A flight to Chicago turned a California mother’s life upside down when a simple unpopped ear after landing triggered months of medical tests, unanswered questions –– and finally a cancer diagnosis.

Last year, Aida Burkins, 22, of Hemet, was on her way to Illinois when she realized her ears refused to pop.

By the time she returned home, her physical condition deteriorated rapidly, leaving her struggling to make sense of what was happening to her.

“I started bleeding into my throat, which would only come out of my nose if I was bent at the hip at about 90 degrees,” Burkins, a mother of two tots aged 1 and 3, told Newsweek.

“My hearing got worse and worse. Then I started getting more tired and losing weight,” she added.

She followed up with multiple doctors and underwent several tests, but was repeatedly sent away with generic advice that it might just be lingering altitude sickness.

Then, a doctor finally figured out the cause of the bleeding: A mass was blocking her eustachian tube. She was immediately referred to an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist.

Burkins had been struggling with hearing issues over several months. “Everything sounded so muffled, and I had a ringing that wouldn’t go away,” she said.

The ENT specialist was quick to notice the mass and suggested it might be cancerous, though they hesitated because of her young age.

The diagnosis also revealed that her adenoids were severely inflamed and needed to be removed.

While Burkins waited for her biopsy results, the left side of her throat started swelling up, forcing her to undergo a second biopsy.

“The doctor told me he had never seen anything quite like what I had going on. He couldn’t be sure it was cancer, but he said it was very suspicious,” she said.

CT scans soon revealed extensive tumor involvement across multiple regions, affecting the cervical lymph nodes near the base of her skull.

In February, her worst nightmare came true and she was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma — a rare type of head and neck cancer that begins in the nasopharynx, the upper part of the throat located behind the nose and above the back of the mouth.

“Hearing I have cancer, all I thought about was not being able to see my babies grow up or do the things they want to do in life. It was horrifying,” she told Newsweek.

In the months after the diagnosis, Burkins underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which has caused the cancerous mass to shrink significantly.

“Everything is shrinking and responding to the treatments my doctors have been giving me, so they’re optimistic that I’ll be cancer-free,” she said.

She hopes that her story can become a reminder for people that “cancer doesn’t discriminate.”

“My babies have definitely been my rock through all of this and have been my biggest purpose and reason for fighting and moving forward with my life,” Burkins said.

As Burkins nears the completion of her cancer treatment, her ultimate wish is simple: To watch her kids grow up, fully cancer-free.

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