Deanne (Gladden) James Stage 4 Breast Cancer

Deanne has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic Breast cancer. This devastating diagnosis came in August 2023, three and a half years after her first battle with breast cancer. In early 2022 Deanne began experiencing back pain. Her oncologist ordered an MRI which showed some arthritis and swelling in L5. The pain continued to grow progressively worse and became excruciating in April 2023. Her cancer markers in May of this year were elevated and a follow up MRI, bone scan and CT scan showed that the cancer had returned and spread to her spine and the 4L and 4R lymph nodes in her chest. Her diagnosis now is breast cancer, triple positive. Only about 1 in 5 breast cancers are HER2 positive.

As hard as it is to hear, metastatic breast cancer cannot be cured today. However, it can be treated. Due to the aggressive nature of this type of cancer, Deanne is now undergoing chemotherapy along with HER2 treatment through December, and she will continue the HER2 therapy infusions indefinitely to stop the cancer from growing and spreading. Scans and lab work will have to be done several times a year, every year, to continuously monitor the effectiveness of her treatments, the growth of the cancer, and to make changes to the therapy infusions when necessary.

Deanne has always been the first to step up and volunteer her help and support for her family and friends and now she and her family need our help and support. Your generous donations are needed at this time to help the James family with their mounting medical expenses, which will continue for the unforeseeable future, and for the loss of income Deanne will experience as she must take time away from work for treatment, tests, and doctors’ appointments. There will also be travel expenses when the testing that she needs is not available here in Farmington or Durango.

Sending love and thanks to each and every one of you who has been part of her support system so far. Deanne has been blessed with an amazing employer and coworkers who have made it as easy as possible for her to have time to attend all of her medical appointments over the past 2 months. Please know that every word of encouragement, every message sent, is appreciated. Having you on her side and by her side means more to her than you will ever know. Thank you for your donations, prayers, well wishes, support, and positive thoughts as we join together to support Deanne and her family!

*For those wanting to use Venmo - Deanne's Venmo account is: @Deanne-James-3