Carrie's Crusade against Cancer
Donation protected
I wrote a blog about Carrie a year ago. I wrote it to process how I was feeling about one of my very best, and lifelong, friends being diagnosed with cancer. I never posted it. I never shared it. Carrie is way more private than I am (as are most of my friends), but she is fierce. She is a warrior. She took this battle on and fought ovarian cancer hard – with both eastern and western medicine.
She was cancer free.
And then last week, we found out that her cancer had returned.
In a matter of six weeks, she went from one slightly enlarged lymph node, to several spots in her abdomen.
They are starting chemo immediately (this Thursday to be exact), which means ports, exhaustion, fevers, headaches, and dizziness.
Because of Covid, she can’t have anyone in there with her. She can’t have anyone to keep her company while she spends the day having the treatments.
She will be physically alone; but never ever ever emotionally.
We are all there; those who love her.
All of you.
We are there praying for her. We are there sending her all of the positive energy in the world. We are there to support and love her.
Carrie will take this on with all of the strength and fight she has.
She will, again, do it with Eastern and Western medicine.
She will do the chemo that kills the cancer (and all of the good cells) in her body.
And she will see her naturopath to build up her immune system to keep her strong in the fight.
And this is the reason for this page. Carrie has been doing the natural treatments to support her body in this fight for a year, and unfortunately, none of this is covered by insurance. It’s all out of pocket and it is insanely expensive.
But doing these treatments, with the chemo, is her best chance of winning this battle. Of keeping her healthy and whole.
And she WILL win!
We’d love to help raise the funds to help with the treatments so her family doesn’t have to worry about the financial piece of it, and she can instead focus on her healing.
If you know Carrie, as most of you do, she is a determined fighter. She WILL beat this. She WILL be there to continue being the most wonderful mom to her amazing daughters (Taylor, Tatum, and Tanah), and to experience all of the milestones life has to offer them: graduations, first loves, heartbreaks, marriages, and babies.
She is visualizing herself healed, and she asks you to do the same.
Thank you so much for reading, and please know that anything (and everything) helps. Funds. Prayers. Positive energy.
All of it.
#HopeWarriors
#BelievinginMiracles
____________________________________________________________________________________
Carrie's Story, written yesterday:
Hi Friends and Family,
This is going to be a long post. I have a lot to share.
About a month and a half ago, I stated feeling a weird pain in my right lower abdomen. I scheduled an appointment with my oncologist, just to be safe that nothing was going on. They did blood work a CT scan and a PET scan. The blood work came back normal with my CA-125 (cancer marker) being at 11, which is the best it’s ever been. Anything below 35 is considered normal. My PET scan came back with one lymph node In my abdomen measuring at 3.3, and a normal sized lymph node is around 3.0. That was it. They didn’t seem to concerned about it and said they just want to keep an eye on it and do another CT scan in a month.
Which, sounded good to me.
Fast forward to Friday July 10th. I woke up that morning feeling like someone was sitting on my chest and I was coughing a bunch. I thought, “Oh great, I have Covid!” I was supposed to meet my friends for lunch that day, but, wanting to be careful, and not get anyone else sick in case I had Covid, I canceled my plans. I went ahead a got a bunch of work done around the house that day. By the evening, I could feel my eyes were hot and glazed over. I took my temperature and it was over 100.
I decided to take it easy Saturday and Sunday and filled up on lots of vitamins and fluids hoping to beat it.
By Sunday evening I was wheezing and could hear some cracking in my lungs. It scared me so I scheduled a Drs appointment with my primary care physician. She was certain that I had Covid. She did a Covid test, put me on a z pack antibiotic and albuterol with a nebulizer and sent me for a chest XRay. The chest X-ray came back the following day. It said I had a viral pneumonia consistent with Covid.
She said it might take several days to get the Covid test back since Sonoran Quest Lab was so backed up.
