Jocelyn and Kristofer Carella-Erickson have had back-to-back cancer diagnoses, with Kristofer getting diagnosed first, less than one year after the couple said "I do"One year after Kristofer was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Jocelyn was diagnosed with stage 3 triple negative breast cancerJocelyn and Kristofer have been using humor to cope with their difficult health journeys, and a TikTok sharing their story has gone viral One couple is putting the “in sickness and in health” portion of their vows to the test. Jocelyn and Kristofer Carella-Erickson have a love story that’s been tested more than most. The couple got engaged in 2018, and would spend their Tuesday nights pre-COVID at their local dive bar, singing throwback emo songs late into the night with a group of their friends. Two years later, they married on Halloween in 2020 (a night that also happened to sport a full moon), having a small and COVID-compliant ceremony that they livestreamed to their large number of original wedding invitees. But just four months after they said their vows, promising to be there for each other “in sickness and in health,” Kristofer, 37, developed a lump in his neck. “When we were cooking, he happened to turn to the side, and I literally, pardon my French, but I said, ‘What the f--- is that?’ “ Jocelyn, 31, recounts of the February 2021 diagnosis exclusively to PEOPLE. “Because it just kind of bulged out of his neck.” “It didn't give me any pain or anything. So I didn't even know it was there,” Kristofer says. She admits that at the time, neither of them had primary care physicians, and they scrambled to make an appointment as quickly as possible after a fruitless trip to their local urgent care. Following some concerning lab results from the initial consultations, Kristofer was ultimately diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and found himself attending a series of doctors appointments, often alone, thanks to the strict COVID protocols still in place. As he prepared for treatment, the process was quickly expedited when Kristofer’s lump swelled and the tumor turned necrotic. “It went from like a golf ball to a softball, and it seemed like it happened overnight,” Jocelyn recounts. “That's when they determined that the tumor was necrotic. It was like killing itself while it was rapidly multiplying, which was causing all of the pain and swelling. It was just insane.” For the following few months, as Kristofer went through rounds of chemotherapy, Jocelyn drove him to and from appointments, supporting him as he worked through treatment. Thankfully, on Aug. 18, 2021, Kristofer went into remission with no signs of recurrence. Unfortunately, this would only be the beginning of the couple’s experiences with cancer. Less than one year later, in February 2022, Jocelyn felt a pop in her collarbone while playing with one of their cats. “I was like, 'Did I just pull a muscle reaching for a cat toy? Like am I that out of shape right now? What is happening?' I really sincerely thought it was just a pulled muscle,” she says. But the pop in her collarbone eventually hardened into a visible lump, “which obviously freaked me the hell out," she says. “Being 29 years old, I still didn't have my own primary doctor,” she admits. But frantic calls to her husband’s doctor’s office resulted in an appointment 10 days later. “I also had swelling and pain in the axillary tissue in my underarm. I couldn't lift my arm anymore at that point. It happened that quickly. It developed that rapidly. And [the doctor] did one quick exam of me and was like, ‘I am referring you to the breast health specialist at the hospital.’ ” She was quickly seen by the specialist, who said she needed an ultrasound guided biopsy “because of how nefarious it was looking,” Jocelyn says. “I did not like going to the doctors, which is why I had avoided it for so long,” she admits, expressing regret over it. “Which, in hindsight, was probably not the best decision.” Unfortunately, the biopsy revealed more bad news for Jocelyn, who was diagnosed with stage 3 triple negative breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, triple negative breast cancer is an “aggressive type of invasive breast cancer [differing] from other types of invasive breast cancer in that it tends to grow and spread faster, has fewer treatment options, and tends to have a worse prognosis.” The cancer cells don’t have estrogen or progesterone receptors, and also often don’t make the protein called HER2, leading to “negative” test results for all three when biopsied. “I was in the parking lot outside of my job and just started bawling my eyes out because like, what else can you do?” Jocelyn remembers. “At that point, I was like, this is almost almost a year to the date that my husband was diagnosed and now I have an even more rare and extreme cancer. It obviously isn't comparable — it's not a competition even though we made it look like one.” “We thought we could live normal lives and that he was just going to be the survivor, and I was the caregiver that stood by him, and now it's his turn to be the caregiver and my turn to fight,” she continues. By the time Jocelyn began her sessions of chemotherapy, she was allowed a guest to sit with her for the procedures. Her mom or a friend would often sit alongside her as she went through the treatments, with Kristofer scheduling days off when he could. “I got a Bambi Squishmallow because he couldn't be with me for all my infusions,” Jocelyn says, noting that Bambi is Kristofer’s favorite Disney movie. “That was my reminder that even though he's not here, this is my little totem for my husband.” From there, Jocelyn lists the series of tests, scans and procedures she had to undergo following the diagnosis, including an MRI guided biopsy, chemotherapy infusions and surgeries, to name just a few. At one point during her treatment, she says she came down with an intense fever that took a week to break, landing her in the emergency room. (“VIP status in the ER is nice, but not something I ever wanted,” she jokes.) But after returning home after the neutropenic fever breaks, she says “my skin just started crawling.” “I was just itchy and it felt like my skin was on fire. I would wake up in the middle of the night scratching myself to the point where I was bleeding,” she recounts. “I couldn't figure out what was happening, so I called my oncology team. They had me come in and get checked out at my next scheduled infusion and couldn't figure out what was happening. And then the rash started developing on my arms.” It was ultimately a reaction to one of her infusions, but her doctors wanted to continue treatment. Jocelyn says the doctors said to her that they were “throwing everything in the kitchen sink" at her, "because you're young and you've gotten this far and we want to