Brand New Mom with Breast Cancer

I want to start off by saying this is hard for me to do. I’m not a person that likes to ask for help and the idea of crowdfunding for myself hasn’t been one I’ve been super comfortable with. That being said, as news of my diagnosis spread, it’s clear that I have an amazing group of people that want to help and I thought this would be the easiest way to allow them to do so.

My Story

My name is Alyssa. I’m 29 years old. When I was in my first trimester I discovered a lump in my breast after noticing some pain. Taking to google like I usually do, I searched “painful breast lump and pregnancy” and for the first time in my life I believed the lesser of two evils to be the culprit (clogged milk duct). Everything I read says cancer doesn’t cause pain, that it’s the painless lumps that you need to worry about. So, determined to not let unneeded stress affect my pregnancy, I ignored the lump. I neglected saying anything to my OB as I’ve always had bad health anxiety and can be quite a hypochondriac and was tired of being “that person”.

My pregnancy went by with no issue - save for awful nausea. As my breasts swelled I noticed the lump getting bigger and the pain was getting worse. Normal pregnancy changes, right? I tried heating pads, ibuprofen and even ice to make the pain go away and it never did. Finally at 37 weeks pregnant I mentioned the lump to my OB. After an exam, she immediately referred me for an ultrasound.

The ultrasound was painless and I kept in good spirits that this was just one of the many benign breast lumps that exist. The ultrasound tech called in her radiologist to look at the mass as well and I think deep down I knew something was wrong. They told me they wanted to get a biopsy just to be sure and referred me for that. That evening I looked up images of breast masses on ultrasounds and tried not to spiral when none of the benign masses looked like how mine had, but malignant ones did.

The biopsy wasn’t bad. The waiting was worse. My husband kept assuring me if it was bad my OB wouldn’t be waiting for my next appointment to give me the news. My mother reminded me we had no history of breast cancer in the family. I didn’t even react when my OB said the words “Unfortunately the biopsy is showing cancer.” I was in absolute shock. I’m young, generally healthy with no breast cancer history… how could this have happened?

My OB told me that due to the diagnosis we would have to schedule an induction for my delivery so I could start treatments as soon as possible. I wouldn’t be able to get MRI imaging or further testing until the baby was here. I was induced the day before my due date and despite some complications leading to a C-Section, I gave birth to a healthy baby girl on May 4th.

The biggest downside to the C-Section was that further imaging had to be further delayed. I could not lie on my stomach for an MRI for two weeks. When I was finally able to, my imaging showed an abnormal lymph node. I was sent for a biopsy of this as well and it came back positive for cancer. After this, my active treatment began.

Treatment and Tumor

I’m at least Stage 2. Because of the lymph node involvement, my oncologist pushed to start chemo as soon as possible. We only know about the one lymph node as of now. My tumor is HR+ and HER2-, which means the hormones surging through my body during pregnancy fed my tumor and caused it to grow rapidly. This also means that my husband’s and my dream of having two children is over. The risk of the cancer returning or growing is unbelievably high and it’s not safe for us to have more children so my daughter will be an only child.. I have a ki-67 number of >90% which means the cells are dividing very quickly (for context 30 is considered high). My oncologist described it as “fast growing and aggressive”. Hormone Receptor positive tumors don’t always respond well to chemo but fast dividing cells do so we’re hopeful that this will be the case for me.

I will have 4 rounds of AC chemo with a neupogen shot every 3 days following infusions, and 12 rounds of taxol. Surgery will follow but it’s unclear if it will just be a lumpectomy or mastectomy. I will likely require radiation. I will also be put on hormone blockers.

Why I’m Crowdfunding

I’m lucky enough to be on maternity leave at the moment but sadly unable to enjoy this time with my newborn as I’m at the hospital a few times a week for appointments. With a 30 minute commute one way gas is a primary expense. Because of chemo I had to stop breastfeeding and am now exclusively formula feeding my daughter adding to expenses. My husband just started a new job with the state and won’t have income for the first 5 weeks. Due to the new job he’s also unable to take time off of work.

Any money received from crowdfunding will go towards medical bills, medications, copays, gas, diapers and formula. If there is any excess at the end of treatment I will be donating to the American Cancer Society.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and any and all help is appreciated.

If you would prefer to gift, I have started a registry of things that will help through the course of treatment.

https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/UK5AIRU4Z1PA