Help Ashley Heal from Stage 3 Breast Cancer

My name is Ashley. Some of you may know me from my artist alias liplock and/or Babe Field. I’m 31 years old and this March I discovered a small, hard lump in my right breast. I was terrified. At the time I didn’t have insurance, so I found a women’s center in Phoenix that helps pay for mammograms. This is when the radiologist told me she thinks I have cancer and to get a biopsy done asap to confirm. That was the moment my life changed completely. I was scheduled to work hours later and tried my best to arrive as normal and be strong. Instead, I ended up crying in my coworkers arms, afraid of my new reality as a potential cancer patient. After a painful biopsy in my right breast and lymph node, I was told I have stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma, also known as breast cancer. Maybe it was because I had spent weeks crying and researching every single type of breast cancer I could, but when I finally got my diagnosis on mychart I instantly felt numb. How do I tell my mother, who watched my grandmother beat breast cancer twice- that she’ll have to help me through this? How do I tell my father, who lost his mother to this same disease? Every two minutes a new patient is diagnosed, making breast cancer the most common type of cancer in the US. This means that there is a lot of research and treatments offered to new patients. At first I was recommended a lumpectomy (lump removal) but after testing positive for the BRCA2 gene my oncologist shared that I have a 40 percent chance of developing cancer again in the next 10 years in my ovaries, pancreas or my left breast. I’ve decided to undergo a single breast removal with reconstruction. After surgery, there will be a lot of physical activities I won’t be able to do on my own like using my arms to lift myself, and lifting my arms in general. My waitressing job involves constant standing/bending down, stocking dishes, refilling ice buckets, and lifting 30-50 pound trays full of food for hours at a time, so I won’t be able to return to work for 6 weeks or longer. Most of my surgery will be covered by insurance, but my rent- along with the cancer medication I have to take once a day for 10 years- is not. I need help to stay afloat with monthly bills while I’m healing, along with medication and travel costs to get back and forth to follow up appointments post surgery. Having cancer is the scariest thing I have ever went through. I’m no longer the same person as before, and probably never will be. My hope is that I can go into remission and not into debt, have a life worth living afterwards where I can share my story and not only raise awareness, but encourage younger people to get yearly screenings so they have a chance at early stage treatment options.