God Save The Nipples

We got the news in early February that our dear friend Liz was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, otherwise known as breast cancer. She was 44 at the time of her diagnosis, ZERO family history, and she had a clear Mammogram in November. Oddly, her chiropractor found the lump as he tried to address pain in her upper ribs.

Liz would never tell you this, or ask you herself, but she needs our help. Liz was already struggling to keep up with her ongoing medical bills for chronic issues ahead of this diagnosis, and the out of pocket costs and co-pays for surgery and chemotherapy (and all the things you need to combat the side effects of chemotherapy) are exacerbating her financial situation even further. We decided to setup a fundraiser to help support her and hopefully alleviate this one area of stress. If you are able to assist in any way it would be very much appreciated!

Some background…..Eighteen years ago, Liz was driving home from work and was stopped at a red light when someone hit her from behind going 50 miles per hour. She should have died and was left with chronic and debilitating injuries. She continues to be a modern miracle, stunning her doctors and those of us that know what she has been through.

She has spent years working toward her ability to communicate and function at her new normal. She still has to see specialized physical therapists, chiropractors, and various other doctors every week to keep her body aligned. She has also done hyperbaric treatment to reduce scar tissue in her brain. Because Liz looks okay on the outside, many of her internal injuries were not properly diagnosed initially, including brain injuries that left her confused and unable to advocate for herself. As such she was not allocated a settlement that would cover her long-term medical costs and she was placed on a fixed income.

Then, in 2015, she was hit a second time. Again, she was stopped at a red light. This time the car hit her from the side. While not as severe, the injuries from the second accident have been a giant setback and unwound a lot of the progress she had made to recover and adapt from the first accident. For example, the reason she has braces is to help realign her jaw as a result of this accident.

We tell you this because it’s important to know that Liz was already fighting an uphill battle everyday, dealing with exceptional medical bills and out of pocket costs relating to these accidents. She has liquidated investments, lives on a strict budget and does everything she is able to in order to cover her yearly medical expenses but her fixed income is never enough.

She is smart, well-spoken, witty, and has injuries you cannot see, so most people wouldn’t know this about her unless she told you. And chances are, she hasn't told you. She chooses to live life with a positive attitude, rarely complaining about the chronic pain and the hoops she has to jump through to live her life to the fullest.

But for those of us who do know her situation very well, it was an unimaginable blow to find out she had cancer, on top of everything she was already dealing with. Throw a global pandemic into the mix and things are truly surreal. But, in true Liz spirit, after learning her cancer diagnosis she laughed and said, “Well, this will be a piece of cake compared to my car accidents. At least there is an end to cancer.”

That’s the thing about Liz, at times when most of us would just crumble and give up, she finds the silver lining. It’s that attitude that made me want to get to know her better when we first met and something that continues to inspire me. She was already a fighter, and I know she is going to kick some cancer butt!

Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you are able to provide a donation, it would be greatly appreciated. You can donate here through GoFundMe or you can donate directly to her through Venmo @Elizabeth-deRoche-1.