Help Adrianna Conquer Cancer
Donation protected
This page is setup for Adrianna Mogollon who is currently battling Sarcoma for the second time. For those of you who don't know Adrianna, she is an adventurous, fun-loving, amazing human being with a heart of gold. She is insanely strong willed and has an amazing mindset while she fights this daily battle.
She was first diagnosed back in November of 2013, and almost became paralyzed because her tumor in her thoracic spine was suffocating her spinal cord. With an emergency surgery as well as another surgery four months later, her ability to walk was preserved and she quickly bounced back. Unfortunately three weeks after her second surgery in March of 2014, Adrianna's mother unexpectedly passed away from a brain aneurysm. She has been very strong and has kept such a positive attitude, despite dealing with these major setbacks over the last three years.
She deserves all the love and support she can possibly get. This money will be used to help with medical bills, fertility treatments, and living expenses. This money is needed as soon as possible because Adrianna has not been able to work for some time now.
Thank you all very much in advance. Any donation big or small will be greatly appreciated.
Here is a current update:
For those of you who do not want to read in extensive detail, Adrianna's cancer has spread locally in her spine as well as to both of her lungs. She is starting chemotherapy on Monday, September 26th at UTSW and will be in the hospital for a week during each 3-week round. She is not sure how many rounds of treatment she will need at this point but will know more by early November.
Here is a more detailed explanation in her own words:
Earlier last month (August) I returned from spending my summer in Hawaii with my family recovering form a fractured femur and tibia and a partially torn ACL. Shout out to my physical therapists out there that made sure I was taken care of and ready to shready when I got home, mahalo!! As soon as I returned (8/11), I reported to parkland where I had an MRI on my thoracic spine. The next day I went to the Medical Center of Plano where I had a CT of my chest and a PET Scan done. I waited through the weekend patiently for my results and the following Monday,(8/15) I had an appointment with an oncologist that I found that took my insurance. (Which was extremely hard to come by since Obamacare has changed this year. Anyway, he was basically filling the role of ordering my follow up scans and finding a facility for them to be ordered through since UT Southwestern does not take my insurance. Nor does my surgeon) At this time the results were not ready. The next day, I had an appointment with my surgeon, Dr. Lieberman. I brought him the MRI, PET, and CT scans so that he could have a look at them. The disc for the PET and CT was in the wrong format but he was able to read the MRI. After a catching up and examining me, I was told that the MRI showed three new tumors in my spinal region, one at T5 & T6 and the other two at T11 & T12 on the left and right sides. This news came as a complete shock to me but Dr. Lieberman assured me that we would take care of this and that he would be able to remove at least one for the time being. I told him that I needed time and would call to schedule my surgery in a few days. He said that he was going to request the written reports for my CT and PET scans and that I should be hearing from him regardless.The following day I took it upon myself to go to the hospital and pick up the reports so that I knew the information would be transferred in a timely manner. I also had no patience and wanted to know what exactly was going on. After receiving the reports I opened them to read. Flipping through the pages I read things such as “pulmonary nodules” and “metastatic neoplasm” and knew what was going on. My old radiation oncologist, Dr. Ramzi had given me his phone number and email address so that I could keep in touch and assured me that he would answer no matter what time of day or what I needed. Within minutes of sending him a text message he called me and told me to send him the radiology reports so he could read them. So I made copies, sent it to Ramzi, then dropped the paperwork off at Lieberman’s office then received a phone call from the ordering physician shortly after. He told me everything that I had already known. There were three new tumors in my spine as well as over twenty in both of my lungs ranging in size from 6.9 mm to less than 1 mm. He suggested that I go back down to MD Anderson because he does not specialize in treating any kind of sarcomas. The following day (8/18), I went into Dr. Lieberman’s office to schedule my surgery. We scheduled it for August 31, giving me enough time to go down to Houston in between. I called the Sarcoma Center at MD Anderson to leave a message for my doctor, Dr. Somaiah. Within an hour her nurse called me back asking me to overnight all of the imaging studies as well as emailing her the written radiology reports and that I would be hearing from them as soon as they had a chance to look at everything. A few days later they called me back saying that the doctor would like to see me but after I have surgery so that they can confirm that this is the same cancer as before and not a new one so I was scheduled for September 14th.After Dr. Ramzi (old radiation doctor) had a chance to look over everything and look at the images he told me that he was going to get me scheduled with one of his colleagues, Dr. Folkert. I had spoken with him previously on the phone and we had discussed that more radiation was a possibility. He was also going to present me to the tumor board at UTSW to discuss my case the week of August 22nd. On August 30th I met with him and we went over what was proposed in tumor board. I was to start chemotherapy with the drugs Doxorubicin and Ifosfamide. Which is administered as an inpatient, I would have to stay in the hospital for one week at a time and then I would be given two weeks off of “recovery time” so each round would be 3 weeks. But before I was to start chemo, Dr. Folkert wanted to treat me with CyberKinife to the tumor at T5 & T6 to ensure that it would not give me any issues in the future given its location. Side note, Dr. Lieberman told me that he could potentially surgically remove this tumor. But in order to do so he would have to remove both the T5 & T6 vertebral body, attempt to remove the tumor in whole, and then reconstruct the vertebral body and fuse from T4-T10 (I am already fused from T7-T10). This surgery would be a major set back physically and have a lengthy recovery time, pushing back any other form of treatment by 4-6 months, which sadly I do not have the time for. Anyway, Dr. Folkert set me up with a medical oncologist at UTSW and I was set to meet with him on September 20th. As well as setting up an appointment for me to have all my planning scans and fittings for the CyberKnife treatment on 9/8 so that the treatment could be completed before I began chemotherapy.
