Help Erin Fight Cancer!
Erin was diagnosed with breast cancer on December 30, 2019. For the fact-finders among us, it is invasive ductal carcinoma and appears, at this point, to be in the early stages. Treatment will include a bilateral mastectomy in the upcoming weeks. As she recovers from surgery, she will be off work for a significant period of time. The next step will likely involve fertility preservation measures, as Erin and Jacob were in the process of starting a family when she got her diagnosis. The extent of future treatments to stop any further cancer growth has yet to be determined. While she will be on endocrine therapy for many years, we expect the toughest parts of treatment to occur over the coming months. There are a lot of steps and decisions to cancer treatment, as many of you are unlucky enough to know.
Erin, as you may know, is a kindergarten teacher in Franklin Country, Virginia. While an extremely valuable job, it is not a lucrative one (to say the least), and in the midst of the many difficult medical decisions Erin is facing, one of the most poignant ones is how to preserve her fertility so she and her husband Jacob can start a family once she has gotten through her cancer treatment. While her insurance will (hopefully) cover some of her cancer treatment, it won't cover everything, and unfortunately won't cover anything she does to take steps to preserve her ability to have children. We have done our best tallying based on Erin's doctor's estimates about what her medical debt from cancer treatment and fertility preservation will cost. We will adjust as we get more information.
Erin, Jacob, and their families are so grateful for any donation you can give to help them hold onto their dream of starting a family. Thank you.
(We have had some questions about this, so a quick FYI: if you want to donate a larger amount--say, over $500--please get in touch with Lauren at [email redacted], instead of donating it here, so we can arrange how to get that money to Erin with minimal fees being taken out.)