Dear friends, family & anyone with a compassionate heart,

My name is Brie and I am asking for your support in helping my sweet friend Shasta who was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 Pancreatic Cancer in October of 2024 at just 37 years young.

Whether seeing Shasta in person or in recent photos she has shared, you would never know the battles she has been waging. You would see that she has continued to show up (pump and all!) for her son, Austin, who was a senior this year at Olentangy Berlin High School. She also recently married the love of her life, Josh, who is a Deputy Sheriff and works alongside my husband. If you have had the pleasure of meeting Shasta, you would know she can talk to anyone and make them feel as though they have known each other for years. She is one of the most genuine people I've ever had the pleasure to know and it would mean the world to her if we could all rally around her during this very difficult time.

A little about Shasta's journey with Pancreatic Cancer-

In August of 2024, Shasta began having severe pain in her upper stomach extending into her ribs only to be told she had strained a muscle and not to worry. Over the next couple of months, her pain significantly worsened and was followed by weight loss. She then requested imaging of the area and that is when she received the news that turned her world upside down in an instant- Stage 3 Pancreatic Cancer.

Shasta immediately began a very intense treatment plan at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center consisting of several months of chemo followed by a very complex surgery referred to as the Whipple procedure. Shasta had the Whipple in April where her surgeon removed half of her pancreas, her entire duodenum, gallbladder, and they had to re-locate where her stomach empties into her intestine. Due to cancer also being in her superior mesenteric vein (SMV), she required a vein graph. Most people are in the hospital for about a week following surgery, though Shasta was in the hospital for 2 weeks due to the complexity of her surgery. While she was originally told that her surgery was a huge success and she was cancer free, her team is now saying that they were unable to remove cancer surrounding her superior mesenteric artery (SMA) and there are few options left. Although Shasta has handled the these past few months with nothing but hope and bravery, chemo was very hard on her liver and has caused a lot of damage. This limits her options even further as far treatment options go.

*** This is where she needs our help *** Because her options are so limited at OSU, Shasta will be flying to MD Anderson in Texas to meet with a new team of doctors and to hopefully come up with a new treatment plan to keep fighting this beast. They have reviewed her case and believe they can help!

While receiving treatment during her months-long battle, Shasta was unable to continue working at OSU where she worked as a nurse. Unfortunately, her FMLA time ran out during this period and her employer had to let her go. Josh, her husband, has also had to take unexpected time off work and will continue to need time off to support Shasta. This has a resulted in a huge financial burden for her family due to piling medical bills in addition to the cost of traveling to Texas for further treatment.

No donation is too big or too small and with enough support, we can all help Shasta and her family fight back against circumstances that are beyond her control and frankly aren't fair. If you're unable to help financially, please offer her your prayers instead. Thank you all for your help and consideration.