I stayed in quarantine the whole time. After about a week of being on the antibiotics and albuterol, I started having a bad pain in my kidney area. I thought, “Maybe I have a kidney infection!”
I called the Dr on Monday July 20th. She put me on another antibiotic and another steroid in the nebulizer. My kidney pain continued to get worse and I started to feel worse. Mind you, I have had a fever ranging between 99.5-101 this entire time.
On July 26th I finally got my Covid test back and it was negative. I was completely dumbfounded. I thought, “What in the world is wrong with me then?”
It scared me since I started having all these other symptoms, aches and pains and losing energy day by day. I also noticed that my stomach was growing as though I was 3 months pregnant and I was very uncomfortable. My stomach bloating became the worst pain of all. I decided to reach out to my oncologist and see what was going on.
They were able to get me in on July 27th. They did some blood work including checking my CA-125.
The anxiety and anticipation waiting for the results were agonizing. I got my test results back the following morning. It showed my CA-125 at 67! That is higher than when they first diagnosed me with cancer, which was 48. My heart sank and I thought, my cancer is back!
The Dr quickly ordered another CT scan. It took several days for the insurance to approve the scan.
I went in for the scan on August 4th. I cried the whole time. I was just so scared to find out my results. I just couldn’t believe that I was potentially in the same scenario that I was in one year ago.
The anticipation of my CT results were almost paralyzing. The Oncologist said she would call me as soon as she got the results. I waited on pins and needles the whole day. She finally called me around 5:45 that evening. She said that the CT scan wasn’t good and that I needed to come to the office the following day to go over everything.
I went to the oncologist office with my Mom August 6th. They told me the news that my cancer was back and in several places in my abdomen and a small spot in my liver. My Mom and I just couldn’t believe what we were hearing. How can this be possible since my CT scan a month and a half ago was fine. I wanted to ask if they had the right report, but I could clearly see my name written on the report.
Where do we go from here? The Oncologist ordered me a port to be put in my chest so they could start chemo right away. I will do 1 round of chemo every 3 weeks for a total of 6 rounds of chemo along with a drug called Avastin. I will be doing chemo until November 26th.
My Mom and I walked out of that appointment feeling completely devastated.
We decided to stop by my Naturopath on the way home from the Oncologist appointment. He said that the steroids that I was on could have caused everything to grow as fast as it did. I had NO idea that could happen with a steroid. I’m just so mad at myself for not consulting with my Naturopath before starting any antibiotics or steroids.
My Naturopath told me to keep my hope. He’s going to put me on a strict regimen of high dose vitamin C through an IV and other treatments to help kill cancer.
I was happy I saw him. He game me HOPE that I will beat this and will be ok.
Mind over matter- After hearing this news I was just physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted, but I had to muster up some energy to let my daughters what was going on. That was the hardest part! The ONLY thing that matters to me in this life is watching my kids grow, graduate high school and College, have their first loves, get engaged, watch them get married, be there for bridal and baby showers help with their fist homes, become a Grandma and help with my grand children. That’s ALL I WANT!! My mind started spinning down a dark path for a few days.
After a lot of prayers, I decided that I am going to beat this! There is no other choice for me. I have too much to live for. There is a peace that has come over me and I feel like I am going to be ok. It’s just going to be a long road ahead of me.
I am so thankful for all the support around me. It’s incredible how so many friends and family step up to support me and my family during hard times.
I feel incredibly blessed and overwhelmed with emotion.
I start my first round of chemo this Thursday August 13th.
I will be going to my Naturopath at least 2 times per week to make sure I get rid of this once and for all.
I wish this was a better update. I was hoping to update everyone next month to let you know that it’s been a full year since my last chemo treatment and I’m cancer free. Unfortunately that’s not the case.
I just ask that everyone pray for me and my family for my complete and full recovery and I live to be at least 85 years old. Please only visualize me as being healthy and watching my girls hit all of these life milestones!
I will send another update after my port is installed and my first round of chemo.
