Elisa Koch’s Breast Cancer battle

As many of our family and friends know, Elisa was diagnosed with Ductal Breast Cancer just before Thanksgiving of 2017. Within three weeks of diagnosis, Elisa had a treatment plan, surgery to place her port and began chemo. By the end of November, Elisa was going to at least one doctor appointment a day, most days involved two, and she had to quit her job making pies. Elisa’s Cancer is very aggressive and reproducing at a 50% rate, which is very rapid. The chemo administered is normally given every 21 days, however, due to the growth of the lump and the cancer spreading to a lymph node in her armpit, chemo is administered every 14 days. I, Elisa’s sister, Anna, drove up from Phoenix December 4th just in time to see Elisa before she went into surgery for her port. I helped Elisa move into our parents house and put all of her belongings in storage. Without a job, Elisa’s rent was too much for my parents and I to pay for. I have been here since to help with meds, washing everything after chemo and Elisa’s two kids. My parents and my husband have carried the financial burden this far but we are not yet half way through. Elisa will continue chemo for four more months and then have surgery to remove the lump from her breast and the lymph node in her armpit. If there is cancer anywhere else in her body, (the oncologist opted not to do a full body scan) the chemo would take care of it.
Elisa goes in every other Thursday to Celilo in The Dalles but we have to be very careful that she does not get sick while going through chemo. Elisa has lost all of her hair and has been feeling the emotional effects of the chemo/cancer.
While we would do anything to make this as easy as possible for Elisa and her kids, we just can’t continue on financially without help.
We hate asking for help, but we have to swallow our pride and reach out before we aren’t able to pay for our own bills and needs.
I don’t know a lot of the medical terminology and I didn’t want to ramble, but if there are any questions, please feel free to ask and I’ll do my absolute best to answer them.
I’d also like to thank you in advance if you are able to give. If we could have, we would have prepared for this. If you are not able to give, we understand and just ask for your prayers, positive thoughts and good juju to get through this.

Thank you,


Anna Kimmel, Steve and Lori Koch and Elisa Koch