Stephanie's PBM Recovery Fund

Hello everyone, my name is Stephanie. I am 28 years old and I am the mother of a beautiful 3 1/2 year old boy named Mason. 

As many of you already may know, my sister Becky was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer at the very young age of 30. For those of you that do not know, you can follow her story here.  Being diagnosed at such a young age raised a red flag for my sister's oncologist and she recommended my sister and our parents be tested for the BRCA gene mutation.  What is BRCA Mutation??  It was then that we found out that my sister and father did in fact carry the gene mutation, BRCA1.


In July 2014, I met with a genetic counselor and had a simple blood test done. A week later I received my results. The woman on the phone spoke softly and said the words I was hoping she wouldn't say,

"You are BRCA1 positive."


At first, I didn't think it was going to be a big deal. I knew that it gave me a higher risk of cancer, but in my mind I thought I'd be fine. And had made my mind up to not have any preventative surgeries. Shortly after the genetics counselor called me to tell me my results, she set up an appointment to meet with her and discuss my very specific results and my chances of actually getting cancer. The genetics counselor and the nurse I met with both didn't push the fact that I was leaning towards not having any surgeries. It wasn't until I met with my oncologist that she really stressed to me the importance of this. That while my risk of getting breast cancer by 30 was still a very small percentage, compared to the average 30 year old, it was HUGE. Just to give you an idea, the average woman, by age 50 has a 14% chance of getting breast cancer, someone with BRCA 1 or 2 has a risk of 33-50%. That's pretty scary to think of. After meeting with her, I agreed that by 30, I would have both breasts removed. And she advised me that I could wait until I was done having children to remove my ovaries (or by 35, whichever comes first).


Ever since finding out that I was BRCA1 positive, I have been living with family. I had no place to recover and rest after having such a major surgery, so the surgery has been put on the back burner, until recently. 

I have already met with my breast surgeon (the doctor who will be removing my breasts), Dr. Godellas, at Loyola. I also have already met with Dr. Cimino and Dr. Vandevender, who are both plastic surgeons and had consults with both of them. I also recently got my own apartment. Mason and I finally have a place to call home, and I also finally have a place to recover from my prophylactic double mastectomy and reconstruction!

I am finally ready to call my surgeon and let him know I am ready for my surgery! :)

Unfortunately, I work part-time, in retail. And my company does not offer any short term disability or paid time off. So, being able to afford my rent and my bills while I am off for surgery and to recover is going to be impossible. It was really a catch 22, because I needed an apartment to be able to have my surgery, but wouldn't be able to afford the apartment once I had it. So I am fully relying on the good will and generosity of others to help us get through this. Help support us so that I could have this life saving surgery and so that I could stick around for Mason for years and years.


This surgery  is a major surgery that takes approx 8 hours long. I will be having a prophylactic double mastectomy (PBM) followed by immediate reconstruction of my breasts- and the recovery,  given there are no complications is approx 6-8 weeks.

Any little bit will help us. Even a share on your page will help. I really just want to schedule my surgery, but I cannot do it without knowing that I will be able to pay my rent and our bills- its only our first month living here and our landlord is a sweet old man who I don't want to screw over and not pay him.  

I will be 29 this year, and I really don't want to wait until the last minute to have my surgery. I feel like a ticking time bomb every single day. Like if I wait one more day to schedule this surgery I risk getting cancer before I get the chance to remove my breasts andI risk going through all the hell that my sister and her family and kids went through for the last 3 years. I cannot risk doing that to Mason. I need your help! Please consider helping us get through this surgery and recovery! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this!