Marisa's Sarcoma Journey

Hello, my name is Marisa Cogswell-Diggs.  Two weeks ago I was a happily married 24 year old with a 4 week old daughter.  Who knew my life would forever be changed in two weeks.  My actual story began almost 8 years ago.  I was a typical  teenager, playing soccer and dating my high school sweetheart.  At  16 years old I noticed a dime size lump on the top of my left foot.  It was painful but I didnt think nothing about it. During the last eight years I went to several doctors and they told me it was just a benign cyst.  I did have pain to the site but the lump did not grow for several years. I married my highschool sweetheart at twenty years old and embarked on a military life. I lived in Florida for two years. My husband did four years in the military and decided to leave so that we could start a new life and have children.  We moved back to Texas near my mom.  I ignored the lump on my foot. I graduated from college and several months later I found out I was pregnant. A few months after being pregnant I noticed the lump on my foot growing to  golf ball size and excrutiating pain.  Now that my husband is out of the military I have no medical insurance. The doctors stated that they would re-evaluate my foot after the pregnancy. The lump got huge and I delivered my daughter 5 weeks early. My daughter was healthy and ok. I was finally going to investiagte the lump on my foot. 4 weeks after delivery I found a wonderful doctor that was willing to help me. He removed the tumor on my foot and assured me that the tumor was benign.  One week later I called my mom and told her that the doctor wants to meet with us in his office.  My heart was pounding and we walled in to the doctors office and he said.  Well, kid "you got it, Cancer". I was terrified, what was next. I have no  insurance, I have a little girl to raise. I was told to go to one of the best synovial sarcoma specialist in Austin.  The prognosis is good if I get chemo and amputate my leg. I have a wonderful support system, but financially I could use any funds that I can raise.  My mother is nurse and helped so many in her career, now she takes on a new patient.  Thank you for your support. My life will change forever but I plan to pay it forward.  Help me fight this monster invading my body. I want to see my daughter grow up.  Any funds will be used to support my family to help my treatment and pay my bills.