Lauren’s fight against cancer

I am organizing this go fund me account to help Lauren, my 30-year-old daughter, in her fight against cancer. Lauren is a fantastic mom and sole provider to two precious boys, Ryker, 7 and Axton, 1. She has family that loves her and are dedicated to helping her through this crisis. Eight months ago, Lauren began to have heavy, constant menstrual bleeding and extremely painful abdominal pain. She repeatedly visited her OB doctor, where ultrasounds, labs, CT, MRI’s and biopsies were performed. Her OB finally decided to run a more extensive set of labs, where her thyroid would be looked at closely. When the labs returned abnormal, she had a thyroid ultrasound that showed a suspicious looking nodule on her left thyroid lobe. On 11/02/2023 she had an FNA (fine needle aspiration). On 11/08/2023 she received the phone call that has changed her life. The doctor verified that it was Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma. On 11/14/2023 Lauren and I went to see Dr. Naira Baregamian at Vanderbilt Cancer Center, where she informed us that the cancer was also in her right lobe, and she would require a total thyroidectomy (a surgical procedure to remove both lobes of the thyroid). She ordered a repeat ultrasound, CT scan, and biopsy for this Thursday to check the lymph nodes for spread of cancer. If the cancer has spread to lymph nodes, she will need a neck dissection (a major surgery to remove the neck lymph nodes). We are praying the cancer has been contained in the thyroid and has not spread to lymph nodes or any other areas. The surgery is scheduled for 01/29/2024 but may happen on 11/24/2023 if the Vanderbilt medical Center OR is open. Further expensive treatments including radioactive iodine and further scans will be needed 8 weeks later requiring more time out of work. Lauren works full time while also trying to keep her boy’s schedules normal. Her medical bills have risen over the last 8 months significantly and will continue to do so for medications and testing. She also is solely responsible for her household bills and raising the boys. She has missed a lot of work due to her symptoms and ongoing appointments. Lauren is a very caring, attentive mother to the boys. She is incredibly stressed and worried about all the medical expenses, caring for her household and making sure the boys are taken care of. We are so appreciative of any donation of any amount and will update frequently about her appointments and condition. Most of all, we desire prayer for Lauren. We believe that God uses trials to strengthen our faith and he has the ability to heal and restore. We trust in his word.