Cancer benefit for Lynn Heinz

As many of you may know my dear friend Lynn has been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer for the 4th time. Here is her story. In 2009 she had a hysterectomy due to fibroid tumors but her doctor left her ovaries in because she was young and needed them for blood calcium levels and hormone production. Lynn questioned this but the doctor said her chances of getting ovarian cancer were a 1 to 5% chance. She trusted her doctor but 9 months later in 2010 she was told she had cancer. In June of that year she had major surgery to inspect all organs and surrounding tissue for metastasis. It was a very difficult road but she is still here to talk about it. She finished a very grueling chemo regimen in December of that year and was diagnosed cancer free. She vowed after the first experience with chemo that she would never put herself through that again. That all changed….it was 4 years to the month that the cancer reared its ugly head again. That time there were lesions on her spleen, kidneys, liver and adrenal gland. Ovarian cancer is known to metastasize to major organs. Her doctor told her that there would come a time when her body would become immune to all chemo and she would run out of options. She had so many reasons to fight and a family that needed her so she decided to start chemo again. This time she had issues with the treatments (7 different chemos) and had allergic reactions to 3 of them but after 9 months she was pronounced cancer free once again. She was put on a maintenance drug Avastin (considered a miracle drug) but after 9 months it stopped working and the cancer was back again in August of 2015. At that time her husband decided he no longer wanted to deal with the cancer and walked out of her life. Lynn and her daughter Kassidy were left financially devastated. On her 50th birthday she faced the very real possibility of living in her car with her daughter, dealing with the loss of her 14 year marriage and staring death in the face once again. She states “you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have”. The good Lord got her through this time as well. By the grace of God and all of her many, many prayer warriors and donations from amazing people in her life they were able to hold onto the condo they rented. She was financially forced to apply for social security disability. Due to the recurrent cancer she was no longer able to work a full time job. It was at this time she started on a new non-toxic medicine that kept the cancer at bay….for a while. In April of this year the cancer had returned. All she could think was that her oncologist would tell her there’s nothing more they can do. She was sent to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa for a second opinion. They of course wanted to put her on another chemo once a week. All she could think was…. they want to take away my quality of life. She told her doctor she was opting to not do the chemo at this time. He told her that he didn’t blame her for not wanting to do it. He told her you can go on feeling good for a month or even a year, truth is they really don’t know. He advised her that when she starts to present with more aggressive symptoms to go back and see him and they will talk about treatment. Her body has told her each and every time when it was back. She will continue to listen to those whispers and get back to her doctor when the time comes. Until then, she is going to keep living life to the fullest while taking care of herself in the process. She hopes and prays for the best while keeping a positive attitude. Her main focus is on spending quality time with Kassidy and those that are most important to her. She has said that she would have never been able to get through this without the wonderful supportive and generous people in her life.

She is truly an amazing strong woman with a beautiful soul and has faith in God. It is my hope that we can help alleviate some of her financial burden.