Help Lucy Fight Metastatic Breast Cancer
Donation protected
As some of you may or may not know, my beautiful wife, Lucy Moggia (or "Ms. Perez" for all my ex-Campers out there), is 22 weeks pregnant with our first child (a little girl, Dahlia Rose Moggia).
Unfortunately, Lucy was recently diagnosed with a rare, highly aggressive form of breast cancer known as Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer (PABC). The cancer is currently Stage IIB/IIIA (2B/3A), but she was able to begin chemotherapy treatment a couple weeks ago and things look promising.
For the most part, the baby is protected by the placenta from the harmful effects of the chemotherapy drugs (although not entirely). To minimize the effects of them on the baby, Lucy is only going to have four chemo treatments before they induce labor a few weeks early (anywhere between Weeks 28 and 36, the doctors have yet to determine that date). Whatever they decide Lucy will have three weeks after her last chemo session so she can breastfeed Dahlia for at least three weeks after she is born.
After those three weeks, Lucy is going to have to undergo 12 intensive weekly treatments of chemo, as well as either a lumpectomy or mastectomy, and possibly even radiation if necessary. All in all, as much as our family is looking forward to meeting Dahlia, we are in for a long, bumpy, expensive ride for the next year at least.
Fortunately, my employer (Santa Barbara Unified School District) has been awesome about the whole thing and is allowing me to continue to teach remotely while Lucy is immunocompromised from the chemo treatments. Despite Lucy practically begging me to NOT set up a GoFundMe account for during this difficult time (for any of you that know Lucy, she's a tough one and a fighter and does NOT like feeling pitied), the fact remains that our income is going to be reduced pretty significantly while she is out on state disability leave until further notice.
For those of you willing and able to donate, please know that 100% of your support will go to ensuring Lucy has the crucial care she needs to beat PABC. She's already fighting hard with a positive attitude, and with your support, she can focus her full attention on kicking this disease's ass! Any amount you contribute would be greatly appreciated. We are already SO grateful and overwhelmed by all the love and support from so many of you that have reached out recently. We truly do appreciate it. Thanks so much, everyone!
- Gene Moggia
P.S. A special THANK YOU to all of you who've already contributed to my Facebook Fundraiser for Lucy, with the proceeds going to the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation (https://tnbcfoundation.org/). I was hoping to earn something relatively small, so I chose $410.00 as my goal since the fundraiser was for my upcoming 41st birthday. It hasn't even been 24 hours and we were already at $382 last time I checked, so thank you all for your generosity.
Unfortunately, Lucy was recently diagnosed with a rare, highly aggressive form of breast cancer known as Pregnancy-Associated Breast Cancer (PABC). The cancer is currently Stage IIB/IIIA (2B/3A), but she was able to begin chemotherapy treatment a couple weeks ago and things look promising.
For the most part, the baby is protected by the placenta from the harmful effects of the chemotherapy drugs (although not entirely). To minimize the effects of them on the baby, Lucy is only going to have four chemo treatments before they induce labor a few weeks early (anywhere between Weeks 28 and 36, the doctors have yet to determine that date). Whatever they decide Lucy will have three weeks after her last chemo session so she can breastfeed Dahlia for at least three weeks after she is born.
After those three weeks, Lucy is going to have to undergo 12 intensive weekly treatments of chemo, as well as either a lumpectomy or mastectomy, and possibly even radiation if necessary. All in all, as much as our family is looking forward to meeting Dahlia, we are in for a long, bumpy, expensive ride for the next year at least.
Fortunately, my employer (Santa Barbara Unified School District) has been awesome about the whole thing and is allowing me to continue to teach remotely while Lucy is immunocompromised from the chemo treatments. Despite Lucy practically begging me to NOT set up a GoFundMe account for during this difficult time (for any of you that know Lucy, she's a tough one and a fighter and does NOT like feeling pitied), the fact remains that our income is going to be reduced pretty significantly while she is out on state disability leave until further notice.
For those of you willing and able to donate, please know that 100% of your support will go to ensuring Lucy has the crucial care she needs to beat PABC. She's already fighting hard with a positive attitude, and with your support, she can focus her full attention on kicking this disease's ass! Any amount you contribute would be greatly appreciated. We are already SO grateful and overwhelmed by all the love and support from so many of you that have reached out recently. We truly do appreciate it. Thanks so much, everyone!
- Gene Moggia
P.S. A special THANK YOU to all of you who've already contributed to my Facebook Fundraiser for Lucy, with the proceeds going to the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation (https://tnbcfoundation.org/). I was hoping to earn something relatively small, so I chose $410.00 as my goal since the fundraiser was for my upcoming 41st birthday. It hasn't even been 24 hours and we were already at $382 last time I checked, so thank you all for your generosity.
Co-organizers (2)
Gene Moggia
Organizer
Goleta, CA
LUIS PEREZ
Co-organizer