Natalie's Fight
Donation protected
Many of you all have followed Natalie’s story and walked alongside her and her family (She has triplets!) during her 10 month battle of cancer, and she is forever grateful for that love and support. For those that may not know, here is a recap of her journey and the most recent news , and how we can continue to help her family.
Natalie was diagnosed with stage 3B cervical cancer October 22,2019. After just a couple of months of very vague symptoms, she learned she had an atypical cervical tumor that had gone undetected for some time. Most cervical cancer is seen during yearly female exams or detected on Pap smears, the main reason we women go for annual visits. But Natalie had all normal exams, even just six months prior, because of where this tumor was. Within a couple of weeks she began aggressive treatments of chemotherapy and 35 rounds of intense radiation. Her treatments extended over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and her 40th birthday and ended on New Years Eve as she got to ring the bell of completion to celebrate. Four days later, her body crashed from the grueling treatments and she became seriously ill needing blood transfusions and medical intervention and spent almost 2 weeks in the hospital.
Since January, her body has never had the chance to heal from the damages of radiation and chemotherapy she endured. Her colon, as well as other areas, suffered extensive damage and she has been sick for the past 7 months and hospitalized four times (most recently this past week) for a total of 28 days this year. She has required numerous blood transfusions, scans, procedures, and surgery each extended hospital stay. In April, although still very sick, she was deemed in remission and rejoiced at the news. But literally within weeks of this news, her vague cancer symptoms returned and over the coming weeks progressively became worse. On her most recent hospital stay, which was the most dangerous levels her body plummeted to, she learned the devastating news that she still has cancer and the tumor is larger than before and creating an unbearable amount of pain that is increasing by the day.
The next step in her journey and only chance for survival is a very radical surgery because she has had the maximum radiation for any cancer in the pelvic region. This surgery is a pelvic exenteration to remove her bladder and reconstruct a new one, remove most of her bowels and a total hysterectomy with partial reconstruction. The details and timing of this surgery are being laid out for her in the upcoming weeks. As you can imagine, it will be a long hospital stay and long road to recovery afterwards and a complete lifestyle change. There is a high mortality rate with the surgery but it gives her a 30% chance of survival and we pray there are no micro metastatic cells elsewhere in her body. Natalie has been so faithful and trusted God throughout her entire journey , she is now gearing up For what lies ahead.
Ways you can help: Insurance is a blessing but the financial burdens of cancer and it’s complications can be grueling to a family of five. Please consider a monetary donation to financially help the Orr family during their journey and alleviate one less stress.
Any amount we can raise for them would be greatly appreciated by the family!
Natalie was diagnosed with stage 3B cervical cancer October 22,2019. After just a couple of months of very vague symptoms, she learned she had an atypical cervical tumor that had gone undetected for some time. Most cervical cancer is seen during yearly female exams or detected on Pap smears, the main reason we women go for annual visits. But Natalie had all normal exams, even just six months prior, because of where this tumor was. Within a couple of weeks she began aggressive treatments of chemotherapy and 35 rounds of intense radiation. Her treatments extended over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and her 40th birthday and ended on New Years Eve as she got to ring the bell of completion to celebrate. Four days later, her body crashed from the grueling treatments and she became seriously ill needing blood transfusions and medical intervention and spent almost 2 weeks in the hospital.
Since January, her body has never had the chance to heal from the damages of radiation and chemotherapy she endured. Her colon, as well as other areas, suffered extensive damage and she has been sick for the past 7 months and hospitalized four times (most recently this past week) for a total of 28 days this year. She has required numerous blood transfusions, scans, procedures, and surgery each extended hospital stay. In April, although still very sick, she was deemed in remission and rejoiced at the news. But literally within weeks of this news, her vague cancer symptoms returned and over the coming weeks progressively became worse. On her most recent hospital stay, which was the most dangerous levels her body plummeted to, she learned the devastating news that she still has cancer and the tumor is larger than before and creating an unbearable amount of pain that is increasing by the day.
The next step in her journey and only chance for survival is a very radical surgery because she has had the maximum radiation for any cancer in the pelvic region. This surgery is a pelvic exenteration to remove her bladder and reconstruct a new one, remove most of her bowels and a total hysterectomy with partial reconstruction. The details and timing of this surgery are being laid out for her in the upcoming weeks. As you can imagine, it will be a long hospital stay and long road to recovery afterwards and a complete lifestyle change. There is a high mortality rate with the surgery but it gives her a 30% chance of survival and we pray there are no micro metastatic cells elsewhere in her body. Natalie has been so faithful and trusted God throughout her entire journey , she is now gearing up For what lies ahead.
Ways you can help: Insurance is a blessing but the financial burdens of cancer and it’s complications can be grueling to a family of five. Please consider a monetary donation to financially help the Orr family during their journey and alleviate one less stress.
Any amount we can raise for them would be greatly appreciated by the family!
Organizer and beneficiary
Jill Turner
Organizer
Terre Haute, IN
Michael Orr
Beneficiary