A Tale of 3 Cancers
Donation protected
Backstory
Catie has been working as a veterinary assistant for 3 years. She started studying to become a licensed veterinary technician a year ago, while still working full time! She is also a University of Florida graduate having earned a bachelors degree in Animal Science. She is a bright, friendly, kind, hard-working young lady.
She is her parent's only child and has remained at home with them. Her father is currently on disability due to poor health and her mother's health has been deteriorating in the last year as well. Catie is only 27 years old.
Cancer #1
In December 2017 Catie had a horrible headache one weekend. It was not like any she had had before and the pain kept intensifying. He mom took her to the emergency room where a CT scan made the doctors concerned she had had a stroke. She was transferred to another hospital where an MRI was performed and the diagnosis was confirmed...she had brain cancer. It was a grade II astrocytoma. Surgery was performed and the tumor was removed from the right side of her brain. That was followed by 6 weeks of radiation. She would leave work early, Monday through Friday, to drive the hour to the radiation center and receive her treatment. During this time, she was also getting chemotherapy. This lasted from January to March of 2018. After that, she continued the chemotherapy until August 2018.
Cancer #2
But before August could roll around, Catie started to have debilitating abdominal pains. She still came to work, but you could see the pain on her face. Sometimes she would move wrong, and have to stay still a moment until the pain passed. She had a history of ovarian cysts, and the suspicion was that this was what it was. An ultrasound confirmed it and a laparotomy was scheduled to remove the offending ovary. The ovary was removed and was the size of a softball, it should have been ping-pong ball sized or less. It was stuck to adjacent tissues and all the scarring from previous ruptured cysts had to be torn loose to make the ovary mobile. It was squeezed through a laparotomy opening to get it out. The ovary was sent for histology and not only did it have a cyst, there were cystademonas in it as well. These are benign cancerous tumors that if undetected and removed, can become malignant ovarian cancer.
Cancer #3
While recovering from this procedure, a nodule was felt on her thyroid. It was aspirated and checked. Malignant thyroid papillary carcinoma was confirmed on one side and suspected on the other. She had just finished her chemo for her brain tumor the week before. We are now in September 2018. Now she is preparing for surgery to remove her thyroid gland and have chemotherapy for the thyroid carcinoma.
How you can help
Through all of this disastrous year, Catie has continued to work full time at a veterinary clinic. She did have to put her classes on hold for a semester, but has started those back again as well.
Her income helps her parents and is needed at home. She also has mounting medical bills in spite of having health insurance. Regular daily expenses still need to be met (like utilities, groceries, insurance, repairs) as well as paying for her medical care. The bills keep mounting and the family needs your help. Her family's anxiety over Catie's health is being increased by financial concerns.
Help us help Catie.
Catie has been working as a veterinary assistant for 3 years. She started studying to become a licensed veterinary technician a year ago, while still working full time! She is also a University of Florida graduate having earned a bachelors degree in Animal Science. She is a bright, friendly, kind, hard-working young lady.
She is her parent's only child and has remained at home with them. Her father is currently on disability due to poor health and her mother's health has been deteriorating in the last year as well. Catie is only 27 years old.
Cancer #1
In December 2017 Catie had a horrible headache one weekend. It was not like any she had had before and the pain kept intensifying. He mom took her to the emergency room where a CT scan made the doctors concerned she had had a stroke. She was transferred to another hospital where an MRI was performed and the diagnosis was confirmed...she had brain cancer. It was a grade II astrocytoma. Surgery was performed and the tumor was removed from the right side of her brain. That was followed by 6 weeks of radiation. She would leave work early, Monday through Friday, to drive the hour to the radiation center and receive her treatment. During this time, she was also getting chemotherapy. This lasted from January to March of 2018. After that, she continued the chemotherapy until August 2018.
Cancer #2
But before August could roll around, Catie started to have debilitating abdominal pains. She still came to work, but you could see the pain on her face. Sometimes she would move wrong, and have to stay still a moment until the pain passed. She had a history of ovarian cysts, and the suspicion was that this was what it was. An ultrasound confirmed it and a laparotomy was scheduled to remove the offending ovary. The ovary was removed and was the size of a softball, it should have been ping-pong ball sized or less. It was stuck to adjacent tissues and all the scarring from previous ruptured cysts had to be torn loose to make the ovary mobile. It was squeezed through a laparotomy opening to get it out. The ovary was sent for histology and not only did it have a cyst, there were cystademonas in it as well. These are benign cancerous tumors that if undetected and removed, can become malignant ovarian cancer.
Cancer #3
While recovering from this procedure, a nodule was felt on her thyroid. It was aspirated and checked. Malignant thyroid papillary carcinoma was confirmed on one side and suspected on the other. She had just finished her chemo for her brain tumor the week before. We are now in September 2018. Now she is preparing for surgery to remove her thyroid gland and have chemotherapy for the thyroid carcinoma.
How you can help
Through all of this disastrous year, Catie has continued to work full time at a veterinary clinic. She did have to put her classes on hold for a semester, but has started those back again as well.
Her income helps her parents and is needed at home. She also has mounting medical bills in spite of having health insurance. Regular daily expenses still need to be met (like utilities, groceries, insurance, repairs) as well as paying for her medical care. The bills keep mounting and the family needs your help. Her family's anxiety over Catie's health is being increased by financial concerns.
Help us help Catie.
Organizer and beneficiary
Krista Davis
Organizer
St. Augustine, FL
Catherine Clark
Beneficiary
