Heart of our family has cancer

Hafa Adai and Aloha. I'm James Pineda and this GoFundMe is for my sister Jackie Nishimura. We call her Poohbe, because my daughter who loved Winnie the Pooh attributed her to that. She is our Poohbear. Jackie has two young sons Jaeden(7) and Justin(3) who's birthday was just this month.

Early this year she learned that she was pregnant and having a girl. The first granddaughter on my Brother-in-Law Chad's side.  During the last few months of her pregnancy, she was feeling pain in her back and hip, but it was considered normal pregnancy pains. Then a few months ago she had started coughing up blood and having chronic coughs. Again they attributed it to her pregnancy and saying it was caused by her acid reflux and her bouts of vomiting after eating certain meals. So we soldiered on, that was till October 1st and she started having a hard time breathing. We rushed her to the hospital, and they did a chest x-ray and found a few nodules in her lungs, one of which is 2.5 centimeters in diameter and near her airway. This now requires her to use oxygen which they have set up at home. While examining her they also noticed she had a lump on her hip. Concerned for my sister and the baby, they delivered baby Jennavieve a month early.

They then performed a full-body CT Scan and that is where they discovered what looked like a tumor on her hip and a lesion on her spinal column. My sister had a few more test they wanted to run, and after the results from the biopsy of the lump came in on October 9th they delivered the news.  They are concerned it is a Stage 4 Sarcoma and they sent her samples to the Mayo Clinic. We have a preliminary diagnosis from the Mayo Clinic. Jackie has Alveolar soft part sarcoma , a very rare type of cancer. Her oncologist wants to be as aggressive as they can be, she starts phase 1 of radiation on October 21. After radiation, she will begin targeted chemotherapy. Unfortunately, there is not a Sarcoma specialist in Hawaii, so her Doctors want to refer her to a specialist in Seattle. She has healthcare from her job, but it’ll only cover 20% of the cost of Cancer Treatments. That’s why we decided to reach out socially, and ask for assistance.

Baby Jennavive is doing fine and they have been home with us for a couple of weeks now. We’ve started capturing all the moments we can and trying to live a life of positivity even though our family has this cloud of uncertainty hanging upon us. Being that this is a rare type of cancer our goal is to get her the best treatment possible so that we can beat this cancer and so she can enjoy her life with her children. It’s hard to look up the statistics for this type of cancer, not because we can’t find it, but because of what it’ll say. We’re putting our trust in her team of Doctors, and we’ll do our part to make this difficult journey as painless as it can be. As many people know, living in Hawaii is not an easy task. Jackie and Chad both work full-time jobs but are just making ends meet. With all the treatments and how they may affect her, we are not sure when or if Jackie will be able to return to work.

Jackie is the most lovable person you’ll ever meet. She may be the baby of our family, but she is the one that binds us as one unit. She’s the one we go to when we need someone to talk to and just listen. Whenever there is something wrong with one of us, she is right there backing us up, helping us with our issues. When I was going through my issues with COPD, she was making me sing at the top of my lungs to help me strengthen them.

She is a fighter and never backs down. She wants to beat this, and we know we can beat this. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, and if you can donate to her battle that will be greatly appreciated.