Find the Cure for Julia Petersen
Donation protected
Her story:
Julia Tuttle Petersen (35), is a loving wife to William Petersen and the best mother anyone could ask for of 4 beautiful children. Julian (10) her oldest son, William (7 stepson), Charlie (5) and Emily (soon to be 3). Julia worked for the City of Jacksonville for 11 years helping victims of domestic violence. She left that job two years ago to work for the State of Florida as a supervisor with the Guardian ad Litem Program for abused and neglected children. She has worked hard her whole life with earning her "Masters" in Criminology/Science at an early age. She has always had a driven life and never let things seem to slow her down.
It all started toward the end of January, she noticed her breast becoming firm and warm to touch so she called her Doctor to discuss. She was treated for Mastitis with antibiotics. After the medicine didn't seem to be working they thought the infection was just being stubborn and her body rejecting the antibiotics from previous MRSA outbreaks. They tried a few different antibiotics over weeks with no good outcome. She noticed her breast changed dramatically in color, size and pain so she immediately called her Doctor and went in to see him. He referred her to a surgeon specialist who decided to preform a biopsy. After the biopsy is when we received the "bad news". She was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
Julia decided to seek treatment through Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville Florida where she met with a team of doctors to discuss options and a plan of treatment. They needed more information and decided to do a PET scan and that's when we received more not so good news. Her cancer had spread to four places in her bone, now making her stage 4.
After a long visit with her oncologist and waiting for one more test result we did receive some "positive news". Julia is HER2 positive which means the treatment plan her oncologist discussed has very positive outcomes!
As of now, Julia has received 10 rounds of radiation for one of the lesions on her back and recently started chemo. She has had some positive results thus far from treatment. Her breast has gone down in size and color. The chemo is very intense and strong, making Julia sick and no longer able to work full time and enjoy normal everyday things with her family.
Julia has been a trooper through this horrible ordeal. She has her good days and bad days but needs all the help and support she can get in this difficult time. We have set up this page in hopes of spreading her story to prevent others from this rare disease.
(2-3% of women over 55 can have this and it is unknown for women younger, usually resulting in a misdiagnosis and is typically already in stage 4. Please keep on top of your annuals and never be afraid to question your doctor if something seem different. )
Any donations given, will help Julia and her family while she is not able to work.
We can not express our gratitude to everyone that has been there for Julia through this time. She is very blessed to have such wonderful people in her life. Thank you is just not enough.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Julia Tuttle Petersen (35), is a loving wife to William Petersen and the best mother anyone could ask for of 4 beautiful children. Julian (10) her oldest son, William (7 stepson), Charlie (5) and Emily (soon to be 3). Julia worked for the City of Jacksonville for 11 years helping victims of domestic violence. She left that job two years ago to work for the State of Florida as a supervisor with the Guardian ad Litem Program for abused and neglected children. She has worked hard her whole life with earning her "Masters" in Criminology/Science at an early age. She has always had a driven life and never let things seem to slow her down.
It all started toward the end of January, she noticed her breast becoming firm and warm to touch so she called her Doctor to discuss. She was treated for Mastitis with antibiotics. After the medicine didn't seem to be working they thought the infection was just being stubborn and her body rejecting the antibiotics from previous MRSA outbreaks. They tried a few different antibiotics over weeks with no good outcome. She noticed her breast changed dramatically in color, size and pain so she immediately called her Doctor and went in to see him. He referred her to a surgeon specialist who decided to preform a biopsy. After the biopsy is when we received the "bad news". She was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
Julia decided to seek treatment through Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville Florida where she met with a team of doctors to discuss options and a plan of treatment. They needed more information and decided to do a PET scan and that's when we received more not so good news. Her cancer had spread to four places in her bone, now making her stage 4.
After a long visit with her oncologist and waiting for one more test result we did receive some "positive news". Julia is HER2 positive which means the treatment plan her oncologist discussed has very positive outcomes!
As of now, Julia has received 10 rounds of radiation for one of the lesions on her back and recently started chemo. She has had some positive results thus far from treatment. Her breast has gone down in size and color. The chemo is very intense and strong, making Julia sick and no longer able to work full time and enjoy normal everyday things with her family.
Julia has been a trooper through this horrible ordeal. She has her good days and bad days but needs all the help and support she can get in this difficult time. We have set up this page in hopes of spreading her story to prevent others from this rare disease.
(2-3% of women over 55 can have this and it is unknown for women younger, usually resulting in a misdiagnosis and is typically already in stage 4. Please keep on top of your annuals and never be afraid to question your doctor if something seem different. )
Any donations given, will help Julia and her family while she is not able to work.
We can not express our gratitude to everyone that has been there for Julia through this time. She is very blessed to have such wonderful people in her life. Thank you is just not enough.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Organizer and beneficiary
Jenny N Matt Holland
Organizer
Jacksonville, FL
Julia Petersen
Beneficiary
