Hi everyone! I've been a friend of Chelsea's since we were roughly 12 years old. We both were at Kenilworth Junior High as the new kids to Petaluma but fortunately found friendship in each other. I remember Chelsea being hilarious, kind, and fascinating as she had just moved from Germany! She was my first "international" friend and probably one of my earliest influences as to why I loved traveling to Germany as an adult.

Not long after junior high, we moved on to Casa Grande High School and soon found ourselves creating precious memories I still hold on to today. I think one of my favorite memories, and perhaps a "So Sonoma County" type of memory, is this time we went camping out at a place called Doran Beach. We arrived at night to a group of friends who had already set up camp. That night Chelsea and I sat in the dunes, talking the night away as we overlooked the ocean. I remember the small lights of Bodega Bay glittering off in the distance so vividly, as if it weren't over twenty years ago that it happened. We must have been about 17 years old. The next morning we shuffled out of our tents only to discover that we had been camping in a cow field! The cows looked as surprised as we were as we gathered our things and got out of there. Oops.

This is just one story of the many that Chelsea and I created together. I know I wouldn't be the woman I am now without her generous friendship and I will do everything I can to help give her some of that generosity back.

So today, on her 40th birthday, I'd like to ask you all to help our friend Chelsea recover from her cancer comfortably. Chelsea has been in treatment for rectal cancer for about a year now. She's gone through her treatment and just received a recent surgery on March 2 to remove the last of the tumor and lymph nodes around it. She is currently doing well and recovering at home after multiple days in the hospital.

I had initially planned on making this post to her as a surprise while she was in surgery but decided I better consult her first. She tried to argue against this idea, to no shock, but inevitably I reasoned with her that wiping out her 401k for medical bills SUCKS and she shouldn't have to do that. Plus, the state of Washington makes it extra challenging to receive disability support so while Chelsea is recovering from her cancer surgery, her insurance payments are $900 a month and she doesn't have any income coming in to help her.

I've set the goal of this fundraiser to be $2,700, which is roughly three months of insurance. Chelsea still has a long road ahead of her so let's see what we can do with our words and our wallets. If you can't make a donation, your support can go a long way by leaving comments, liking and sharing Facebook posts, and just spreading the love. Chelsea deserves it.

♥♥♥ Thank you. ♥♥♥

Facebook post from Chelsea (2/17/23):

"I've decided that it's time to make *that* post.

Last March I was diagnosed with stage 3b rectal cancer. My prognosis was very good, with chemo, radiation, and surgery being the plan of action to completely cure me of this cancer. I have completed chemo and radiation with fantastic results, aside from being in the 1% of people who have a horrible reaction to one of the two chemo drugs and being very, very sick for a while. I have surgery in less than two weeks to remove the remaining (tiny) tumor and the lymph nodes surrounding it. I will have a temporary ileostomy for 3 months, which should be reversed if all goes according to plan.

I have had wonderful support during this time, but I didn't want to make a post about it and make it public. Now that I'm about to go into surgery, and there are risks with any surgery, I felt it was time to let everyone know. I'm rarely on Facebook anymore, and it seems every third post is an ad now (so I won't be checking it much going forward either), but feel free to message me if you like, or comment here and I will check my notifications periodically.

I'm doing okay. Starting to get really fucking scared because this is a major surgery with typical risks for any surgery/anesthesia, but it's what I need to do to be cured. I guess on a positive note, hospitals don't scare me anymore, nor do needles, because I've spent so much damn time in them getting poked.

On the bright side, maybe I won't have to isolate so much going forward, because COVID would be super bad for someone with cancer, and I won't have cancer anymore.

I haven't been able to work during this time and I'm paying $900/mo for health insurance so my medical bills won't bankrupt me, so that part does definitely suck. HMU in a few months if you know of anywhere hiring and/or can hook me up with a nepotism hire. "