Erin’s Ewing’s Sarcoma Aide

My name is Kyle Hughes, and this is my wife’s journey to finding out that she has an extremely rare bone cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma.

Erin, or Er as we like to call her, is one special woman. She has been a constant light to us all who are lucky enough to be involved in her life. Perhaps stoically, she provides a warmth to those around her. Genuine love, care and advice is what we all get from Erin. She’s done mission work in both Honduras and Guatemala, and I bet you each person she hung around all had the best time because, if I haven’t mentioned- Erin is also quite the goof. So, so funny…

Before I detail her illness, I’ll say this: over the 11 years I’ve loved her, she’s gone from a complete softy… to a perfectly awesome, sweet softy. Haha… that being said, even for the toughest of folk, It can be hard sometimes for any of us to see the soldier, or the might of our own will, within ourselves; unknowingly, Er does this on a regular basis, now. Watching her handle this in such a powerful way, owning her fears and emotions, she is proving to me each day why she is my hero, and a beacon in the midst of all of this.

Like most people, Erin leads a typical life: working out on occasion, going on a hike, going to the movies, live concerts, playing with our pets, and hoping to raise children one day. We all plan for our goals to be obtained in a certain amount of time, which is the smart thing, but every now and then there are speed bumps… we gotta put goals to the side, and dig deep.

Erin was jogging back in February on the treadmill at our local gym and noticed a click in her knee. With a small random flare up here and there we didn’t think too much about it. After about 2 months there was a really bad flare up. She couldn’t walk for about a week. Then it got better, and then she couldn’t walk again. We scheduled her MRI after going to Elite Sports Medicine for June 6th, 2022. Later that day, we were told about a healthy knee… but also a malignancy on the top of her tibia.

Wow.. was all we could muster to say. That same week we met with Dr.Halpern, an orthopedic oncologist, scheduled the biopsy, found out it could be Ewing’s or lymphoma, and then on June 20th we found out for certain of her illness, knowing what lay ahead for her, for all of us.

This treatment includes 20 total weeks of chemo, a total of 5 rounds. She will have a full knee replacement done after 12 weeks of chemo and more imaging is done to ensure it has shrunk and stayed localized, then she will finish her last 8 weeks of chemo.

That being said, this is going to be a tough hurdle for us. Not only emotionally, but financially as well. One week out of each round (4 weeks per round) she will be under a drip for 300 min per day. She will be out of work for that week with no form of income, and potentially some or most of the week following that extensive treatment. We’re not sure what the total out of pocket is going to be for all of this, but we do know that missing work will be detrimental for our livelihood.

For me, I wanted to start this Gofundme as a way to take any form of stress away from Er as she battles this. Ensuring a roof is over our heads, our bills are paid, our pets full and happy, and all of her energy focused on healing.. that’s the aim. 

To anyone and to all who donate- I pray you are rewarded down the road in return for your kindness.