Semper Support for Susie

Just a few short weeks ago on April 14th, Susie found a lump in her breast while nursing her son.  She was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer on April 20th  and 13 days later on May 3rd she started her first round of chemo.  Just yesterday, on May 8th, another mass was found and Susie was given the news that her cancer had progressed to Stage 3. This has all come as a shock not only to Susie and her family, but to all of us that know her.  Susie is tough as nails. She’s assertive and passionate, driven and HEALTHY – she’s a lifelong swimmer, a health coach, a Marine, a former professional triathlete. She has spent her entire career advocating for other people’s health, even returning to active duty in the Marines to build a Wounded Warriors program to mentor and coach wounded combat veterans. She runs a wellness and chiropractic center with her husband Bryce and she now finds herself in a position of needing to advocate for her own health. The good news is that there is literally nothing that can stop this woman when she sets her mind to something.

But for all of the assertiveness in this force of a woman, there is also another, softer side to Susie’s strength.  She is a loving wife, a faithful servant, a doting mother who lives for her two beautiful children Alaska (3) and Summit (1), and an amazing human being and friend.  She is embracing God’s plan and truly feels that she was chosen for this journey, even though she doesn’t fully know what that means yet.  Her positivity and grace is astounding and she’s using her voice to graciously share her journey to inspire and urge others to schedule their well checks and to be the healthiest versions of themselves that they can be.

The Christianson family has been blessed with healthcare through the Marine Corps to cover medical expenses, but logistics at home are tricky. Since they own their business, Bryce cannot simply take a leave of absence. If he is not at the clinic taking care of patients and sustaining the business then there is no money coming in.  Susie’s two greatest concerns and calls for prayer are for the well-being of her children and for balance for Bryce. Susie’s body is not tolerating chemo well so far and her sole focus needs to be on trying to keep food and water down to gain some strength back.  Bryce is simply overloaded trying to hold all of the pieces together and their childcare availability varies day to day. No one is sleeping enough and everyone is sick. This current scenario is not sustainable, they need consistency and they need our help.   

As such, the search is on for an Au Pair to live with them for the next year to help with the kids so that they can keep things moving forward. The immediate ask is for money to fund this Au Pair, including meals and incidentals, as well as any unexpected travel needs, yard work, help around the home etc.  This will be a year of medical unknowns for this amazing family, full of appointments, treatments and surgeries and there will likely be periods of time when Susie cannot pick up her children.  The goal here is to be able to offer consistency of care to relieve the stress and burden of unknowns as it relates to their children and the family business to allow them to focus on family and on healing.  Thank you in advance for anything that you can give and for supporting Susie in her time of need, just as she has supported so many of us over the years. 

My name is Shannon Michaelson and I am so grateful that Susie and Bryce agreed to let their friends help in this way.   I live in Allen, TX and have know Susie since 1994 - we swam together at the University of South Carolina.  100% of funds raised will be sent directly to Susie and Bryce's  bank account to pay for the necessary childcare needed over this next year.