For nine months, Ana Radjevic was in and out of urgent care and the emergency room, trying to figure out why she was feeling so sick.
She was fatigued, nauseous, bloated and constantly felt like she was in a bad mood. After at least a dozen appointments and being told her symptoms were likely premenopausal and age-related, and if her stomach size bothered her, she might consider a tummy tuck, she demanded an MRI.
The result: Stage 4 of an aggressive bio-duct cancer that had spread to her liver and a rib.
She was given a possible 2% to 4% five-year survival rate, and to start, she had an eight-hour surgery to remove a tumor wrapped around her upper left liver lobe and her gallbladder.
“I was in shock, my world came to a halt, and all I could think about was what would happen to my boys,” the 52-year-old Huntington Beach woman said, recalling the 2023 diagnosis. “I was going to miss everything about their lives.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jay Pena-Radjevic, 33, was in the Navy and Neb Radjevic, 22, was studying criminal justice at Ohio University. So, hearing her odds, she “went into fighter mode” and was determined not to lose her boys.
Then, less than two months later, Pena-Radjevic learned he would face his own cancer fight alongside his mother. Both worried more about the other than for themselves, Pena-Radjevic said.
“I would have taken my mother’s place in a heartbeat,” he said.
Radjevic said, “I just prayed, ‘He’s young, I’ve lived 50 years, take me.’”
Now, almost three years later, Radjevic, whose cancer reappeared in another part of the liver a few months after her first surgery, is a patient at the City of Hope Orange County, and so is her son.
Radjevic has undergone multiple treatments at this point, including getting help from Dr. Yuman Fong, who is using robotic surgery to minimize patient impact. Pena-Radjevic, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 testicular cancer and had a first operation at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, has undergone chemotherapy and surgeries at City of Hope Orange County as well to remove cancer from his lymph nodes and lung.
Radjevic said she feels healthy and has found renewed hope. Pena-Radjevic, too, has a new perspective on life and enjoys his deepened relationship with his mother through their shared cancer journeys.
Mother’s Day also has new meaning — both say they understand very clearly that tomorrows can’t be taken for granted and that the honor and love of Mother’s Day isn’t a tribute for just one day.
“It’s not just about one day,” Radjevic said. “It’s on a daily basis, like being able to celebrate every event. Just to have dinner with my sons, I treasure every minute.”
Ana Radjevic was diagnosed with cancer in 2023, three months later, Jay Pena-Radjevic was also diagnosed with cancer. (Photo Courtesy of Ana Radjevic)
There for each other
Pena-Radjevic still remembers the overwhelming feeling and panic he had when he got the call from his mother that she had been diagnosed with aggressive cancer. He was serving in Africa at Camp Lemonnier as part of Maritime Security Squadron 11, which is based at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station.
“It was 2 a.m. and I’d just gotten off work at the base in Djibouti,” Pena-Radjevic said of the call on June 29, 2023. “I cried, I felt helpless. After I composed myself, I said I’ll figure out a way to get back. At the command, my commanding officer was very understanding. She told me she’d get me home so I could be with my mom for her surgery.”
After a 22-hour trip, Pena-Radjevic made it just in time. Then he stayed with Radjevic in the hospital for 23 days as she recovered.
Not long after Radjevic got out of the hospital, Pena-Radjevic noticed back pain and a lump on his right testicle. He chalked the pain up to sleeping in a contorted position at the hospital. But after seeing several doctors, he was sent for immediate surgery at Camp Pendleton’s Naval Hospital. And, from there, he was referred to City of Hope in Irvine for follow-up care.
Mom and son counted on each other for support, they said, keeping close tabs on one another as they battled through their treatments.
When one was doing chemo, the other was either there physically or on the phone several times a day.
Pena-Radjevic would remind his mom to drink plenty of water, even though they both knew she couldn’t keep it down. Or he’d order DoorDash for her while he was getting chemo and talk with the driver about exactly where to put it so she could get it with minimal effort.
“I just knew no matter how scared either of us were, we had family next to us,” he said. “Seeing how my mom reacted to chemo, sort of prepped me for mine.”
A rare challenge and hope
“Being in the military, you know your job is to possibly go into harm’s way and that your job is somewhat dangerous, and you resign yourself to that fact,” Pena-Radjevic said. “Me being told I had cancer, it wasn’t something that I could necessarily fight like, ‘Hey, there’s that enemy, go take it out. We have that plan of action.’ It was something inside of me I had no control over. It’s something you have to dig down deep and say, ‘I’m going to beat this.’
“Luckily, it was the type of cancer that is generally curable,” he added, “whereas other cancers are hard to get rid of, no matter how hard someone fights.”
That is typically the case with cholangiocarcinoma, the bile duct cancer that Radjevic was fighting. The rare cancer most often strikes people in their 70s; she was in her late 40s.
“It happens about 8,000 times in this country every year,” said Fong, who chairs City of Hope’s surgery department and performed several of Radjevic’s surgeries. “In other parts of the world, it’s a much more common cancer.”