I love you all and hope you are all are doing well!
Xoxo
Carrie
She was cancer free.
And then last week, we found out that her cancer had returned.
In a matter of six weeks, she went from one slightly enlarged lymph node, to several spots in her abdomen.
They are starting chemo immediately (this Thursday to be exact), which means ports, exhaustion, fevers, headaches, and dizziness.
Because of Covid, she can’t have anyone in there with her. She can’t have anyone to keep her company while she spends the day having the treatments.
She will be physically alone; but never ever ever emotionally.
We are all there; those who love her.
All of you.
We are there praying for her. We are there sending her all of the positive energy in the world. We are there to support and love her.
Carrie will take this on with all of the strength and fight she has.
She will, again, do it with Eastern and Western medicine.
She will do the chemo that kills the cancer (and all of the good cells) in her body.
And she will see her naturopath to build up her immune system to keep her strong in the fight.
And this is the reason for this page. Carrie has been doing the natural treatments to support her body in this fight for a year, and unfortunately, none of this is covered by insurance. It’s all out of pocket and it is insanely expensive.
But doing these treatments, with the chemo, is her best chance of winning this battle. Of keeping her healthy and whole.
And she WILL win!
We’d love to help raise the funds to help with the treatments so her family doesn’t have to worry about the financial piece of it, and she can instead focus on her healing.
If you know Carrie, as most of you do, she is a determined fighter. She WILL beat this. She WILL be there to continue being the most wonderful mom to her amazing daughters (Taylor, Tatum, and Tanah), and to experience all of the milestones life has to offer them: graduations, first loves, heartbreaks, marriages, and babies.
She is visualizing herself healed, and she asks you to do the same.
Thank you so much for reading, and please know that anything (and everything) helps. Funds. Prayers. Positive energy.
All of it.
#HopeWarriors
#BelievinginMiracles
____________________________________________________________________________________
Carrie's Story, written yesterday:
Hi Friends and Family,
This is going to be a long post. I have a lot to share.
About a month and a half ago, I stated feeling a weird pain in my right lower abdomen. I scheduled an appointment with my oncologist, just to be safe that nothing was going on. They did blood work a CT scan and a PET scan. The blood work came back normal with my CA-125 (cancer marker) being at 11, which is the best it’s ever been. Anything below 35 is considered normal. My PET scan came back with one lymph node In my abdomen measuring at 3.3, and a normal sized lymph node is around 3.0. That was it. They didn’t seem to concerned about it and said they just want to keep an eye on it and do another CT scan in a month.
Which, sounded good to me.
Fast forward to Friday July 10th. I woke up that morning feeling like someone was sitting on my chest and I was coughing a bunch. I thought, “Oh great, I have Covid!” I was supposed to meet my friends for lunch that day, but, wanting to be careful, and not get anyone else sick in case I had Covid, I canceled my plans. I went ahead a got a bunch of work done around the house that day. By the evening, I could feel my eyes were hot and glazed over. I took my temperature and it was over 100.
I decided to take it easy Saturday and Sunday and filled up on lots of vitamins and fluids hoping to beat it.
By Sunday evening I was wheezing and could hear some cracking in my lungs. It scared me so I scheduled a Drs appointment with my primary care physician. She was certain that I had Covid. She did a Covid test, put me on a z pack antibiotic and albuterol with a nebulizer and sent me for a chest XRay. The chest X-ray came back the following day. It said I had a viral pneumonia consistent with Covid.
She said it might take several days to get the Covid test back since Sonoran Quest Lab was so backed up.
I stayed in quarantine the whole time. After about a week of being on the antibiotics and albuterol, I started having a bad pain in my kidney area. I thought, “Maybe I have a kidney infection!”
I called the Dr on Monday July 20th. She put me on another antibiotic and another steroid in the nebulizer. My kidney pain continued to get worse and I started to feel worse. Mind you, I have had a fever ranging between 99.5-101 this entire time.