I was supposed to have my surgery on August 31st but it got pushed back a day due to scheduling conflicts. September 1st I had my back surgery to remove one of the tumors from T11 & T12. The surgery began at 7:30 and went very well. It was no longer than an hour and I was up and walking by 2:30 in the afternoon! I was in the hospital for 3 days and went home to finish my recovery. The next week on 9/6 I was meet with a fertility specialist at UTSW in order to proceed with removing eggs so that I could potentially have children in the future. Dr. Bulkumez informed me of every step of the process from taking the medications to the procedure and I agreed to proceed. Insurance does not cover procedures such as these for some reason so everything was to be paid out of pocket. The drugs cost $7,000 and the procedure/lab work/ultrasounds costing over $6,000. Luckily, I got the drugs paid for by the LIVESTRONG Foundation and they were delivered to my doorstep within days! These consisted of 5 medications, all of which I had to subcutaneously inject into my stomach myself over the course of 10 days. The egg retrieval took place on Monday 9/19 and was very successful! Although it was painful and recovering took a few days, it was well worth it to know that my chances of having a family after all is said and done are preserved. What I learned from this: children are expensive. These hellions haven’t even been born yet and not only did they cost me an arm and a leg, they took up an excessive amount of my time and energy.
In between all these fertility appointments and injections, I drove down to Houston with my sister for my appointment at MD Anderson on 9/14. I had blood drawn for lab work that morning, and met with Dr. Somaiah later in the afternoon. We discussed what she believed was a proper approach to this disease. She stated that she did not want me to have any more radiation at this point in time since the disease has already metastasized (spread). She wanted to treat me with Doxorubicin and Ifosfamide as well and begin that ASAP. Starting out with two rounds and then returning to MD Anderson for restaging scans to see if the treatment was working. If in the event that these drugs are not effective, I will be taken off and put into a clinical trial. She also told me that she was going to present my case at their tumor board the following Tuesday and let me know the definitive plan afterwards. She put in orders for a chest, abdomen, and pelvis CT in order to see how fast these tumors in my lungs were growing and would compare that scan to my other most recent from 8/12. It was also brought to my attention that the diagnosis of synovial sarcoma was inaccurate. There are some markers that lead the pathologist at UTSW to believe it was best fitting to label it as a synovial sarcoma, but all the pathology from my new tissue is still coming back as “unclassified malignant neoplasm”. Meaning that they cannot put their finger on exactly what this is...STILL, although it appears to be some form of sarcoma.
The next week, on the 20th I met with my new medical oncologist, Dr. Frankel at UTSW. He had been in communication with Dr. Somaiah and understood that the plan was to go along with what ever they came up with at MD Anderson and he was happy to be a part of my team. We went over the schedule and all the gory side effects of going through chemotherapy. After all my questions I could think of at the moment were answered, we agreed that I would check into the hospital on Monday, September 26th pending an echocardiogram and follow up from MD Anderson about their discussion at tumor board. Two days later I received a call from Dr. Somaiah giving me details on what was discussed between their doctors and the most current plan. Since they cannot definitively diagnose me with synovial sarcoma, and my original tumor arose from my T8 vertebral body, they collectively came up with treating me as an osteosarcoma. So instead of receiving Ifosfamide, I would be receiving Cisplatin. I will also be participating in a clinical trial down in Houston where they will be studying my tumor extensively, testing its genetic makeup and trying to understand its biological make up. I will also be having biological testing done through a non-FDA approved study where they will take my tumor and test it against all forms of treatment and see which ones MY specific cancer reacts to.
Here we are, September 25th. I check into the hospital tomorrow. No combination of words can accurately describe my feelings and emotions but what I do know is that I have made it this far. I am an incredibly strong human being and I am MORE than my cancer. This is just a little bump in the long road of this thing we call life! With the love, support and prayers from my friends, family, and even strangers, I will prevail! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me <3
I will be updating more often, especially as the week goes by with how I am handling the treatment. But no need to worry, I WILL KICK ITS ASS SEABASS!! Cheers!
