Heather's Journey with Stage 4 Triple Negative Breast Cancer

My name is Slade Ferguson and I am the husband of a woman that has shown me what it truly means to have strength, will, love, and patience within one's self.

We are high school sweethearts (meeting sophomore year) and from then on I had no other goal than to hold her heart and give her the world. When we turned 16 when other teens were worried about school, she was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. Knowing the extent of her journey, she gave me a way out and with zero thought, I turned it down and have walked this road ever since.

She spent one year on chemo and radiation, fighting, persevering and after a surgery to remove her Thyroid and Adenoids, she was considered cancer-free.

After college, we were married at 20 years old and this woman dedicated her life to me, giving me the gifts of Love, Trust and most of all our 2 beautiful girls.

At 24, She was diagnosed with Stage 2 Triple Negative Breast Cancer and without hesitation, she began the journey to remission, she conquered the Red Devil, pushed through the nausea, hair loss, sleepless nights and seemingly endless bouts of sickness to achieve a double mastectomy and hysterectomy to reduce the chance of remission and to live life to the fullest with our family.

We moved to another location that would be better for her health away from the chemical plants, with cleaner air and extended family who took us in with the most loving arms. We started over, we were free from the fear, we were free to live life.

Three months later, Heather went to get a Breast Reconstruction surgery and was told by the surgeon that something didn't feel right, but he would continue the surgery anyway. If he didn't find anything he would continue the surgery, but if he found something he would "do everything in his power to save her life". During the surgery, the surgeon opened up the breast tissue to find our worst nightmare, more cancer, more fear, and more uncertainty. The surgeon did his best, he cut layer after layer of muscle tissue. He wanted the cancer to end, he wanted it to be curable. He had to stop at the bones, he even tried to take layers of muscle between her ribs. He told us that if he had to go deeper, he would have needed a Cardiologist, but he was hopeful that he got it all. Yet, when she woke up...she knew the nightmare had continued.

A week later, she developed shortness of breath and back pain. when we told the plastic surgeon, he said it was par for the course on such a traumatic surgery. All we had to do was go in and drain the fluid that had accumulated on her lung, which we did. He sent the fluid in for a biopsy (just to be cautious) and the results were not what we could have hoped for...Stage 4 Triple Negative Breast Cancer with Metastasis to the Pleura of the Lung.

It wasn't a question of if she would continue, she knew what she had to do, but it was obvious that she was scared and that was one of the most bitterly beautiful memories that I have sitting in that car crying and talking for hours, because even though she was scared, she took comfort in fact that "we could be scared together".

It has been a long journey, her left lung has been crushed by fluid, she has gone through many surgeries and chemotherapies, yet she still exudes a strength and determination that I could only hope to emulate in my lifetime.

She has given me the world and fought to stay in it with us from day one...I will be filing an FMLA with my job soon to be the soul caretaker and spend more time with my beautiful family in these trying times. The cancer has spread to many parts of her body and she will begin a new chemotherapy next week, we are hopeful, but realistic.

This woman has sacrificed her body, mind, and soul for her family and now it's time for her to breathe and rest easy. I request enough to be able to cover bills, while I do everything in my power to make her smile every day. She is my world, she has given me everything and has made me into a man that I can be proud of when I look in the mirror.

Anything will help, thank you for reading her story and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.