I’m reaching out today on behalf of my best friend, Brittney.

Brittney has been in a courageous fight with gastric (stomach) cancer, specifically poorly differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma and signet ring cell carcinoma caused by the CDH1 gene mutation. These are rare, aggressive, and relentless forms of stomach cancer, typically found in people of Asian or Caucasian descent, and exceedingly rare in Black women in their 30s.

Brittney has undergone an extraordinary series of surgeries and medical interventions, including a bilateral mastectomy, total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction, and gallbladder removal. An MRI also showed a small tumor in her brain which is currently inoperable, but not thought to be malignant. Through it all, she has faced each step with courage, grit, and grace, doing her best to show up for the people and causes she loves — even while managing the intense side effects.

Brittney’s life has been turned upside down by this diagnosis. For over a year, she's quietly shouldered the mounting costs of her care including paying COBRA insurance for 18 months at nearly $1,000 a month, medicine, hospital stays, specialist visits, labs, imaging, and follow-up procedures that were not fully covered by insurance. She has been firmly against asking for anything, determined not to burden anyone else even as she lost insurance in November and began paying for everything fully out of pocket.

The financial strain has become overwhelming and unsustainable. So we, her friends and loved ones, have stepped in because it is time for Brittney to focus on her health and recovery.

We launched this GoFundMe to help raise funds to cover:

We are profoundly grateful that Brittney has been under the care of the most outstanding surgical and medical oncologists at UT Southwestern and Texas Oncology. While many people view stomach cancer as a death sentence, her team implemented a treatment plan just in time, and with faith and hope, we stand in belief and full alignment with God that Brittney will survive and live a long, beautiful life.

If you know Brittney, you know she has always been the first to show up — for her students, her community, her friends, her colleagues, and even for strangers. She is a light, a fighter, and a giver. As one of her former students shared, “She’s our Miss Honey.” And now it’s our turn to show up for her.

Every dollar raised goes directly toward easing the financial burden Brittney has been carrying, so she can fully focus on recovery, rest, and ongoing care. No donation is too small. Every gift, every share, every prayer helps keep Brittney going.

From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU for standing with our favorite girl and helping her through this chapter.