She was first diagnosed back in November of 2013, and almost became paralyzed because her tumor in her thoracic spine was suffocating her spinal cord. With an emergency surgery as well as another surgery four months later, her ability to walk was preserved and she quickly bounced back. Unfortunately three weeks after her second surgery in March of 2014, Adrianna's mother unexpectedly passed away from a brain aneurysm. She has been very strong and has kept such a positive attitude, despite dealing with these major setbacks over the last three years.
She deserves all the love and support she can possibly get. This money will be used to help with medical bills, fertility treatments, and living expenses. This money is needed as soon as possible because Adrianna has not been able to work for some time now.
Thank you all very much in advance. Any donation big or small will be greatly appreciated.
Here is a current update:
For those of you who do not want to read in extensive detail, Adrianna's cancer has spread locally in her spine as well as to both of her lungs. She is starting chemotherapy on Monday, September 26th at UTSW and will be in the hospital for a week during each 3-week round. She is not sure how many rounds of treatment she will need at this point but will know more by early November.
Here is a more detailed explanation in her own words:
Earlier last month (August) I returned from spending my summer in Hawaii with my family recovering form a fractured femur and tibia and a partially torn ACL. Shout out to my physical therapists out there that made sure I was taken care of and ready to shready when I got home, mahalo!! As soon as I returned (8/11), I reported to parkland where I had an MRI on my thoracic spine. The next day I went to the Medical Center of Plano where I had a CT of my chest and a PET Scan done. I waited through the weekend patiently for my results and the following Monday,(8/15) I had an appointment with an oncologist that I found that took my insurance. (Which was extremely hard to come by since Obamacare has changed this year. Anyway, he was basically filling the role of ordering my follow up scans and finding a facility for them to be ordered through since UT Southwestern does not take my insurance. Nor does my surgeon) At this time the results were not ready. The next day, I had an appointment with my surgeon, Dr. Lieberman. I brought him the MRI, PET, and CT scans so that he could have a look at them. The disc for the PET and CT was in the wrong format but he was able to read the MRI. After a catching up and examining me, I was told that the MRI showed three new tumors in my spinal region, one at T5 & T6 and the other two at T11 & T12 on the left and right sides. This news came as a complete shock to me but Dr. Lieberman assured me that we would take care of this and that he would be able to remove at least one for the time being. I told him that I needed time and would call to schedule my surgery in a few days. He said that he was going to request the written reports for my CT and PET scans and that I should be hearing from him regardless.The following day I took it upon myself to go to the hospital and pick up the reports so that I knew the information would be transferred in a timely manner. I also had no patience and wanted to know what exactly was going on. After receiving the reports I opened them to read. Flipping through the pages I read things such as “pulmonary nodules” and “metastatic neoplasm” and knew what was going on. My old radiation oncologist, Dr. Ramzi had given me his phone number and email address so that I could keep in touch and assured me that he would answer no matter what time of day or what I needed. Within minutes of sending him a text message he called me and told me to send him the radiology reports so he could read them. So I made copies, sent it to Ramzi, then dropped the paperwork off at Lieberman’s office then received a phone call from the ordering physician shortly after. He told me everything that I had already known. There were three new tumors in my spine as well as over twenty in both of my lungs ranging in size from 6.9 mm to less than 1 mm. He suggested that I go back down to MD Anderson because he does not specialize in treating any kind of sarcomas. The following day (8/18), I went into Dr. Lieberman’s office to schedule my surgery. We scheduled it for August 31, giving me enough time to go down to Houston in between. I called the Sarcoma Center at MD Anderson to leave a message for my doctor, Dr. Somaiah. Within an hour her nurse called me back asking me to overnight all of the imaging studies as well as emailing her the written radiology reports and that I would be hearing from them as soon as they had a chance to look at everything. A few days later they called me back saying that the doctor would like to see me but after I have surgery so that they can confirm that this is the same cancer as before and not a new one so I was scheduled for September 14th.After Dr. Ramzi (old radiation doctor) had a chance to look over everything and look at the images he told me that he was going to get me scheduled with one of his colleagues, Dr. Folkert. I had spoken with him previously on the phone and we had discussed that more radiation was a possibility. He was also going to present me to the tumor board at UTSW to discuss my case the week of August 22nd. On August 30th I met with him and we went over what was proposed in tumor board. I was to start chemotherapy with the drugs Doxorubicin and Ifosfamide. Which is administered as an inpatient, I would have to stay in the hospital for one week at a time and then I would be given two weeks off of “recovery time” so each round would be 3 weeks. But before I was to start chemo, Dr. Folkert wanted to treat me with CyberKinife to the tumor at T5 & T6 to ensure that it would not give me any issues in the future given its location. Side note, Dr. Lieberman told me that he could potentially surgically remove this tumor. But in order to do so he would have to remove both the T5 & T6 vertebral body, attempt to remove the tumor in whole, and then reconstruct the vertebral body and fuse from T4-T10 (I am already fused from T7-T10). This surgery would be a major set back physically and have a lengthy recovery time, pushing back any other form of treatment by 4-6 months, which sadly I do not have the time for. Anyway, Dr. Folkert set me up with a medical oncologist at UTSW and I was set to meet with him on September 20th. As well as setting up an appointment for me to have all my planning scans and fittings for the CyberKnife treatment on 9/8 so that the treatment could be completed before I began chemotherapy.
