Let me tell you about my best friend Carey. First, let's outline a few things that she is:

Now, let me tell you the one thing Carey is not: Carey is not going to let this cancer take her life. The doctors have given her every reason to believe this is beatable, but I’m worried about more than her physical health.

Here's the thing, Carey is a fighter. She always has been. Time and time again, I have watched my friend overcome huge challenges and muscle through difficult life experiences. And when she was diagnosed with cancer I thought she might react with the same fierce determination.

But, instead, I'm watching this disease ravage and break her.

The fear I hear in her voice every day hurts my heart. Of course she is afraid of how the cancer, chemo, and procedures are destroying her body, but she is also terrified of living this new unrecognizable life. Many times I have heard her say, “When am I going to wake up from this nightmare?”

This disease isn’t just crushing her body, it’s crushing her spirit.

Here are the things Carey wouldn’t tell you, but I will. She can’t work like she used to. She is too sick. She is trying to do a job while she is tired, in pain, and overcome with anxiety because they need the money to pay her medical bills on top of all their normal expenses. Her husband works, and he’s great at his job, but with his wife being in such a delicate state, he is struggling too.

She worries about her family, especially her kids. She hates that they have to see her this way. She hates how the holidays and birthdays won’t be the same this year because mom is too weak and tired to celebrate to the max like she always has.

Carey also hates that she can’t be with her yogi tribe as much. Teaching yoga at the farm has been the highlight of her week for many years. It is one of the few places where she feels truly loved, accepted, and empowered and she misses it desperately.

Every aspect of this cancer experience is foreign to her. As someone who has always relied on the strength of her body and the healing properties of nature, being abruptly introduced to the medical world in this way has been overwhelming to say the least.

Carey wakes up every day and tries to fight the demon that is cancer both physically and emotionally. Many days it is a losing battle.

So, that’s why I’m starting this GoFundMe. Carey and her family need us. For the first time she is having to slow down and accept help, when normally she is the one giving not receiving. I want to create a bright spot in this darkness for her. She has been so good to me and many others over the years, so this is one small thing I can do to help her through this nightmare.

Her body will beat this cancer.

But I refuse to standby and let it beat her shining spirit.

Help me, help her.

-Kristina (Tina)