Support Jennifer Chapman's Fight Against Breast Cancer

My name is Angela and I'm raising money to help my sister from another mother. I have known Jennifer since I was in diapers. She was my neighbor and babysitter in Florida before she moved to North Carolina. She is my best friend and the closest thing I have to a sister. At a young age, Jenny lost both her brother and her mother to cancer and in the last 3 years, has lost two more loved ones to this deadly disease. She really needs our help and support at this time. She is scared to death of the possible outcome and is not ready to leave behind her beautiful children and grandchildren.

Jenny was recently diagnosed with Stage 1-2 Invasive Lobular Carcinoma of the breast. 15% of women who have breast cancer have this type, so it's very uncommon. It's a sneaky cancer that can spread into the brain, bones, lungs, and liver. Thankfully, Jenny caught it early. It is treatable but very expensive for someone who is single. As most of her friends know, she is a mother to two amazing children and six grandsons that she loves more than anything. She works full-time and has health insurance, but unfortunately, she has a very high deductible and no disability insurance.

On September 27th, she was scheduled to have surgery to remove the cancer in her breast. That same day, Hurricane Helene devastated West North Carolina, specifically Swannanoa where she lives right outside of Asheville. Because the surgery was still on, she drove an hour to the hospital just to be told that they needed to cancel it. The roads were undrivable at that point and she wasn't able to get home until the next day. Most roads completely washed away. She has seen and experienced things in the last three weeks that most people will never experience in their lifetime.

Last week, she finally received the call to reschedule her surgery. It is now scheduled for the end of this week. They will be performing a lumpectomy with removal of all lymph nodes that are cancerous and send them off to pathology to make sure they removed all of the cancer. After the surgery, she will start radiation treatment that will be every day for six weeks. She will also need to take a chemotherapy pill every day for five years to prevent the cancer from coming back and spreading.

Before Hurricane Helene, she had lots of testing done (mammograms, MRI, biopsy, markers placed, EKG) where she has had to pay out of pocket for each appointment, and although the doctor's office deferred a couple of her payments, they have told her that she can no longer keep deferring them. Her patient advocate has been amazing, working her magic to have them defer the payments so far, but she told Jenny today that when she goes in for surgery later this week, they may not defer anymore. Her medical bills are starting to add up. Every day she goes in to see the doctor or have a procedure, they are asking for money, and it's not just a $100 copay... it's hundreds more each time! Once she starts the radiation, they are going to be asking her every day for money! Hurricane Helene has added even more stress to her with paying for her treatments because she was out of work.

I am organizing this fundraiser in hopes that to raise enough money to help her by paying down her current medical bills, paying for the future surgeries and treatments that she will need, and paying for her house payment and bills including groceries because she may need to take some time off of work while going through the surgeries and treatments. As of right now, there isn't a timetable as to how long she will need these treatments. She has so many people that have already offered to help her, so I am here trying to help them get that done so she doesn't need to worry about how she is going to pay her medical bills, etc.

Please consider helping relieve all of these stresses so that Jenny can put all of her energy into getting better. And if you are not able to help monetarily, prayers are always welcome. Thank you in advance!

~Angela

Update 10-19-24:

I want to start by thanking everyone who has donated this far to help Jenny!! She did have the surgery yesterday…Finally!!

Surgery went as expected. The doctor feels they got all of it. They removed a total of 4 cm and 1 lymph node for biopsy. Everything was sent to the lab. They should get the pathology results in 3-5 business days. The results will determine the next steps of radiation. They were thinking the area affected was 1.5-2cm but took 4 cm. Oncology will be calling her by Thursday to let her know the next steps from the results.

i will be updating everyone as soon as she lets me know and I’ll keep posting updates during her entire journey.

Again, thank you all so much for the love and support you have shown Jenny.

Update 10-23-24:

It took a couple of days for the results to sink in. The doctor called Jenny on Monday to discuss the finders from her surgery Friday. They took 4 areas from her breast and 1 lymph node. The results of the lymph node biopsy is also lobular carcinoma. This will now bring a new path on how to treat this. Since the sneaky cancer that spread and is positive in the lymph node, the next step is a bone scan and CT-scan of her abdomen, chest and pelvis. The surgeon has brought up that she may need to still perform a mastectomy due to these results.

Jenny is trying to keep herself positive but really needs prayers. She was in a good amount of pain the last couple of days. It's still early in her journey and it feels like the punches keep coming.

Update 11-2-24:

Jenny has been having quite a few doctor appointments over the last two weeks. She saw two oncologists (medical and radiation) this week as well as a follow-up with her surgeon after her surgery on the 18th. They explained the next phase of her treatment and what their recommendations are.

To start, she needs a second surgery to get clean margins due to the findings that her lymph node came back with cancer. That is scheduled for this Tuesday. As soon as she recovers from the surgery, she will start radiation and chemotherapy. Recovery may take a month.

She received the results back from her CT scan and her surgeon is referring her back to the gynecologist. They found other abnormalities on the scan that need to be looked at in her pelvic area. It's out of her realm of expertise so it's better to go back to her gynecologist. It's questionable on whether the cancer spread to that area.

As of right now, we know the radiation oncologist wants to see her every day (Monday - Friday) for 30 treatments. Her chemo oncologist is suggesting chemo infusions, 3-4 weeks a part. She will need to take a chemo pill once a day for 5 years also.

Right now there are still a few things that she is facing that she wants to keep private until they are confirmed. Please keep Jenny in your prayers that everything goes well on Tuesday. And if you see her around out and about, give her a big hug for me!!!

Thank you everyone for your support thus far. She is far from being out of the woods. She needs all the support we can give her.