So, my friend of 35 years (literally since 2nd grade) and former roommate, Candie Christian (aka “CandY”) was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer that had already spread to her bones on December 7, 2020. She hasn’t asked for help since, SO – I’M making the first (I think) one of these I’ve made. It takes a village, but our village is small right now. Apparently, they’ve come a long way in the last 8 years, as far as this kind of cancer. It's treatable, but not cureable.

 

“So, it’s not a total death sentence. I could go into remission for 2 months or 20 years, but this will be what kills me, outside of some freak accident.”

 

She told me that the first time we talked about it. She’s gone through 42 rounds of radiation, will be on chemo for the rest of her life, and has bone treatments. Below, I detail what’s happened, what the money is for, etc.

 

One morning, getting ready for work, she was shaving her legs while showering. She bent over and said she HEARD, as well as felt, a “snap”. It was her lower spine. Instead of going to the ER or a doctor, she hobbled off to work, thinking she threw her back out. It had happened a couple of times in the past, and she just thought this was worse. When it didn’t go away, she went to a chiropractor, who sent her for x-rays, where they found the mass in her spine. Her L4 was completely disintegrated, her L2 had a lot of holes in it and is brittle. This means she had/has bone fragments just floating around, all willy-nilly, in and around her spine. Both of her hips are partially disintegrated, along with her left forearm. Her “bones are like Swiss cheese,” to quote the doctor. She still needs a walker, even though she tries not to sometimes. As much to feel a tiny bit of freedom, as to avoid dealing with people staring at her.

 

To my complete shock (haha) she hasn’t really complained once. Her chemo alone without insurance is $12,893. She’s obviously in debilitating pain, but she keeps getting denied disability, even though her doctor has deemed her completely disabled for the rest of her life. As of right now, October 3, 2021, she still has her job with health insurance, and we’re MORE than grateful for that. Since they had to hire someone else to help when she had to be out, she’s only working 10-15 hours a week.

 

She’s been quiet about it, because she doesn’t want to be some “victim” or anyone to pity her. At the same time, her current over all situation is getting worse, and I’m far from quiet. She needs help. Her family and friends have been doing everything we can, but we thought she was going to be able to work more hours from home. She can’t really get another job that she’s qualified for because most of it involves standing, but even if it didn’t, they’d have to work around the schedule of the job that’s literally keeping her alive since she’s getting insurance through them.

 

She was SO happy to finally get “the most reliable car she’s ever had” a couple of years ago or so. Now, she’s thinking about selling it so she can have rent money, because she’s about to be evicted. This has been going on for 10 months, none of us wanted to do this, but you can’t live in Houston without a car. Especially when you can’t walk. Even the very last resort, living in her car, isn’t an option because she can’t even sleep in her own bed. The only place that’s comfortable to sit or sleep is her recliner… So, I don’t mind being “the beggar”.

 

No one wanted to go this route, but I don’t care at this point. THIS could quite literally be life and death for the “CandY”. So, ideally, $15,000 will get her to the first of the year. It would let her know she’s going to stay in her house, have a car, electricity, food, etc… (this was only supposed to go on until January 1, but we’ve barely raised a third of it as of April 8, 2022). I believe one’s emotional state is everything when you’re fighting something like this. Since it doesn’t look like she’s getting her hours back anytime soon, like we’ve been hoping, we just kind of need a beat to “regroup”.

 

Everyone says this, but seriously “anything REALLY does add up,” even if it’s a couple of months from now. I’m going to keep sharing this, because I don’t want to imagine a world where I lose one of my oldest friends by (to? Whatever.) the hand of the “Almighty dollar”.