Desiree (Gutridge) Enciso

Desiree (Gutridge) Enciso

“STAGE 4 BRAIN CANCER” —— the words uttered by the Oncologist at the end of July 2023. These are the words no one ever wants to hear, the words no one is ever planning to hear, the words no family is prepared to hear. All Cancer sucks — we all can agree on that.

Those of you who know Desiree (Gutridge) Enciso may have already heard this heartbreaking news - while others of you are shocked to read these words - Desiree Enciso, Stage 4 Brain Cancer.

My name is Aaron Gutridge and Desiree is my sister. I wanted to inform you of what’s going on with Desiree and at the same time I want to invite you to partner financially and pray specifically for Desiree and her family.

Some of you are neighbors, friends, friends of friends, teammates, colleagues — you’ve sat on the sidelines together, in the stands together, in PTA meetings together — and you have been blessed to hear the competitive fight in Des’ voice as she has stood shoulder to shoulder with you.

Des loves Jay - her husband, her 3 kids - Isabella, Gabriella, and Jakob more than life itself and she is passionate about all things Notre Dame.

If I was to sum up Desiree in one word, that word would be - FIGHTER (and I’m sure all of you would agree).

It’s who Desiree has been and who she always will be.

Because Desiree is a fighter she hasn’t really wanted many people to know about her health journey — Des has always said “I don’t want anyone to have pity on me”, and “I don’t want anyone to think I can’t get through this”.

Some of you may be unaware of Desiree’s health journey over the past 13 years so I wanted to bring you behind the curtain a bit to understand what the past 13 years have looked like.

In 2010, at the age of 39, Desiree was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease (YOPD). This Parkinson’s diagnosis led to a journey of understanding the effects of Parkinson’s, which medication needed to be taken, when they needed to be taken, foods to eat, and foods to avoid — while at the same time as a 39-year-old mother of three young children learning how to adapt to living with Parkinson’s.

In July of 2020, Desiree was diagnosed with 2B Triple Positive Breast Cancer. After this diagnosis, Desiree began chemotherapy in August 2020. As you may know, chemotherapy basically kills everything in your body, and after killing 90% of the cancer Desiree had a Mastectomy to cut out the remaining cancer, and it was replaced with a breast implant. Unfortunately, this implant led to a severe staph infection after 4 months where doctors had to aspirate Desiree’s chest and take out 30 ounces of liquid. Desiree then went back home to recover and begin to heal. However, after several more weeks of infection, Desiree was back in the hospital again undergoing I.V. Antibiotic treatments to continue fighting the infection. Then after a week in the hospital and finishing seven weeks of radiation, Desiree finally was able to have the surgery she had been requesting to remove the implant. Upon removal of the implant, they realized the staph infection was worse than they thought. Because of that instead of just doing 3 weeks more of I.V. Antibiotics at home Desiree had to do 7 more weeks of I.V. Antibiotic treatment.

Once the surgery was finished, and the radiation was complete, Desiree had to do 10 more months of Chemotherapy infusions. During this time of Chemotherapy Desiree mentioned to her doctors about pain she was experiencing in her back and hips. Her doctors ordered a scan from her neck down and mentioned they didn’t see anything. However, once Desiree got back her blood test her cancer markers were unusually high. So in June of 2023 after taking the blood test twice, it was confirmed that Desiree needed to get a PET scan, followed by an MRI.

In late July of this year, 2023, Desiree and Jay sat down with her oncologist and discussed the fact that Desiree now has stage 4 CANCER that has metastasized to her brain. Being the fighter Desiree is, she immediately began radiation on the two spots that have lesions on her brain. And now she is waiting to begin her chemotherapy infusions which she needs to do to save her life.

While Desiree and her family have been fighting over the past 13 years, this new diagnosis has brought a new level of uncertainty and challenges no one is prepared for. What we do know is we are uncertain of the future — however as insurance questions are navigated, doctors’ appointments are made, treatment plans are considered and planned, medications are ordered and payments for all things medical, life, and kids begin to stack up — I want to invite you to partner financially and pray specifically for Desiree, Jay, Bella, Gabbie, and Jakob.

On behalf of Desiree and the Enciso family, thanks for your love, prayers, and your generosity.

Thanks for taking the time to read Des’ story.