Help Alyssa Kelly with Metastatic Colon Cancer

Alyssa Kelly, 38-years-old was diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer on May 26th, 2021. She was also 26 weeks pregnant. At the time, it had spread to her liver and lungs. (Lungs have since been cleared). Alyssa did six rounds of chemo while pregnant. On August 24th, 2021, she gave birth to our first and only child, Colin Hugh Kelly. He went through opioid withdrawals the first week, but otherwise, he was a wonderful, happy baby.

Alyssa started up chemo again a few weeks after her c-section. She had scans in August and October that showed progression. Multiple hospitals marked her as inoperable in November. She started her second line chemo and the next few months were numbing. We had new scans late January 2022 and they showed a remarkable response. She is now going to have a combined colon+liver surgery at City of Hope in Duarte, CA. They will do the colon first and if able, do the liver as well. We will spend at least a couple weeks there after the surgery for recovery before we fly home.

Our family has incurred significant health-related expenses this past year and will continue to incur additional future expenses. We have also suffered loss of income. Alyssa was terminated from her employer and is on long term disability. I have been using intermittent FMLA and will run out of paid PTO fairly soon.

Asking for help has never been a forte of mine. I’ve had a lot of people ask about a GoFundMe, especially in the beginning, and I refused. I’ve always had a hard time accepting help and this unfortunate situation made me realize it even moreso.

CBS Chicago Interview 

Colorectal Cancer Alliance Interview 

You can follow Alyssa's story on Caringbridge for updates.

 

How the funds will be used