Breast Friends - Lindsey Johnson
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Here's to new mammaries!
This page is dedicated to Lindsey Johnson by all of the people that love her. Lindsey is a truly beautiful person both inside and out. She is 26 years old and a Dermatology PA working at SHANDS in Gainesville, FL where she grew up and attended PA school at the University of Florida. Lindsey is the type of person who can light up a room and bring a smile to your face even on your worst days. She truly is an incredible woman.
Sadly, Lindsey was just diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The news shocked everyone as much as it did Lindsey. She is so young and healthy, how could this have happened? Lindsey first noticed a pain in her breast about 4 months ago. The pain was unlike any other pain she had felt before. Most breast cancer is non-painful when it presents, however Lindsey was concerned enough to go to the doctor to get it checked out. An ultrasound was performed which showed no evidence of anything present that could be causing her pain. As time went on she felt more pain and then she discovered a small lump. Within a 3 month period she could tell the lump had more than doubled in size! This time she knew something was definitely wrong. She went back to the doctor for another ultrasound, only this time she was told she would need a biopsy of the tumor they found. A few days later she was given the horrible news that it was in fact cancer. In a matter of 3 short months she had gone from a healthy 26 year old woman, to a cancer patient.
Lindsey's cancer is stage 1, grade 3 which means it is in an early stage, but it is growing very rapidly. It is also what doctor's call triple negative which means it is not hormone receptor positive. This means that there are no targeted treatment options other than chemo. After chemotherapy, she will have some type of surgery and potentially need radiation therapy.
Being so young and having all of this thrown at you at once is very difficult. Isn't this enough? No, there were still more decisions to be made. Chemotherapy can cause a woman to become infertile after treatment. Because Lindsey hopes to make an excellent mother some day and wants to make that as likely as a possibility as she can, her best options are to harvest and freeze her eggs. She is also considering undergoing Lupron injections during chemo, which essentially will shut down her ovaries to try and prevent any damage to them during chemo as well. The unfortunate part of all of this is that insurance does not help with any of the costs, even though this was strongly recommended by the oncologists and fertility specialists and is so important given her young age.
Lindsey also has many other side effects to endure when going through chemotherapy, a common one being hair loss. We love Lindsey's hair and know it is infact one of her most favorite attributes about herself. While Lindsey would look absolutely beautiful no matter what and could totally rock the bandanna or a wig, it would be so incredible if she could keep her gorgeous locks throughout chemo. She would attempt this with cold cap therapy. This is a process in which she would wear a cap the day of chemo and it would literally freeze (down to -22 degrees) the hair follicles to hopefully avoid destruction by the chemo therapy. Again, this is something unfortunately not covered by insurance, but something that would be so fantastic to try.
Overall, the medical costs out of pocket for these treatments are very expensive, but to the people that love her and are helping her to fight this battle, she is worth every penny! She is a young woman with so much life ahead of her and we are trying to help our best friend out any way we can. So far the estimated costs of the fertility treatments are around $13,000 and it is about $3000 for the cold cap therapy. Her out of pocket cost for chemo treatments are estimated to be around $3000 after insurance. She is determined to continue working as much as the chemo side effects will allow. Anything you can give to help out this truly AMAZING woman would be more than appreciated! Lindsey thanks everyone from the bottom of her heart for all of the love and support she can get, in any way possible. So here's to love, support and "making new mammaries" for Lindsey!!!
This page is dedicated to Lindsey Johnson by all of the people that love her. Lindsey is a truly beautiful person both inside and out. She is 26 years old and a Dermatology PA working at SHANDS in Gainesville, FL where she grew up and attended PA school at the University of Florida. Lindsey is the type of person who can light up a room and bring a smile to your face even on your worst days. She truly is an incredible woman.
Sadly, Lindsey was just diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The news shocked everyone as much as it did Lindsey. She is so young and healthy, how could this have happened? Lindsey first noticed a pain in her breast about 4 months ago. The pain was unlike any other pain she had felt before. Most breast cancer is non-painful when it presents, however Lindsey was concerned enough to go to the doctor to get it checked out. An ultrasound was performed which showed no evidence of anything present that could be causing her pain. As time went on she felt more pain and then she discovered a small lump. Within a 3 month period she could tell the lump had more than doubled in size! This time she knew something was definitely wrong. She went back to the doctor for another ultrasound, only this time she was told she would need a biopsy of the tumor they found. A few days later she was given the horrible news that it was in fact cancer. In a matter of 3 short months she had gone from a healthy 26 year old woman, to a cancer patient.
Lindsey's cancer is stage 1, grade 3 which means it is in an early stage, but it is growing very rapidly. It is also what doctor's call triple negative which means it is not hormone receptor positive. This means that there are no targeted treatment options other than chemo. After chemotherapy, she will have some type of surgery and potentially need radiation therapy.
Being so young and having all of this thrown at you at once is very difficult. Isn't this enough? No, there were still more decisions to be made. Chemotherapy can cause a woman to become infertile after treatment. Because Lindsey hopes to make an excellent mother some day and wants to make that as likely as a possibility as she can, her best options are to harvest and freeze her eggs. She is also considering undergoing Lupron injections during chemo, which essentially will shut down her ovaries to try and prevent any damage to them during chemo as well. The unfortunate part of all of this is that insurance does not help with any of the costs, even though this was strongly recommended by the oncologists and fertility specialists and is so important given her young age.
Lindsey also has many other side effects to endure when going through chemotherapy, a common one being hair loss. We love Lindsey's hair and know it is infact one of her most favorite attributes about herself. While Lindsey would look absolutely beautiful no matter what and could totally rock the bandanna or a wig, it would be so incredible if she could keep her gorgeous locks throughout chemo. She would attempt this with cold cap therapy. This is a process in which she would wear a cap the day of chemo and it would literally freeze (down to -22 degrees) the hair follicles to hopefully avoid destruction by the chemo therapy. Again, this is something unfortunately not covered by insurance, but something that would be so fantastic to try.
Overall, the medical costs out of pocket for these treatments are very expensive, but to the people that love her and are helping her to fight this battle, she is worth every penny! She is a young woman with so much life ahead of her and we are trying to help our best friend out any way we can. So far the estimated costs of the fertility treatments are around $13,000 and it is about $3000 for the cold cap therapy. Her out of pocket cost for chemo treatments are estimated to be around $3000 after insurance. She is determined to continue working as much as the chemo side effects will allow. Anything you can give to help out this truly AMAZING woman would be more than appreciated! Lindsey thanks everyone from the bottom of her heart for all of the love and support she can get, in any way possible. So here's to love, support and "making new mammaries" for Lindsey!!!
Organizer
Lindsey Johnson
Organizer
Denver, CO
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