Bren Willhite's Cancer Fight

Brenda (Bren) Willhite is 36 years young.  She is the mother of 3 amazing kids. Gwen age 12, Josephine age 9, and Andrew age 7.  She has been married to Tom Willhite for the past 16 years.  She is a full time home daycare provider and she is a 3 time full Ironman finisher and very close to a Kona quailfier.  She also enjoys being a member of the BASE racing team.  We have recently been shocked by the news that Bren has been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.  It is serious.  The cancer is large at this point (9cm).  It has spread to nearby nymph nodes and it is HER2 positive which is an aggressive form of cancer.  We have been told that the treatment severity and schedule are going to be very intense. Also, in a recent meeting with the doctors we were informed that during chemo and radiation her immune system will be very vulnerable.  This, along with the other serious side effects of the aggressive treatment meds and schedule has made us decide to scale back the childcare business.  This is going to be a long, very hard, fight of treatments and surgeries for the next few years.   Bren works amazingly hard.  She has been hyper focused on eating clean and natural foods and she has been following a vegan diet.  She trains like a beast for her races multiple hours per day,  and she still has the energy to be a dedicated mother and wife and a full time daycare provider.  She goes 100% all the time.  This cancer has taken us completely by suprise and we are struggling to wrap our heads around it. The doctors gave her the ok to compete in the Boulder Ironman on June 10 and she rocked it. They say continuing to run and work out will help her through the treatments as long as she possibly can.  Bren's dream is to beat cancer, fully recover, and then qualify and compete  in the Kona Ironman World Championship.  Please join us in cheering her on. We humbly accept any help you would like to send our way.  We are blessed to be surrounded by so many family members and friends.  Thank you all for the love, support, and prayers we have already received.  Keep it coming.  We know the Lord is in control of all things and we know He loves us.  We will continue to seek His face during this challenging time and we ask you to continue to remember us in your prayers. Please feel free to share this as you feel led. We love you all, The Willhite Family