Bile ducts connect to the liver, and Radjevic’s cancer spread there as well. “Liver cancer is more common,” Fong said, “and about 1 million die each year.”
But the prognosis now for liver cancer is much better, he said, adding that when he was in medical school in the 1980s, everyone who got liver cancer died.
“In my lifetime, I’ve seen it go from that to now we’re curing 40% of the people, and 60% of the people that come to see me are alive five years later,” he said. “Even people not cured can live a long time.”
When Fong first met Radjevic, her tumor had come back and was now on the right side of the liver.
“Most oncologists in the world think of cholangiocarcinoma as a death sentence,” he said. And if you fight it and it comes back, “it’s certain death.”
But Fong said, “Recurrence doesn’t mean death.” And, “recurrence also doesn’t mean someone can’t be cured.”
“Those are two messages that people, and even some oncologists, don’t realize,” he said.
Fong said Radjevic “has been doing pretty well” since he performed a robotic resection of the liver three years ago, cutting out some of the tumors and burning others.
“The message is that effective cancer therapy can be done robotically with very little invasiveness, which helps patients recover,” he said. “Surgeries have become highly effective and many times curative and can be done with rapid recovery.”
“There’s a subset of people that think if they get cancer, that’s always a bad outcome, but there is hope,” he said. “We don’t know how her story will end yet, but so far she’s done very, very well.”
Dr. Nishan Tchekmedyian, deputy physician-in-chief at City of Hope Orange County, now oversees Radjevic’s care. What matters most to him is helping her meet her life goals while still managing the cancer and the side effects that come with the targeted protocols and care.
“Her quality of life is front and center,” he said, adding that Radjevic works full-time. “She wanted to see Neb graduate and help Jay with his ordeal; she wants to make sure she has enough energy for all that.”
Tchekmedyian said with patients like Radjevic, it’s about managing the day-to-day and looking to the future.
“Dealing with the uncertainty can be difficult,” Tchekmedyian said. “But patients are living longer.”
Critical to Radjevic was seeing her younger son graduate from Ohio University, where he majored in criminal justice. She feared that with her and her older son’s cancers, his studies would get waylaid and he would leave school. While Pena-Radjevic managed her healthcare, her younger son, Neb, oversaw her finances.
The first time Radjevic was able to get away was when she road-tripped with Neb back to the university for his senior year. Then, all three flew to his graduation in May 2025.
“He graduated with high honors. I couldn’t have been prouder; all straight A’s,” she said. “To see my son graduate, I was able to be there and stand on my two feet. It was a fantastic moment.”
Fighting with courage and grace together
Tchekmedyian also credits the support mom and son are getting from each other as critical to both their recoveries.
“It’s awe-inspiring, I couldn’t believe she was going through what she was going through and then that Jay was also going through it at the same time,” Tchekmedyian said. “It allows them to understand one another at a very deep level, to help one another. The fact that both of them are going through their own cancer journeys in parallel makes it even more complex and difficult. They’re remarkable people.”
“I think of myself, and if I had to face a situation like that,” he added, “I would only hope that I would face it with as much courage, as much dignity, and as much grace as they do.”
Radjevic, who has spent decades working in the garment district, said she’s barely missed a beat at her job, where she works in sales and data analysis for a junior clothing line. She credits staying focused on work as one reason her recovery is going well.
She still has to get MRIs and PET scans every three months; bloodwork is done every three weeks. And, she deals with a variety of side effects.
“Keeping my mind busy, it just kept me going and made me stronger,” she said, adding that she will likely be on specific medications for the rest of her life.”I feel I’m healthy and cancer-free because I have a medical team that has kept me stable. They’re also doing research for me on other options.”
But in the end, it’s the close-knit bond among her sons and their small families that has meant “everything” to her recovery, Radjevic said.
“I’m curious about how the future will unfold for both of my sons and pray that I will be a part of that as well,” she said.
After going through extensive treatments and additional surgeries for cancer that had spread to his lymph nodes and lung, Pena-Radjevic is in remission and is back in San Diego, where he is stationed on Coronado as part of Beach Master Unit 1, overseeing arms, ammunition and explosives.
This summer, he’ll have served 15 years, and in a few weeks is up for promotion to Petty Officer First Class. His goal is to retire after 20 years.
Then maybe he’ll get into police work, which was really his first love as a kid growing up in Whittier, he said.
For Mother’s Day, the two brothers are planning a nice brunch for Radjevic. It will also include Pena-Radjevic’s girlfriend, Joyce Arroyo, and his 3-year-old daughter, Sophia.
“For me, this will be our first actual Mother’s Day where we’re both still here and both loving life and pursuing what we want to pursue. I’m just really happy that my mom is still here,” Pena-Radjevic said.
“She’s the strongest woman I know,” he added. “I can’t tell my mom how much I love her and how much I care for her. There’s no amount of words that can show that. I try to do that every day with just honoring my mom and wanting her to see what great job she did with her two boys.”