Hello everyone, and thank you so much for being here today. My name is Kelly McNish and I am reaching out on behalf of someone who means the world to me - my best friend Maddy - and her beautiful family who are currently facing the heartbreaking and overwhelming reality of a cancer battle.

There are moments in life when words feel too small to carry the weight of what someone we love is going through. Watching my best friend battle cancer has been one of those moments. She is someone who has shown strength in places most people would have lost hope, someone who has brought light into dark corners and held others together even while her own world was shaking. Now, she is the one who needs us — her friends, her neighbors, her community — to stand firmly beside her.

Cancer does not just attack the body. It disrupts every part of a person’s life — their routine, their plans, their financial stability, their sense of control. What my best friend is facing is not only a medical battle, but an emotional and financial one. Treatments, appointments, days missed from work, medication, transportation, specialized care — all of it adds up in ways that no one can truly prepare for. And despite her courage, determination, and relentless fight, the burden is heavy. No one should have to carry it alone.

If you knew her the way I do, you would know she is the kind of person who would never hesitate to help someone else. She is the one who shows up without being asked, the one who listens without judgment, the one who gives even when she has little to spare. She has spent years pouring kindness and compassion into the people around her. Now it is our turn to pour that same love back into her.

This is more than a request for financial help — though that help is truly needed. This is a request for community. For unity. For support that reminds her she is not facing this mountain by herself. Every donation, every share, every message of encouragement is a reminder that she is surrounded by people who care deeply about her future.

The truth is, we cannot take away the pain of treatment or the uncertainty of the journey ahead. But we can help ease the stress, lessen the weight, and give her a fighting chance to focus on healing instead of worrying about how to afford it all. We can remind her that she is valued, loved, and worth fighting for.

To everyone reading this: thank you. Thank you for taking the time to hear her story. Thank you for caring enough to consider helping. Thank you for being the kind of community that doesn’t look away when someone needs support.

My best friend is strong — unbelievably strong — but even the strongest among us deserve a hand to hold onto. With your help, we can give her the stability, comfort, and hope she needs to continue this fight with her head high and her heart steady.

Maddy was diagnosed in June 2025 with stage two ductal carcinoma breast cancer. After two months of her doctor fighting with clinics to get her in and get her scanned after being denied by three clinics due to her age and being under the age of thirty-five and also being told by not one but two clinics that its highly unlikely that she would have breast cancer under the age of thirty. She was finally accepted at the breast cancer clinic in Kingston after multiple mammograms and three CT scans and four MRI's, she was successfully diagnosed with stage two ductal carcinoma breast cancer and was put onto hormonal therapy to help shrink and stop the spread of the cancer. She continued getting test after test and two biopsies completed and found out that there was multiple masses that were all inductal. She finally seen the surgeon late October and confirmed surgery for December 2nd to have a partial mastectomy completed and now will continue on hormonal therapy for the next four months with repeat scans due to the cancer cells still being present within her body. She also found out late Aug - early September that she tested positive for the BCRA 1 gene ( breast cancer gene) and is highly likely to contact breast cancer later on in life in her other breast which will be closely watched and monitored.

Due to all of this she has been off work, as well as her husband Chad and with no source income to support their two beautiful girls, Danita and Nova. She has been leaning on her supportive family and friends during this traumatic time.

Please join us in lifting her up. Together, we can make a difference that truly matters.

Thank you in advance for your generosity and kindness.

Kelly McNish