To say 2025 was a rough journey for my family is an understatement. In short, just as 2025 was

ending, Yvonne LaMarr-Berry was told by her medical team that she in fact is needing to get chemo

and recommendations for radiation. This came as a complete shock after being told chemo would not

be something that she would need. She is now needing help with finances during this time. Anything

helps and please share!

The long story is that 2025 started off on the wrong foot. In January, Yvonne’s father, Bud

LaMarr was having serious health problems. Yvonne’s father lived in Arizona, but had doctors in

Washington who were willing to try to help find solutions. So the nerve-wrecking trip from Arizona to

Washington in January began. Our whole family was focused on the failing health of her father, who

finally was safely in Washington state, but not before falling and arriving with black eyes and wounds.

By April, Yvonne LaMarr-Berry, took a leave to help care for her father as his life was coming to

an end. Sunday, May 18, 2025 we lost her father. The grief was short lived as later that same night

Yvonne’s daughter, also in Washington, found a large mass in her breast. The following week was full

of doctors appointments. It was determined that her daughter did have an aggressive form of breast

cancer. With this information and also needing to meet with the funeral home, Yvonne stayed a week

longer trying to help navigate her mom, who was in full grief and her daughter who was in complete

shock.

Upon returning home, Yvonne decided to schedule her mammogram, as she had been putting it

off. The imagines showed concerning small tumors that the doctors were wanting to biopsy for further

information. Before she could get any biopsy, she was preparing to bury her father. In addition, was also

worried about her daughter’s chemo treatment before coming down to California for the funeral. During

all of this Yvonne was back to work and doing her best to navigate each circumstance. Trying her best

to stay focused, but was unable to fully perform her duties as the emotions continued to surface, which

cannot happen around patients. Yvonne took a short mental health leave so she could get some

grounding. Once the funeral was over, she returned back to work doing her best to remain calm over

her own health, but also had heavy concerns for her mom losing her husband of 61 years and her

daughters aggressive cancer treatments.

Finally, she was able to get the tumors biopsied. The news was devastating as it was positive

for breast cancer. The news was slightly positive though, in that, it wasn’t fast growing and only one

tumor was cancer, the other benign. With those results, the doctors moved slowly, but finally the end of

summer was coming and Yvonne could finally meet with a breast surgeon. It was discussed that they

only needed to remove the tumor that was positive for cancer. Since the tumor was small, a simple

lumpectomy procedure was recommended, followed by radiation. It was also discussed that the doctors

did not believe there was any need for her to receive chemo, since it didn’t seem like a recurrence

would be a concern. The surgeon stated that the tissue would be sent off to pathology for full analysis

after the procedure was performed. As a family we were happy to finally have some sort of better news,

even if it wasn’t the best. No chemo! YAY!

Early October Yvonne was set up for the lumpectomy procedure that went very well. Yvonne

was off work for the recovery, which took about 3 weeks. Once she was released to return to work,

Yvonne was there, everyday awaiting the results from pathology. A couple weeks passed and finally we

heard from pathology. However, there was not enough tissue for any determination on the likelihood

that this cancer would reoccur. So off went another sample of tissue to pathology, and again anxiously

awaited the results. Another couple weeks go by and again, the same message from pathology. With

December beginning the family was starting to get frustrated to say the least. However, at this time her

surgeon sent off the entire rest of the tissue to pathology for a 3rd round of testing. At last, just before

Christmas the results were in. Both doctors, cancer doctor and breast surgeon, were shocked.

Yvonne’s cancer had a higher likelihood of recurrence and chemo was imminent. Not the Christmas

present we were hoping for, especially since Yvonne had already used all of her PTO and FMLA time

for all of the other situations from earlier that year.

No one who feels completely healthy anticipates a cancer diagnosis and all of these unexpected

life situations happened within a few short months. The FMLA allowance will reset a year after the date

it was granted; however, that is April of 2026. In addition, you must work a certain amount of hours,which is not going to be possible, as the next option Yvonne is having to apply for is disability. This will

require her to be off work for the duration of the chemo and possibly the radiation treatments. Yvonne

is having to try to apply for disability, which can be a long process and the bills don’t stop. The biggest

concern is now that she won't be working, she will need to continue to pay for her insurance via

COBRA. COBRA is quoting more than her monthly rent, which is not something that she can afford.

In addition to the financial stresses Yvonne is trying to navigate chemo, she just had her first

treatment to start 2026 off. The side effects from the chemo have her pretty sick and seriously lacking

energy. Feeling this way has been creating additional issues for Yvonne to get everything filed for the

disability. With all of this we are trying to help alleviate Yvonne’s stressors about having the money to

cover her insurance costs plus her personal bills. We decided to create a GoFundMe for Yvonne in

hopes that it can alleviate some of the financial burden that is coming. We are also asking for prayers,

especially focusing on her body being able to tolerate the chemo, financial stress relief and that the

chemo completely kills all chances of this cancer coming back.

Thank you in advance! Please share