This last year has been a chapter of a story that no one can prepare you for, beginning with the shattering moment that the world around you goes quiet and your life becomes split into before and after. Suddenly you are thrust into a world full of so many doctors and specialists speaking a language you never thought you would have to learn.

Being diagnosed with both a chronic illness (POTS) and cancer within a month of each other has tested every part of me. My strength, my patience, my sense of self.. Given no choice but to grieve the routines and plans that I had made for myself while struggling to accept a new reality that I never could have expected.

So much time wasted waiting for appointments or results with them all telling you not to worry too much because “if you’re going to get cancer, this is the one you want to get” or “at least you got the good cancer” as if those words will make any difference in how you feel. As anyone who has gone through it will tell you.. there is no “good cancer”.

On top of endless biopsies, surgeries, medication changes, radiation treatments and things that I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy, I have spent many long nights in the emergency room because my calcium levels have been fluctuating so severely, managing them has become a constant and honestly the most exhausting part of this entire journey.

There are days when my body just shuts down and getting out of bed feels impossible. On those days, I’m just trying to get through the hours to possibly have a better next day.

We finally thought the cancer was gone and I would have one less battle to fight.. Then I got the heartbreaking news that it had come back in my lymph nodes, bringing me right back into another round of treatments, surgeries and uncertainty.

As I go into this second round of treatments, I am doing everything in my power to stay strong and continue fighting, but the reality is that I need support. Every new day seems to bring a new first.. my first day of treatment, first time rushing to the hospital, my first time needing help with basic tasks, and my first time realizing I can’t keep up with the lost income.

My entire life I have been very self sufficient and finally self employed. This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to write, and asking for help is not something that comes easily to me. I’m very slowly learning to face the hard days with honesty and to let myself ask for help when I need it and this experience has brought a level of physical, emotional, and financial strain that I simply cannot carry alone.

Whether you can donate, share this fundraiser, or simply keep me in your thoughts, I am deeply grateful. Your support means more than I can express.

Thank you for letting me learn that I am not alone and helping me through one of the most overwhelming and vulnerable chapters of my life.