Breast Cancer - Help Save Our Home
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Hi there, my name is Dana Jarrett. I am 47 years old and in active treatment for stage 2 breast cancer. Our goal of $20,000 is an estimate to survive to the end of the year and my treatment.
My story begins back in late February 2017 when I located through self-examination a mass in my left breast. I contacted and visited my doctor, as I was not set to have my next mammogram for another year, who immediately ordered a mammogram and ultrasound of both breasts. There were no unusual masses located in my right breast, but the mass in my left was confirmed and an ultrasound biopsy was scheduled. The biopsy took place mid-April and diagnosis of invasive carcinoma was made. Of note is that during this whole time I was working full time, as well. The organization and HR seemed to understand my needs to take time off for testing, diagnosis, and doctor visits. They kept telling me to just keep them informed, which I did. Upon diagnosis I was immediately referred to and scheduled with my oncologist. In my first meeting with my oncologist, he made it clear that my treatment plan would be chemotherapy, surgery to remove the mass and check the lymph nodes, radiation after mass removal, and hormone therapy (as the mass was being fed by estrogen). Based on this a meeting with my surgeon was scheduled to determine if the next step would be removal of the mass or placement of a port for chemo and removal of sentinel lymph nodes for testing. During this meeting it was determined that the mass was too large for immediate removal, and that we would only be placing a port for chemo and removing sentinel lymph nodes for testing to confirm no metastasis. This surgery was scheduled, and took place on May 8th, 2017. The surgery should have only taken about an hour, but ended up taking 3 hours as my veins did not want to cooperate with the surgeon during placement of the port (and the sentinel lymph node wanted to play hide and seek! lol) Due to the surgery being more involved than expected, I informed my employer as soon as possible on the 8th that I would need an additional day of recovery before returning to work. They approved this and remained informed.
The fateful day that changed everything for me with my battle with cancer was May 17th, 2017. On this day, I met with my oncologist in the morning to finalize the chemotherapy plan and timeframe. This being complete, I contacted my employer’s HR Director late morning to request FMLA paperwork and a move from my client facing position. At approximately 3:00 PM in the afternoon that day, the HR director contacted me to inform me that I was terminated effective immediately.
This has placed a significant hardship on my husband, as I was the top bread winner. He is working diligently to ensure our bills and mortgage are paid and there is food on the table for us and our niece and nephew, whom we are caring for and in custody of. My wonderful daughter-in-law, son, and sons-by-other-mothers are helping with emotional and caring support for me, relieving some of the stress of this burden.
Our current state of affairs has us in risk of losing our home. We have voluntarily surrendered one vehicle and continually monitoring all of our bills to make as many cuts as possible. We are now going through all of our household goods, with the help of our children, to determine what we can sell to offset the costs of the mortgage and bills.
We greatly appreciate any help you can provide.
I will survive this! Love to all,
Dana (online handle: Tess)
My story begins back in late February 2017 when I located through self-examination a mass in my left breast. I contacted and visited my doctor, as I was not set to have my next mammogram for another year, who immediately ordered a mammogram and ultrasound of both breasts. There were no unusual masses located in my right breast, but the mass in my left was confirmed and an ultrasound biopsy was scheduled. The biopsy took place mid-April and diagnosis of invasive carcinoma was made. Of note is that during this whole time I was working full time, as well. The organization and HR seemed to understand my needs to take time off for testing, diagnosis, and doctor visits. They kept telling me to just keep them informed, which I did. Upon diagnosis I was immediately referred to and scheduled with my oncologist. In my first meeting with my oncologist, he made it clear that my treatment plan would be chemotherapy, surgery to remove the mass and check the lymph nodes, radiation after mass removal, and hormone therapy (as the mass was being fed by estrogen). Based on this a meeting with my surgeon was scheduled to determine if the next step would be removal of the mass or placement of a port for chemo and removal of sentinel lymph nodes for testing. During this meeting it was determined that the mass was too large for immediate removal, and that we would only be placing a port for chemo and removing sentinel lymph nodes for testing to confirm no metastasis. This surgery was scheduled, and took place on May 8th, 2017. The surgery should have only taken about an hour, but ended up taking 3 hours as my veins did not want to cooperate with the surgeon during placement of the port (and the sentinel lymph node wanted to play hide and seek! lol) Due to the surgery being more involved than expected, I informed my employer as soon as possible on the 8th that I would need an additional day of recovery before returning to work. They approved this and remained informed.
The fateful day that changed everything for me with my battle with cancer was May 17th, 2017. On this day, I met with my oncologist in the morning to finalize the chemotherapy plan and timeframe. This being complete, I contacted my employer’s HR Director late morning to request FMLA paperwork and a move from my client facing position. At approximately 3:00 PM in the afternoon that day, the HR director contacted me to inform me that I was terminated effective immediately.
This has placed a significant hardship on my husband, as I was the top bread winner. He is working diligently to ensure our bills and mortgage are paid and there is food on the table for us and our niece and nephew, whom we are caring for and in custody of. My wonderful daughter-in-law, son, and sons-by-other-mothers are helping with emotional and caring support for me, relieving some of the stress of this burden.
Our current state of affairs has us in risk of losing our home. We have voluntarily surrendered one vehicle and continually monitoring all of our bills to make as many cuts as possible. We are now going through all of our household goods, with the help of our children, to determine what we can sell to offset the costs of the mortgage and bills.
We greatly appreciate any help you can provide.
I will survive this! Love to all,
Dana (online handle: Tess)
Organizer
Dana Jarrett
Organizer
Atascocita, TX
