Support for Tamara - Stage 4 TNBC - bills and life

As many of you know, last year in 2023, almost 5 years to the day after my initial diagnosis in 2018, I was re-diagnosed with metastatic (stage IV) Triple Negative Breast Cancer with metastasis in my brain, right lung, and bones/C2 vertebrae.

Keep reading for the full story, but if you're not interested in that, please know that any donation will help with my insurance premium costs, medical bills, out-of-pocket costs, daily living expenses, and lost wages as I'm still unable to work and waiting on social security disability insurance approval and payment (the government is on its own timetable and it's unfortunately not timely when everyone else is asking for payment on things.)

One other small ask - please share my link even if you can't donate. Sharing my story and casting a wider net for help is infinitely beneficial to me since cancer and bills unfortunately don't stop. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. <3

Here's my story -

Flash back to April 2018: I was 33 and after mammograms, multiple ultrasounds with biopsies leaving clips, I was told that I had stage 3 Triple Negative Breast Cancer, which is the most aggressive and hardest to treat. TNBC means that the 3 receptors that can fuel cancer are not present - Estrogen, Progesterone, and Her2 - which all have targeted treatment options. Oncologists throw the most aggressive chemo at TNBC - fun, right?

I had 6 months of aggressive chemotherapy, a double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction, followed by 6 weeks of radiation to my right breast, and then finally, 6 months of oral chemotherapy. I had regular check-ins with my medical oncologist, breast surgeon, reconstruction surgeon, and radiation oncologist for bloodwork and updates on my health, post-active treatment. I did this with clear bloodwork and no issues for almost 5 years - which is a HUGE milestone for TNBC.

You're still here? Thank you. <3

Read on for the whirlwind last 10 months.

Back to 2023 - I was excitedly approaching April and my 5 year diagnosis anniversary - which is the day you start being a survivor. One day, I woke up with a pain in my neck, thinking I had slept funny on it. I used heat, some stretching, and my normal remedies for a sore dancer body. After 2 weeks, I went to an orthopedist and they took an x-ray, told me I had some early, mild arthritis (thanks desk work!), and I did some PT with no relief.

What truly set off my "something is wrong alarm" was that I started losing strength and mobility in my left arm. I dropped my coffee cup a number of times, I was at least 2 keys off typing on my left hand, and eventually, I had to convert to doing speech to text and correct things with my right hand. It got to the severity that I couldn't even hold my left arm on my lap (imagine your whole arm just slipping off your lap at a restaurant) or carry anything in my left hand.

The orthopedist I saw ordered an MRI of my cervical spine and I came in for the results. She pulled up the imaging, and looked me in the eyes and said "I still quite don't know what's going on with your arm, but there is a mass on your right lung, and if you were my sister, friend, aunt, whatever, I'd tell them to go to the ER."

So I packed a bag and my partner, Reid and I went to the ER - ok, two ERs - after more scans, I was told I had a strawberry sized tumor on the top of my brain. I was booked on the surgical calendar for the following morning with a neurosurgeon.

Within 36 hours after my right frontal craniotomy, I regained partial motor function in my left hand. The pathology of the tumor that was removed confirmed it was recurrent and metastatic TNBC.

I had 5 rounds of cyberknife radiation on my brain. I got a second port placed and began chemotherapy (Abraxane and Zometa) and immunotherapy (Keytruda) the following month, nearly 5 years to the day after I started in 2018.

Over the next 2 weeks, I lost my hair in giant spots where the radiation was taking care of the remaining small nodules in my brain and not long after, I decided to cut the rest off. Between radiation and chemo, losing your hair actually hurts. Your scalp aches. It is just easier to get rid of it.

I'm skipping a few things because my name is Tamara, and I'm long winded, bur DAMN a lot has happened that I haven't even covered...

3 seizures, 6 total trips to the ER, (I think), 2 PET scans, at least 10 MRIs, pericardial effusion + removal of said fluid (fluid build up around the heart), small burden pulmonary embolism (blood clot), leptomeningeal disease (don't google it, no seriously, don't), (at least) 7 lumbar punctures with 6 spinal chemo infusions, and 5 cerebral spinal fluid cytology reports negative for malignancy (cancer).

The last of which, when I met with my medical oncologist this week, we celebrated that my most recent brain MRI showed NO signs of disease. This is such a huge accomplishment for my amazing body to have accepted the medicine and rid itself of the disease. It's aggressive and can wreak havoc if not caught early enough and even then, you are looking at a 25% chance of it being successful. I am truly blessed, but this isn't over.

I have COBRA co-payments, doctor visits, infusions (out of pocket, my chemo infusions alone are $30k), medications, gas, car expenses, regular daily expenses, food, etc. I haven't been able to work in almost a year and I'm awaiting SSDI benefits, but we all know the government moves like molasses and unfortunately, bills don't take that as an excuse and pausing treatment would be detrimental to my health due to the perilous state MTNBC creates.

A huge thank you to everyone that has already helped out by cooking meals, providing Door Dash credits, sending money, prayers, well wishes, etc. You are all amazing and your unwavering support has been the fuel that keeps me going. Whatever support you can provide is huge - whether it be a donation - large or small, sharing my link and story, love and prayers, or a good 'ol casserole, it is so deeply appreciated by not only me, but Jeté, Reid, my family, friends, and loved ones.

For more of my cAnC3R J0uRnEy, feel free to browse my blog or follow my Instagram

Again, from the bottom of my heart - THANK YOU.

xoxo, Tamara