Christina and her "chyr"-leaders beat gastric cancer

Hi everyone! As you may have heard, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 gastric cancer in December 2024. I was completely blind-sided by the news because I had no risk factors that would make me suspect that my symptoms were due to such a scary condition. Being told that you have advanced cancer at 30 years old is scary, but I am taking everything day by day and processing my emotions and thoughts as they come. I have also been on chemotherapy and targeted antibody therapy since January 2025 and am learning to deal with the side effects. Some days are easier than others. However, I am beyond grateful to have such a strong support network from my family, close friends, work family, and medical team.

As we prepare to build our arsenal against the c-word, we are planning to go to the Mayo Clinic for their world-renowned care. Unfortunately, medical and travel expenses are not cheap which is why I am asking for contributions to my cancer fund from my fellow "chyr"-leaders. Thank you for all your support and kind words so far. I don't know what this journey will look like, but I do know that I have too much left to do and see so I have no choice but to beat this cancer (and we know how competitive I can get).

Update 02/16/25: Thank you to everyone for all your kindness and support! It really means a lot to have such wonderful people around us. You guys make everything feel more bearable. We hope that I can make a full recovery and get to spend time with everyone making even more wonderful memories together. Please keep us in your thoughts in the meantime.

Update 03/03/25: So big updates! I have been able to eat again after about 2 months! Also, I'll be having a laparoscopy surgery to reassess the peritoneal metastasis and getting HIPEC (heated chemo pumped directly into my abdomen to fight the peritoneal mets) next week 03/11 just waiting to confirm the appt. Recovery should be easy ish just an overnight stay in the hospital. Then I will resume chemo after 3 weeks for another 4 treatments (about 2 months). In the best case scenario, I would qualify for a clinical trial where they have robotic surgery to perform cytoreductive surgery aka CRS (basically to remove any other tumors they see in the abdomen), HIPEC again, and either a full or partial stomach removal. The benefit of robotic surgery is a quicker recovery because I won't need an open surgery meaning they make a big incision from my ribs to at least my belly button. The second best case scenario is that I'll need an open surgery which will take a longer recovery and hurt more. The 3rd option is that I qualify for another clinical trial where I might be randomized into the group that gets a port in the abdomen and have chemo pumped into there.