most commonly starts in your stomach… [and] has usually already spread by the time providers diagnose it,” the medical center says, noting how the cancer “requires swift treatment.”
The North Carolina Central University student spent three weeks in the hospital, according to reports, where she had to relearn how to walk, was “hooked up to machines all the time” and couldn’t breathe to the point she needed oxygen support.
“I was shocked,” Everett told ABC 11. “I was also very scared because you hear that word and think of all these stories. I knew my life was going to change.”
Her mother and primary caregiver, Mary Everett, is staying optimistic despite her daughter’s diagnosis. “The Bible says it is better to put your trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man,” Mary told the outlet. “The prognosis wasn’t good. We turn our attention to God.”
Everett just completed her third round of chemotherapy with her family by her side. Her family, who even shaved their heads in solidarity, also launched a GoFundMe to help with medical costs as her mother Mary is unable to work as she cares for her daughter. So far, the fundraiser has exceeded it’s goal of $50,000, raking in an extra $9,000 in donations and counting.
Everett, who is taking time off from her studies, declares she is “holding on to God, keeping the faith and attitude of worship and prayer because I believe I’m healed already in Jesus’ name.”
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