For those of you that know Vicki, know just how tough and amazing she is. She is wonderful mother to her 14 year old daughter, Nadia, and is devoted to doing what she loves- dancing. She is a dance instructor at Art in Motion Dance Academy, coaches the CNY Allstars Hip Hop teams, and waitresses at Brown’s Brewing Co. in Troy, NY… all strenuous jobs on the body. A few months ago she went to the ER for severe abdominal pain. A few tests and scans later, she heard words that nobody ever wants to hear: she was diagnosed with Cancer. She had masses throughout her abdomen and on her reproductive organs that had to be removed immediately. Biopsies had shown that she had a rare and aggressive type of cancer. A few weeks later she underwent massive abdominal debulking surgery. They removed all of her reproductive organs,which included a 4 lb tumor on her ovary, a mass on her pancreas, and sectioned her large intestine,rectum, greater omentum, colon,and bowel.  All of the tissue samples were malignant, except for the cyst on her pancreas which was thankfully benign. Her diagnosis is desmoplastic small round cell tumor, DSRCT, so rare, and usually only found in adolescent males, and even more uncommon in females of her age group. Due to the rare and complex nature of this cancer, textbook treatment methods do not apply. Within three days she was in NYC at Sloan Kettering exploring her options. She is currently waiting to see if she qualifies for an extreme surgical procedure that would place chemotherapeutics directly onto her pelvis and in her abdominal cavity,which are the areas they believe the cancer may have originated from. If she does not qualify, than traditional IV Chemo will begin within the next two weeks. Unfortunatlely, with either procedure the doctors choose for her, it is unclear just how long her road to recovery will take, but it will surely be the fight of her life. Not only will this be a difficult and trying time for her and her family mentally and emotionally, but financially as well. She has already begun to receive medical bills, and this is just the beginning. In addition to new medical bills that will be incurred, copays,prescriptions, along with general living and day to day expenses for her and her daughter will be piling up too. Another issue that may present is that this surgical option they are recommending may not be covered by her insurance. With all that being said, Vicki is a FIGHTER and has no plans on allowing cancer to win this battle!! In case any of you research DSRCT, please know that her team of oncologists are confident that she will not be a statistic and can beat this!!! She has an amazing support system, the most positive outlook on her treatment that anyone could ever have, and is in fantastic health otherwise.  All bloodwork and overall tests are negative for any other signs of cancer due to her oncology surgeon removing all visible signs of the disease.  
       Any little bit helps, and all donations will go directly to her medical and everyday bills. We appreciate any and all support you have to give. Please know that Vicki will be forever grateful, and thank you for taking the time to read this. Together,we can help her get through this struggle!!