Help Kristine Buy a Home Care Bed and Fight Cancer

Hi everyone, my name is Gabe, and I am fundraising for my best friend Kristine to help her cover the cost of home care bed. If you know Kristine then you know she is a fantastic person. Since Kristine and I first met as undergraduates at San Diego State University, both pursuing chemistry degrees, I knew she was one of the most remarkable people I would ever have come into my life. In the short 10 years since then, she has touched my life in so many profound ways, as I am sure she has yours as well. She is a true science nerd, an original foodie, and a tireless advocate in STEM higher education. No one has ever made me feel more comfortable to laugh while constantly challenging me to be a better person.

 

I am going to share Kristine's recent journey battling cancer in her own words:

 

My name is Kristine, 42 years old -- I'm from San Diego but I've lived in Seattle for the last 8 years. I'm a bit of a science nerd, and work in higher education with STEM students.

 

At 39 years old, I was just diagnosed with NSCLC on Feb 14, 2020 - Happy Valentines Day to me! I had a trip to the Philippines two days afterward to celebrate my 40th birthday and meet family I hadn't seen since I was a child, so it wasn't until the 2nd week of March that I did a PET scan to discover I had stage 4 lung cancer. Happy Birthday! I thought it was just a tumor in my lower right lobe, but the cancer had actually spread to all 3 lobes of my right lung, the pleural lining, lymph nodes, and two small lesions on my liver.

 

All of this was a huge surprise to me, I had super minor symptoms...fatigue for a few months, harder to breathe but not bad, and very very infrequent cough. As a non-smoker, I never thought I would get lung cancer. I attributed all this to being out of shape, winter months in Seattle, and maybe getting sick because I work closely with college students who always seem to be sick. Then, in December, I coughed up a hint of blood, so I decided to see the doctor...we went from thinking I had a blot clot or pneumonia, to I did have pneumonia, to trying to figure out what this mass was in my CT Scan.

 

I was a good candidate for immunotherapy, so I started treatment at the end of March, consisting of an infusion of Keytruda, Alimta, and carboplatin. I did 4 rounds of that every three weeks, then was maintenance infusions of Keytruda and Alimta every three weeks. In August 2020 I also received 10 rounds of radiation therapy to help me breathe better, which it did help a lot - I could walk again, sometimes for a couple of miles. Scans in October were promising, showing reduction across the board and no detection of lesions in my liver.

 

In March 2021 we discovered the cancer was progressing again and that it was showing up in my ovaries. I switched treatment to Carboplatin, Gemcitabine and Avastin. Also, a 3 week cycle - with week 1 being all 3 drugs, week 2 just Gemcitabine and week 3 off. I did this until October 2021 and am now on maintenance with Avastin. I really hated Gemcitabine, it caused a lot more problems this time. The hope was to stay on this maintenance for as long as possible, but cancer started rapidly progressing around November. By mid-December I was bedridden with full-time support from my mom and older brother. I also couldn't breathe without the help of oxygen. Insurance was also giving me problems, they wouldn't approve any of the new treatment plans that my oncologist suggested. Finally after consulting SCCA we found that one of the cancer mutations could use targeted therapy but the only hiccup is that they aren't FDA approved. My oncologist appealed with the insurance, and now I'm on Enhertu. It seems to be working, but it's been very slow. The goal is to be back on my feet, working full-time, and hopefully traveling again. That might not be for a few months but I'm hopeful!

 

Thank you for letting me share with you about Kristine, and I hope you join me in sending positive energy her way and with a donation to help her buy a home medical bed. All money raised over the goal will cover other medical costs for Kristine. I am organizing this fundraiser on Kristine's behalf with her permission and the money goes directly into Kristine's bank account. Thanks again.