give you the best odds of getting through to the other side of this." Her body continued to break out in rashes, so she would spend her infusion sessions with bags of ice on her arms and blankets on her legs to try and find some semblance of comfort. “That's when I got really popular because none of my oncology nurses had seen a rash that bad,” she jokes. As Jocelyn and Kristofer recount a tale that would make many tearful to relive, she and her husband often make quips and jokes, giggling in between the morbidity of it all. “I couldn't let you have anything to yourself,” she says to Kristofer at one point, referring to their back-to-back cancer diagnoses and eliciting a laugh from him. Humor, Jocelyn says, has been some of the best medicine for them. “If you can't laugh, all that's left to do is cry and we've done enough of that,” she insists. “So we're going to get silly with it.” It’s what led her to post a TikTok sharing their cancer journeys, attempting to summarize it all in a measly 31 slides of text overlaid on a repeating image of the muppet Pepé the King Prawn. As of this writing, the video now has 6.7 million views. Though some in the comments thought her explanation was a bit much to share on the Internet, she also says it’s sparked a significant number of comments from others sharing their own similar experiences. “I think that's kind of the most powerful thing about this for me right now — nothing good has really come from this except being able to help validate other people's experiences,” Jocelyn says. “Obviously, it's strengthened the bond between me and my husband in the best worst way … I hate that he doesn't have as much to add because his part of the story was a short chapter and mine just isn't ending.” Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. A story like Jocelyn’s seems like it would reach a conclusion at some point. She jokes that she’s ready to move on to the next chapter of her life, close the book on cancer and experience what she can of a normal life with her husband, despite some of the lasting effects she’ll have to deal with regardless of the outcome. To date, though, Jocelyn says, “I've never been told I'm in remission.” The closest she’s come to being clear of cancer was after her mastectomy, where she was told she had “clear margins,” meaning she had a “complete response to chemotherapy” and there weren't measurable traces of the cancer in her body, but it was possible there were still cells present. But as she recovered from the surgery and began radiation, hoping the end was in sight, she had a fall reminiscent of the famous Home Alone scene that led to weeks of physical therapy and a cane as a 30th birthday gift. Later scans revealed that some of her treatment had caused necrosis in both her femoral heads and she had to have hip replacement surgery. “When I woke up from surgery, they told me the bone they removed was SQUISHY,” she shared in the viral TikTok. She’s since had both of her hips replaced, and the necrosis has also hit both of her shoulders. Subsequent seizures then led doctors to find a tumor in her brain, which was supposedly directly related to her original diagnosis. A craniotomy was then ordered to debulk a 1.8 cm tumor. “My brain tried to grow a frikken boob,” she jokes in the TikTok before revealing that was when doctors informed her her diagnosis had officially progressed to stage 4. In an update on Facebook posted on Feb. 19, Jocelyn reveals that her doctors are expecting she’ll have to go back into active treatment soon, though “there are no measurable tumors or visible cancerous activity based on my most recent body scans.” “However, my bloodwork is showing that my tumor markers are significantly elevated when compared to my last labs from December. [My doctor] doesn’t want to put my body through treatments (& the side effects of them) when there is still no visible measurement to help us track whether those treatments are actually effective - which I understand & am in agreement with,” the post continues. “She was also very honest & straightforward with me that the odds of measurable activity coming up within the next year or two are extremely high.” “Being diagnosed now with stage 4 cancer really means the disease is omnipresent & it’s just a matter of time before it finds a new spot in my body to call home.. but I am being monitored so closely that if/when that happens, it will be addressed immediately. This is not a death sentence, but fighting it does mean that I am serving a life sentence without eligibility for parole.” Jocelyn knows that her diagnosis has forced her to lean significantly on Kristofer, and though she did it for him when he received his cancer diagnosis, she admits she feels some guilt about how much more care she needs. But Kristofer simply states, “that was part of the vows.” “I grew up without a positive male role model, and I always told myself that I would give my partner and my daughter the things that I never had or saw. So I'm just trying to be the best person I could be,” Kristofer says. “I don't know, it's easy for me to do it. It just comes naturally.” Thankfully, it’s not just Kristofer who has been an integral part of her support system. Jocelyn’s mother, whom she calls “a living saint,” has been another major caregiver, attending appointments and bingeing Bridgerton on the couch with her while she recovers from the various surgeries. “I can't even put it into words how appreciative I am of her,” Jocelyn says. “I'm so grateful that [Kristofer and I] have each other and that our family has been so supportive and there for us and shown up for us in so many ways. Because if either of us had to go through this alone, I don't know that we would be sitting here talking with you about it.” She says sharing her story online has let others feel validated in their own experiences, which has offered her some consolation. “Hopefully it inspires other people to share their stories too, because cancer and scary things like that shouldn't be talked about in whispers,” Jocelyn says. From here, Jocelyn has to just take it all day by day, and she shares their story with the tagline "screamo to chemo," remembering the nights pre-cancer they spent at karaoke with friends. She continues to share updates on her journey on her TikTok and Facebook pages, hoping to continue to make space for others to share their own experiences with cancer — and maybe inspire some to stop avoiding preventative care. “Preventive screening is critical in catching things like this early,” Jocelyn cautions. “Don't be like me and avoid your doctors … And just [advocate] for yourself medically. If you feel like something is wrong and you're not being heard, get a second opinion, get a third opinion if you need to. Fight for yourself to get the care that you need to be able to tell your story.”