WHO

Ariana Blade is a 29-year-old woman from Central New York living with a rare tumor called a desmoid. She was diagnosed at age 27 and has since undergone two different chemotherapies. After spending December 2020 through March 2021 in treatment, it was determined that her desmoid was still active and growing. She then went through chemoembolization on April 19, 2021 at Memorial Sloan Ketter Cancer Center in New York City. The procedure successfully treated 20% of her tumor, but the remaining 80% remains active and continues to grow, causing her daily pain. Therefore, it has been determined that she needs to undergo a second, more aggressive chemoembolization. This second procedure has been scheduled for September 9, 2021.

HOW YOUR DONATION WILL HELP

Ariana is hoping to raise a total of $10,000 to assist with a number of items. She will be out of work for 4 weeks and on short-term disability, which will not fund her monthly expenses. Ariana has coordinated financial assistance and CharityCare where possible, but help is still needed.

• $1,200 is needed to pay for travel expenses to New York City for her second chemoembolization on September 9, 2021.
• $2,000 will pay Ariana's rent for the month of September and a month's worth of expenses including bills and utilities.
• $6,800 would assist Ariana in paying off medical debt she has accrued throughout her treatment that has not been covered by insurance, financial assistance, or CharityCare.

WHAT

• ...is a desmoid tumor? Desmoids are rare tumors, only diagnosed once in every 2-4 million people, and are still being researched. There is much debate surrounding the jargon used to describe desmoids however, Ariana describes her's as an "aggressive benign tumor."
• ...is chemoembolization? Chemoembolization is the process in which blood vessels feeding a tumor are used to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to a tumor. It allows anticancer treatments to be delivered directly to the source, mitigating the need for systemic (whole-body) treatment.

FROM ARIANA

Asking my friends and family to help me raise a total of $10,000 feels like the most selfish thing I have ever done. But this is my reality and until this point, I've been extremely fortunate to not need outside financial assistance. I’ve done my best as one person working full time to keep up with my medical bills, but after my first procedure, they very quickly began to snowball. My savings are gone, and I’ve coordinated financial assistance and CharityCare where I can, but still need help.

Without at least $1200, there's no travelling to NYC for my procedure. Without the additional $2000, I'm not sure how my rent will be paid. I’m incredibly lucky to possess medical insurance and to have met my deductible and out of pocket, but still need help eliminating debt I’ve accrued from my first procedure, years of imaging, oncologist visits, pain management, chemotherapy, specialist visits, and everything else that’s gone into my treatment since 2019.

If you can donate any amount to help - thank you. If you can share this fundraiser - thank you. If you can read and learn about desmoid tumors or other rare diseases to bring awareness - thank you.