To friends, family, community, and hopefully beyond

My name’s Chris Thorpe and I’m writing this with the permission of my baby sister Alexis.

Several months ago our world turned upside down when Lexi was diagnosed with aggressive HER2-positive invasive ductal carcinoma, soon after her 24th birthday. Lexi handled the news better than anyone, a surprise to no one who knows her. She’s been incredible throughout her treatment, 2 surgeries so far followed by 2 months of chemotherapy with at least 4 to go.

She’s endured pain and sickness and uncertainty while projecting positivity and courage and prioritizing everyone around her, as always. We’re launching this campaign because Lexi badly needs financial help fighting and living with this aggressive cancer.

Last August, Lexi found a large hard lump after a day of persistent pain and scheduled an appointment right away with her primary, who urgently referred her for an ultrasound that showed a second tumor behind the first. She was very urgently referred for biopsy. Despite the obvious urgency, the biopsy + further testing were the first of many appointment delays and unanticipated expenses forced by her insurance provider, as her pain worsened and the mass that could be felt grew larger.

The biopsy was finally done in October and the lumpectomy scheduled for December. Both tumors were removed in the first surgery, but further testing showed additional tissue margins were needed so she underwent a 2nd surgery 2 weeks later.

Lexi continued going to work as long as she could, but by mid-November was experiencing too much constant pain, fatigue, and dizziness to continue working retail sales, always on her feet. Unfortunately she’d been employed by Gap just short of a year since moving to Maryland and therefore didn’t qualify for paid medical leave, and so her only income disappeared.

Luckily Lexi has another moral support and, unfortunately just as important now, a source of income and savings in her fiancé Diego. Together they were able to afford some of what insurance astonishingly denied: genetic testing to determine treatment plan and likelihood of recurrence, consultations with a fertility clinic before chemotherapy, properly dosed post-chemo injections to recover white blood cell counts, and more.

Sadly they couldn’t afford to move forward with the fertility clinic before beginning chemo and now face a much higher chance of being unable to start the family they’d planned for soon, due to the specific chemo medication required to treat her aggressive cancer.

The denial of coverage for post-chemo injections was especially painful and dangerous for Lexi. She was approved for only ⅓ the needed dosage and after the second week her oncologist described her recovered blood count as a “medical miracle.”

Despite her doctor’s outrage, their second claim for approval of the correct dosage was again denied, and the decision was made to pay out of pocket from then on. Lexi is young and fighting hard but both the cancer and its treatments have taken a heavy toll and hopes of going back to work soon are fading.

We’re launching this campaign because after 4 months of mounting expenses on halved income their collective savings are exhausted. Neither of them has financial support from their families to rely on, and ahead lie at least four more months of chemotherapy and injections, followed by 33 rounds of radiation therapy.

Lexi’s planned wedding this summer is on hold, and she’s now unsure if starting a family after that will be possible. A year that began with a new home, new jobs, and a surprise engagement ended on a pretty sour note, but she’s determined to make this year the year of her victory over cancer.

Donations would go to:

• Out of pocket treatment costs

• Rent, groceries, general bills and expenses until Lexi is able to work again

• Supportive care and supplies (topical radio-protectants + cortico-steroids, wigs, cooling caps, etc)

• Any funds exceeding immediate medical/living needs will go to re-engaging with the fertility clinic on remaining options for preserving Lexi and Diego’s chance to start a family

The ultimate goal is to raise $30,000 but we are starting with $20,000 per GoFundMe's suggestion. Any amount is hugely appreciated, and if you can’t donate at this time, sharing the campaign on social media makes a real difference. Thank you for taking the time to read Lexi’s story.

With love,

Chris Thorpe