MIAMI _ It's hard to believe that svelte kid in those early pictures with his sister would blossom into a 310-pound NFL defensive lineman. Then again, it's hard to believe those photos of Davon Godchaux and Janecia Godchaux-Hitchens, filled with smiles and hugs in good times, could pre-date something so ominous as cancer.
Godchaux, a Miami Dolphins nose tackle, is flipping through the photos stored in his cell phone to show off those shots of him and sister. But it's not really about him, even on a day he's preparing with the rest of his teammates for a Monday Night Football meeting against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It's definitely all about Janecia _ the sibling who beat Stage IV cervical cancer.
"We're very close," Godchaux says as he searches for more photos. "And with this happening, it brought us even closer together. I don't spend a lot of time with them because of what I do here with the Dolphins. But when I'm (back in Louisiana) I spend time with them. She spends time with my son.
"It was very special to hear when she cleared the cancer. You have no idea."
Talk to Janecia on the phone from her Baton Rouge, La., home and it's easy to get an idea. She tells of the cervical cancer that made her bleed and discharge golf ball sized clots for nearly a year. She tells of the pain in her abdomen and hips, a throb she eventually learned came from her cancer stricken bones.
And she tells of worrying about her 10-year-old daughter Brakiyah. Because the little girl notices things, and asked questions when mommy was constantly going to the doctor or spending time in hospitals.
"I kept thinking I have a 10-year-old little girl," Janecia says. "She's always watching me. So I had to stay strong, especially for her. I didn't want her to see me worry at all.
"I knew I couldn't show any pity or sorrow for myself. I didn't know what God's plan for this was. I didn't question it. I didn't know how I was going to get through it, but I know there was something in the back of my head from God saying, 'If you continue to rely on me, I got you. You'll get through it.' "
There was really nothing to get through for a then-30-year-old Janecia before January of 2018. She was healthy and that was confirmed by previous routine medical checkups. But that month she went for her annual Pap test and, suddenly, something was amiss.
"I got a call to follow up with another doctor because my tests came back abnormal," she says.
Soon she was discharging blood. So the doctor took multiple biopsies and "froze" her cervix so she'd stop bleeding. It didn't work.
"Even the doctor was scared now," Janecia says. "He said I was bleeding like someone with cancer. He had me scared and, calling other doctors, but they didn't want to see me because they said I had gone so far with this doctor that they couldn't take me in and do anything else for me."
Six months passed since that routine annual test sounded the alarm. And now more lab and biopsy results were back so her doctor asked she come see him right away.
"Of course that call made me feel like my feet fell out from under me," Janecia says. "It felt like someone grabbed my heart out of my chest."
Her anxiety was well founded. The doctor announced in June 2018 that Janecia Godchaux-Hitchens had cervical cancer.
"I tried to keep my faith," Janecia says. "My first response was, 'What's next? Where do we go from here?' I kept my faith. I wasn't going to sit there and cry my eyes out. I didn't do that."
The next step was to see an oncologist. By that appointment date Janecia was now having severe back pains, and a hip pain that caused her to start limping when she walked.
Janecia eventually tried to call a family meeting that included her twin, Godchaux and his twin, plus two other siblings, but everyone's schedule was busy. So she announced her illness in a group text instead.
"It was hard, it really was," says Godchaux, the youngest of the six siblings. "It was crazy but we were always there with her, supporting her, whether she needed money because she was missing work, so I was supporting her with money, things like that. It was a tough time."
Janecia's rock in her time of trembling was the Bible. "I stayed in my Scripture," she says. "I always read Isaiah 53:5."
That Scripture, referring to Jesus Christ, reads: But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by his stripes we are healed.
"I relied totally on God," Janecia insists. "I relied totally on my faith."
Janecia is weeping now. She speaks of her faith for a healing that has not yet arrived in the face of a disease that is making her tangibly ill. She speaks of believing in what she did not see over the blood she saw, and the pain she felt, and the grim diagnosis from doctors she heard.
Despite this radical faith, Janecia was admitted to the hospital. And during an exploratory surgery, a mass approximately seven centimeters around was found in her cervix. There was also other bad news:
She already knew she had cancer. Now the doctor told her she had Stage IV cancer, meaning the disease had spread to her bones.
"I didn't talk when they told me that," Janecia says. "But in the back of my mind the whole time I'm thinking, 'My God is a healer.' "
Doctors said they needed to begin aggressive treatment because the cancer was aggressive and because Janecia is young enough to withstand such treatment. She agreed and had radiation and chemotherapy at the same time.
"I had radiation every day and had chemo on Mondays every week," she says. "I had lost weight. I couldn't go anywhere because I was always weak, sick. It got to the point where sometimes I had to be wheel-chaired around."
The situation looked dire. But Janecia didn't focus on how things looked.
"I tried to stay positive," she says. "They gave me a book about Stage IV cancer and I didn't look in there. I stayed off the internet. I surrounded myself with spiritual people, positive people. I got closer to God. I relied on my church. Basically, that was the way I got through it."
Whenever she got out, usually to go to church, Janecia made sure she looked healed.
"She still tried to keep herself up, wearing makeup and wearing a wig when she lost her hair," Godchaux says. "That was great to see her keeping herself together."
Janecia had both external and internal radiation. Doctors used the internal radiation to target the hip bones. That treatment ended in September 2018. In October of 2018 came a second round of chemo.
After a two-week hospital stay in January of 2019, she was able to get an appointment at Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center in February for a second opinion. A scan at MD Anderson showed a breakthrough:
The tumor was shrinking.
"I came back to Louisiana with good news," Janecia says. "I was overjoyed. I knew God was in the midst of this."
Janecia Godchaux-Hitchens relied on a supernatural God throughout her tribulation but also made sure to use man-made treatments and medicines such as Avastin, on which she remains today. The combination of the two worked.
After six treatments of Avastin and Chemo, Janecia returned to MD Anderson last August.
"We were there for two days and all the scans showed no more cancer," she says. "That was totally life changing for us. It's such a blessing and I'm grateful to even be here.
"I can't say I didn't think about death but I knew somehow, He would not let this happen. Somehow I knew God would change it for the better."
Godchaux talks of the lesson the entire saga has taught him.
"Never take life for granted," he says. "Any day, you could be gone. You have to live the moment. Live your best moment. It's like football, it can be taken away from you, so you have to live your best day every day. Go hard at what you do.
"When she got the news, it was a great moment. I haven't told her but we're definitely celebrating once we get to the offseason."
Godchaux has for years been one of the most active players in the South Florida community and this season alone has hosted 10 charity events _ providing education for at-risk youth, reaching out with his annual ChauxDown Camp, and joining the Dolphins fundraising for cancer research through the Dolphins Cycling Challenge.
But this tragedy turned to triumph touched him in a personal way.
So he's donating $100 per tackle throughout October, with the Pittsburgh game being the final one of the month. Half the funds will go to the Dolphins Cancer Challenge and half to the ChauxDown Foundation.
"I want (Janecia) to know that I really care," Godchaux says. "I really care about her and all cancer fighters. I'm not going to lie, if my sister hadn't had cancer, I don't know if I'd be doing this right now. But it hit home for me when I found out she had cancer. And being October, with breast cancer awareness, it was the right time.
"I think it's big for me and I think it's big for her, too."
