Rei and Kainyn's Aftermath of Cancer
Donation protected
Updated Purpose
It still doesn't seem real that Brooke is gone. So many loved her so much. Her kids were her world and everything she did was for them. To honor Brooke aka Malice we need to think of them now. When you lose a loved one the time after is the hardest in my opinion. Mainly because the world doesn't stop moving and you have to maintain like everything is the same. There is no pause button and everything seems never ending. Brooke is at PEACE now and no longer hurting and everyone's love and support helped her more than you can ever know. Now let's finish this fight and get these young adults off to the right start as they step out into this BIG world.
Rei and Kainyn are in the process of finding a new place to live within the next couple of months. Where they lived with their mom is rented and they can't afford the rent so they have to move somewhere else. Money donated will be used to do that and hopefully get them ahead on bills as well. Cancer is a beast with no mercy and leaves so many without. Cancer took Brooke away from us and left so much pain in it's path. Brooke will still win this FIGHT cancer will not take everything. Two survivors still live and her bloodline is still intact. Now with an army behind her bloodline we must march forward and guide these two young adults as Brooke aka Malice would have.
Our Purpose ( I didn't want to delete Our Purpose because it's Brooke's Fight and her story. We are just in another chapter of story now)
Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer and “there has never been a documented improvement in survival in any therapy” until some recent responses with immunotherapy clinical trials. Brooke has been attempting to meet criteria for an immunotherapy clinical trial for 2 months now. Specifically, she is trying to qualify for a clinical trial in Chattanooga which would allow her to be with her children, stay in her home, and continue to work (as able). She is now facing a possible obstacle of having to self-pay for a CT Scan in order to try for qualification again before there are no more open spots in the trial.
Brooke is a single mother of 2. She has been a Speech & Languished Pathologist and Rehab Director for 11 years. She moved from her home town North Canton, Ohio in 2014. Signal Mountain, Tennessee is now the place her and the kids call home.
Since her initial diagnosis, Brooke has only taken 3 weeks leave from work, after her mastectomy. The hard truth of her body can’t keep this pace up. She is unable to fight Triple Negative Breast Cancer and keep a full time job. Both of her kids are Freshman in college with the world at their fingertips. Brooke needs to focus on her fight for her life and kids.
Our Goal: $50,000
These funds will be used to:
· Cover the cost of CT Scan $3,500 for clinical trial qualification
Monthly $590 premium
Yearly Deductible $4,600
Cost of living
The list of medical bills is much bigger than this tiny chunk I'm telling you about. But I think it's enough to get the idea that cancer cost a lot of money to cure.
Brooke’s Cancer Battle
In late November 2016, Brooke began to feel soreness and pain in her right shoulder and upper arm. She plays roller derby and since these are common alignments in the sport, she saw a chiropractor for help. Then on December 8th during an all-night roller derby scrimmage-a-thon, she felt a bump in the armpit area along with the soreness and pain. Brooke went to see her primary care doctor on the next business day and was sent directly from that appointment to the breast center for a mammogram. By the end of that day, we knew there were masses in her right breast. Many appointments and tests followed and just 3 days before Christmas we learned she had “High Risk Stage 3 Triple Negative Breast Cancer”. Brooke began chemotherapy treatment on December 30th.
Brooke continued chemotherapy treatments until the beginning of April 2017. She had a right-side mastectomy at the beginning of May 2017; due to her cancer’s poor prognosis she was not a candidate for reconstructive surgery. Radiation treatments were next, from the beginning of June through the end of July. As of July 21st she was considered in Remission.
Throughout 2017 Brooke had a goal and was determined return to play with her roller derby team, the Chattanooga Roller Girls. As soon as radiation ended, she had her surgeon remove her Power Port, began intensive physical therapy, and started training with her team. On October 14th 2017 Brooke defied her Doctors by playing in the last home game of the season! Even her oncologist and radiation techs were there to support her.
Brooke enjoyed 7 months of remission. On April 7th, she played in the Chattanooga Roller Girls’ first home game of 2018. While driving home from the game, she felt 2 bumps on the right side of her neck. Her diagnosis is now “Stage 4 Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer”. Her Doctors have been very clear that at this stage, chemotherapy is not a cure, it will only buy time. She had her Power Port re-implanted and began chemotherapy again in early May.
Brooke experienced many side effects with this chemotherapy requiring platelet and blood transfusions. A CT Scan on August 3rd showed no signs of cancer, however just 2 weeks later she felt a bump on the right side of her neck. Her cancer had become resistant to the chemotherapy drug.
During this round of treatment, Brooke’s goal was to see her 2 children graduate high school and start college. She reached that goal and she now has 1 child at the University of TN Chattanooga and 1 child at Chattanooga State.
Brooke at this point and time is trying to get on a Immunotherapy clinical trial for triple negative breast cancer. Unfortunately she has not met the requirements to get on the trail. The tumor is not big enough by millimeters. Now we have to hope the trail is still open when they final grow enough. Who would ever think we would want it to grow. She is paying for the next scan out of her own pocket. Because she needs to get on the trail and has no time to waste. All we can do is support and help Brooke during the toughest battle she will ever face.
Thank you for taking the time to read this about a amazing woman named Brooke Mendenhall aka Malice #77.
