Chelsey’s Breast Cancer Fund

As I sit here, thinking about what to write, I am stricken by the thought that I never imagined this happening to my daughter. I guess I was being naive as our family sadly carries the BRCA1 gene that causes breast and ovarian cancer in women and we found out when Chelsey was 23 that she carries this gene however I never thought it would strike her down at age 30 when she is in the prime of her life!

It literally breaks my heart to share that my beautiful, selfless, kind hearted daughter has been diagnosed with Triple Negative, Metastatic Invasive Carcinoma. Wow! That’s a mouthful! In essence she’s been told that she has an extremely aggressive form of breast cancer that in 7-8 short months (from her last mammogram that was clear) has spread to both breast and her right lymph nodes.

On July 11th she received the dreaded call that the MRI she had received the evening before showed masses in both breasts and her lymph nodes. From that day on, she has gone through multiple days of poking, prodding, testing, and finally meetings with her new oncologist, pharmacist, nurse assigned for high risk patients and at last, the news that they don’t recommend surgery at this time due to the aggressive state the cancer presents. She will be starting chemotherapy on 8/7/23 and from there it will be a long haul for the next 13 months!

Who is Chels you may ask… Chels is an amazing mother of 2 incredible boys (3 & 5 years old) she is an awesome Teacher of Spanish who helps shape your children into responsible members of society, she treats her students with kindness and respect while helping them make good choices in life, she is HUGE Buffalo Bills fan, a wonderful granddaughter, cousin, niece, the most loving and giving daughter a mother could ask for and overall a beautiful person who is connected to the earth! She loves to hike, enjoy nature and teach her boys all about the beauty of the land. She is a ROCK! She has strength beyond words! She worries about all the rest of us that will suffer on her journey but never about herself!

Chels comes from a long line of Bear women and we will be there to hold her up, even if she believes she doesn’t need it.

I have never in my life asked for help and honestly never thought I would, but for Chels, I would do ANYTHING to help ease the financial stress that will come with this coming year and beyond. Please consider sharing this post as well as giving as much or little as you can spare. If you are not able, please consider sending positive thoughts and prayers her way as she will need every one of those and more.

Thank you in advance for your gift, prayers as well as sharing with your community and network. I appreciate you helping my daughter, mother, friend, cousin, niece, teacher, care giver and over all best person I know!

With love…

Chelsey’s Mama Bear

AKA

Renée