On July 26th I finally got my Covid test back and it was negative. I was completely dumbfounded. I thought, “What in the world is wrong with me then?”
It scared me since I started having all these other symptoms, aches and pains and losing energy day by day. I also noticed that my stomach was growing as though I was 3 months pregnant and I was very uncomfortable. My stomach bloating became the worst pain of all. I decided to reach out to my oncologist and see what was going on.
They were able to get me in on July 27th. They did some blood work including checking my CA-125.
The anxiety and anticipation waiting for the results were agonizing. I got my test results back the following morning. It showed my CA-125 at 67! That is higher than when they first diagnosed me with cancer, which was 48. My heart sank and I thought, my cancer is back!
The Dr quickly ordered another CT scan. It took several days for the insurance to approve the scan.
I went in for the scan on August 4th. I cried the whole time. I was just so scared to find out my results. I just couldn’t believe that I was potentially in the same scenario that I was in one year ago.
The anticipation of my CT results were almost paralyzing. The Oncologist said she would call me as soon as she got the results. I waited on pins and needles the whole day. She finally called me around 5:45 that evening. She said that the CT scan wasn’t good and that I needed to come to the office the following day to go over everything.
I went to the oncologist office with my Mom August 6th. They told me the news that my cancer was back and in several places in my abdomen and a small spot in my liver. My Mom and I just couldn’t believe what we were hearing. How can this be possible since my CT scan a month and a half ago was fine. I wanted to ask if they had the right report, but I could clearly see my name written on the report.
Where do we go from here? The Oncologist ordered me a port to be put in my chest so they could start chemo right away. I will do 1 round of chemo every 3 weeks for a total of 6 rounds of chemo along with a drug called Avastin. I will be doing chemo until November 26th.
My Mom and I walked out of that appointment feeling completely devastated.
We decided to stop by my Naturopath on the way home from the Oncologist appointment. He said that the steroids that I was on could have caused everything to grow as fast as it did. I had NO idea that could happen with a steroid. I’m just so mad at myself for not consulting with my Naturopath before starting any antibiotics or steroids.
My Naturopath told me to keep my hope. He’s going to put me on a strict regimen of high dose vitamin C through an IV and other treatments to help kill cancer.
I was happy I saw him. He game me HOPE that I will beat this and will be ok.
Mind over matter- After hearing this news I was just physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted, but I had to muster up some energy to let my daughters what was going on. That was the hardest part! The ONLY thing that matters to me in this life is watching my kids grow, graduate high school and College, have their first loves, get engaged, watch them get married, be there for bridal and baby showers help with their fist homes, become a Grandma and help with my grand children. That’s ALL I WANT!! My mind started spinning down a dark path for a few days.
After a lot of prayers, I decided that I am going to beat this! There is no other choice for me. I have too much to live for. There is a peace that has come over me and I feel like I am going to be ok. It’s just going to be a long road ahead of me.
I am so thankful for all the support around me. It’s incredible how so many friends and family step up to support me and my family during hard times.
I feel incredibly blessed and overwhelmed with emotion.
I start my first round of chemo this Thursday August 13th.
I will be going to my Naturopath at least 2 times per week to make sure I get rid of this once and for all.
I wish this was a better update. I was hoping to update everyone next month to let you know that it’s been a full year since my last chemo treatment and I’m cancer free. Unfortunately that’s not the case.
I just ask that everyone pray for me and my family for my complete and full recovery and I live to be at least 85 years old. Please only visualize me as being healthy and watching my girls hit all of these life milestones!
I will send another update after my port is installed and my first round of chemo.
I love you all and hope you are all are doing well!
Xoxo
Carrie
Fundraising team: Carrie's Family & Friends (4)
Michelle Dains Reaux
Organizer
Anthem, AZ
Carrie Wright
Beneficiary
Carrie Wright
Team member
Stacy Smith
Team member
Erin Hensley
Team member