It still doesn't seem real that Brooke is gone. So many loved her so much. Her kids were her world and everything she did was for them. To honor Brooke aka Malice we need to think of them now. When you lose a loved one the time after is the hardest in my opinion. Mainly because the world doesn't stop moving and you have to maintain like everything is the same. There is no pause button and everything seems never ending. Brooke is at PEACE now and no longer hurting and everyone's love and support helped her more than you can ever know. Now let's finish this fight and get these young adults off to the right start as they step out into this BIG world.
Rei and Kainyn are in the process of finding a new place to live within the next couple of months. Where they lived with their mom is rented and they can't afford the rent so they have to move somewhere else. Money donated will be used to do that and hopefully get them ahead on bills as well. Cancer is a beast with no mercy and leaves so many without. Cancer took Brooke away from us and left so much pain in it's path. Brooke will still win this FIGHT cancer will not take everything. Two survivors still live and her bloodline is still intact. Now with an army behind her bloodline we must march forward and guide these two young adults as Brooke aka Malice would have.
Our Purpose ( I didn't want to delete Our Purpose because it's Brooke's Fight and her story. We are just in another chapter of story now)
Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer and “there has never been a documented improvement in survival in any therapy” until some recent responses with immunotherapy clinical trials. Brooke has been attempting to meet criteria for an immunotherapy clinical trial for 2 months now. Specifically, she is trying to qualify for a clinical trial in Chattanooga which would allow her to be with her children, stay in her home, and continue to work (as able). She is now facing a possible obstacle of having to self-pay for a CT Scan in order to try for qualification again before there are no more open spots in the trial.
Brooke is a single mother of 2. She has been a Speech & Languished Pathologist and Rehab Director for 11 years. She moved from her home town North Canton, Ohio in 2014. Signal Mountain, Tennessee is now the place her and the kids call home.
Since her initial diagnosis, Brooke has only taken 3 weeks leave from work, after her mastectomy. The hard truth of her body can’t keep this pace up. She is unable to fight Triple Negative Breast Cancer and keep a full time job. Both of her kids are Freshman in college with the world at their fingertips. Brooke needs to focus on her fight for her life and kids.
Our Goal: $50,000
These funds will be used to:
· Cover the cost of CT Scan $3,500 for clinical trial qualification
Monthly $590 premium
Yearly Deductible $4,600
Cost of living
The list of medical bills is much bigger than this tiny chunk I'm telling you about. But I think it's enough to get the idea that cancer cost a lot of money to cure.
Brooke’s Cancer Battle
In late November 2016, Brooke began to feel soreness and pain in her right shoulder and upper arm. She plays roller derby and since these are common alignments in the sport, she saw a chiropractor for help. Then on December 8th during an all-night roller derby scrimmage-a-thon, she felt a bump in the armpit area along with the soreness and pain. Brooke went to see her primary care doctor on the next business day and was sent directly from that appointment to the breast center for a mammogram. By the end of that day, we knew there were masses in her right breast. Many appointments and tests followed and just 3 days before Christmas we learned she had “High Risk Stage 3 Triple Negative Breast Cancer”. Brooke began chemotherapy treatment on December 30th.
Brooke continued chemotherapy treatments until the beginning of April 2017. She had a right-side mastectomy at the beginning of May 2017; due to her cancer’s poor prognosis she was not a candidate for reconstructive surgery. Radiation treatments were next, from the beginning of June through the end of July. As of July 21st she was considered in Remission.
Throughout 2017 Brooke had a goal and was determined return to play with her roller derby team, the Chattanooga Roller Girls. As soon as radiation ended, she had her surgeon remove her Power Port, began intensive physical therapy, and started training with her team. On October 14th 2017 Brooke defied her Doctors by playing in the last home game of the season! Even her oncologist and radiation techs were there to support her.
Brooke enjoyed 7 months of remission. On April 7th, she played in the Chattanooga Roller Girls’ first home game of 2018. While driving home from the game, she felt 2 bumps on the right side of her neck. Her diagnosis is now “Stage 4 Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer”. Her Doctors have been very clear that at this stage, chemotherapy is not a cure, it will only buy time. She had her Power Port re-implanted and began chemotherapy again in early May.
Brooke experienced many side effects with this chemotherapy requiring platelet and blood transfusions. A CT Scan on August 3rd showed no signs of cancer, however just 2 weeks later she felt a bump on the right side of her neck. Her cancer had become resistant to the chemotherapy drug.
During this round of treatment, Brooke’s goal was to see her 2 children graduate high school and start college. She reached that goal and she now has 1 child at the University of TN Chattanooga and 1 child at Chattanooga State.
Brooke at this point and time is trying to get on a Immunotherapy clinical trial for triple negative breast cancer. Unfortunately she has not met the requirements to get on the trail. The tumor is not big enough by millimeters. Now we have to hope the trail is still open when they final grow enough. Who would ever think we would want it to grow. She is paying for the next scan out of her own pocket. Because she needs to get on the trail and has no time to waste. All we can do is support and help Brooke during the toughest battle she will ever face.
Thank you for taking the time to read this about a amazing woman named Brooke Mendenhall aka Malice #77.
Organizer and beneficiary
Lynda Cope-Emery
Organizer
Rossville, GA
Brooke Mendenhall
Beneficiary