I was supposed to have my surgery on August 31st but it got pushed back a day due to scheduling conflicts. September 1st I had my back surgery to remove one of the tumors from T11 & T12. The surgery began at 7:30 and went very well. It was no longer than an hour and I was up and walking by 2:30 in the afternoon! I was in the hospital for 3 days and went home to finish my recovery. The next week on 9/6 I was meet with a fertility specialist at UTSW in order to proceed with removing eggs so that I could potentially have children in the future. Dr. Bulkumez informed me of every step of the process from taking the medications to the procedure and I agreed to proceed. Insurance does not cover procedures such as these for some reason so everything was to be paid out of pocket. The drugs cost $7,000 and the procedure/lab work/ultrasounds costing over $6,000. Luckily, I got the drugs paid for by the LIVESTRONG Foundation and they were delivered to my doorstep within days! These consisted of 5 medications, all of which I had to subcutaneously inject into my stomach myself over the course of 10 days. The egg retrieval took place on Monday 9/19 and was very successful! Although it was painful and recovering took a few days, it was well worth it to know that my chances of having a family after all is said and done are preserved. What I learned from this: children are expensive. These hellions haven’t even been born yet and not only did they cost me an arm and a leg, they took up an excessive amount of my time and energy.
In between all these fertility appointments and injections, I drove down to Houston with my sister for my appointment at MD Anderson on 9/14. I had blood drawn for lab work that morning, and met with Dr. Somaiah later in the afternoon. We discussed what she believed was a proper approach to this disease. She stated that she did not want me to have any more radiation at this point in time since the disease has already metastasized (spread). She wanted to treat me with Doxorubicin and Ifosfamide as well and begin that ASAP. Starting out with two rounds and then returning to MD Anderson for restaging scans to see if the treatment was working. If in the event that these drugs are not effective, I will be taken off and put into a clinical trial. She also told me that she was going to present my case at their tumor board the following Tuesday and let me know the definitive plan afterwards. She put in orders for a chest, abdomen, and pelvis CT in order to see how fast these tumors in my lungs were growing and would compare that scan to my other most recent from 8/12. It was also brought to my attention that the diagnosis of synovial sarcoma was inaccurate. There are some markers that lead the pathologist at UTSW to believe it was best fitting to label it as a synovial sarcoma, but all the pathology from my new tissue is still coming back as “unclassified malignant neoplasm”. Meaning that they cannot put their finger on exactly what this is...STILL, although it appears to be some form of sarcoma.
The next week, on the 20th I met with my new medical oncologist, Dr. Frankel at UTSW. He had been in communication with Dr. Somaiah and understood that the plan was to go along with what ever they came up with at MD Anderson and he was happy to be a part of my team. We went over the schedule and all the gory side effects of going through chemotherapy. After all my questions I could think of at the moment were answered, we agreed that I would check into the hospital on Monday, September 26th pending an echocardiogram and follow up from MD Anderson about their discussion at tumor board. Two days later I received a call from Dr. Somaiah giving me details on what was discussed between their doctors and the most current plan. Since they cannot definitively diagnose me with synovial sarcoma, and my original tumor arose from my T8 vertebral body, they collectively came up with treating me as an osteosarcoma. So instead of receiving Ifosfamide, I would be receiving Cisplatin. I will also be participating in a clinical trial down in Houston where they will be studying my tumor extensively, testing its genetic makeup and trying to understand its biological make up. I will also be having biological testing done through a non-FDA approved study where they will take my tumor and test it against all forms of treatment and see which ones MY specific cancer reacts to.
Here we are, September 25th. I check into the hospital tomorrow. No combination of words can accurately describe my feelings and emotions but what I do know is that I have made it this far. I am an incredibly strong human being and I am MORE than my cancer. This is just a little bump in the long road of this thing we call life! With the love, support and prayers from my friends, family, and even strangers, I will prevail! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me <3
I will be updating more often, especially as the week goes by with how I am handling the treatment. But no need to worry, I WILL KICK ITS ASS SEABASS!! Cheers!
Organizer and beneficiary
Clint Gee
Organizer
Dallas, TX
Adrianna Mogollon
Beneficiary
