Connie's Fight Continues...

UPDATE 8/22/23: Thank you to everyone who has reached out about helping with the September 30 fundraiser! I've started a spreadsheet just to keep track of all the offers of help. And thank you to those who recommended starting this online fundraiser. Connie is heading to Minneapolis in early September to begin making her long term treatment plan so it's wonderful to have this account she can access as needed. If you have items for the auction, we have three drop off sites: in Warren at the Courthouse, Marshall County Extension office, Argyle City Office and First Lutheran Church in Stephen. If you need pickup please contact me (Betsy) or anyone on the Stephen Volunteer Ambulance Service. Thank you!

Original Post:

You may know that Connie was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2022. After some long battles with chemo and radiation, she was close to ringing the bell when in July 2023 she was hit with a setback. Her persistent cough wasn't damage from radiation, but nodules in her lungs.

She's going to begin additional treatments, some in Minneapolis and will require extensive travel. Some of the treatments will also be experimental and not covered by insurance. After battling this cancer for over a year, it's time to help her replenish her savings so she can focus on her health, and not the checkbook.

In addition to this GoFundMe, we are holding a fundraiser at the Stephen Legion on Saturday, September 30. We want to give Connie financial assistance but also show her how much she means to us. First Lutheran Church president, program director for Dancing Sky Area Agency on Aging, EMT and director for Stephen Volunteer Ambulance and training officer for many healthcare classes like CPR, EMT and EMR. She's always available to help, and now she needs a little help herself.

Here are some details of her cancer journey and what future treatments may look like. Her initial diagnosis was invasive ductal carcinoma, an aggressive breast cancer in April of 2022. Beginning in April, she underwent 5 months of IV chemotherapy. In August, she started immunotherapy, every three weeks that would last one year (18 treatments). In October, she had a double mastectomy with four lymph nodes removed. Tests showed that surgery and removal of the lymph nodes (2 had cancer) had “clear margins”. Extra treatments would be ordered to “clean up any microscopic cancer cells.” In December she started 25 rounds of radiation and finished on January 5, 2023. On January 30th, she started what was supposed to be eight cycles of chemo pills. She completed 5 ½ cycles and in late April they were stopped because of the damage they were causing to her throat. In July of 2023, with 2 immunotherapy treatments left to go, a CT scan showed suspicious nodules in her lungs. She was scheduled for a CT Scan with contrast and a biopsy, which determined the nodules were breast cancer tumors (undetectable on her last PET scan). She begins another round of IV chemotherapy and will be spending 4 to 6 weeks in Minneapolis doing intensive IV therapy. The date for this has not been determined yet.

For the Sept 30 fundraiser, the food is covered but we're looking for silent auction baskets and extra hands to help with the fundraiser. If you want to help, please contact Betsy Jensen, or ask anyone on the Stephen Volunteer Ambulance Service, or First Lutheran Church.