MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- Midlander Regina Stock was crowned Mrs. America last month and it’s been a whirlwind of interviews and appearances since, but one thing is certain: she’s prepared to compete in the Mrs. World pageant next January, despite a recent health scare. 

Stock took to social media earlier this week and said she was diagnosed with a 14-centimeter mass on her left kidney during a recent emergency room visit. She’s scheduled to follow up with doctors soon and is preparing for surgery to remove the mass. 

“As of now, this does not impact my day-to-day life, and I will keep you all updated. I feel fine and will continue to serve and prepare for Mrs. World,” she said in a Facebook message to her followers. 

The competition is scheduled for January and will take place in Las Vegas, where ladies from all over the globe will compete for the crown. 

Stock, a West Texas native, said she’s been competing in local and state pageants for nearly a decade but took a few years off when she got married and had her children. She then realized she could compete in the Mrs. Texas pageant as a married woman mother, and decided to give it a shot, not expecting to win the whole thing in her first year.

“Honestly, going into it, I thought that this would be a year that I would just learn the system, and I really just took this year to learn and maybe go back next year. And then when they called my name, honestly, I like grabbed the girls next to me, and I just cried, because I was not expecting it at all,” she said in an interview earlier this year.