Help Charisse Kick Cancer...Round 5!

Queen Charisse, The Conqueror!

Dear family and friends, Charisse started her 4th round of chemo and 5th round of battling the fight on January 8, 2024. It goes without saying that this has been a challenging journey for her, mentally, physically, and emotionally, but Charisse is determined not to let cancer hold her back!

She is a loving daughter, sister, and friend; and is a woman who rarely asks for help because she can literally do it all! As her friends and family, we're asking for your support in donations to help alleviate the financial burden of medical bills, lost wages, and daily living costs, along with any other unforeseen expenses that may arise to allow Charisse to focus solely on healing. Charisse was still on the job search when she learned the cancer had returned and is not working at the moment, so your donations will be a HUGE support.

We also received requests for Cashapp/Venmo/Zelle, those can absolutely be sent directly to Charisse to avoid the GoFundMe fees if preferred.

Even if you can’t give at this time, please comment with positivity and spread the word by sharing this page with everyone. Just hit the SHARE button!

Additional Ways to Support Charisse:

Thank you all for constantly showing up for our girl!!

Whitney

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Learn more about Charisse's journey with cervical cancer below.

Battle #1: On Friday, March 29, 2019, Charisse was diagnosed with Stage 1B1 Cervical Adenocarcinoma (Cervical cancer). To remove the cancer, on May 13, 2019, Charisse underwent a Radical Trachelectomy to remove her cervix and some of her pelvic lymph nodes. The recovery process was tough, but she was healthy and cancer free…for a time.

Battle #2: Unfortunately, on August 5, 2020, Charisse learned the cancer returned and spread to her pelvic lymph nodes. The battle began again. Between September 8 and November 14, 2020, Charisse completed 6 rounds of Chemotherapy (Cisplatin), 25 sessions of External Radiation (EBRT), and 4 sessions of Internal Radiation (T&O HDR). Following the treatments, MRI results from her Pelvis (10/23) and Abdomen (12/11) both stated the pelvic lymph nodes found in August had significantly decreased… there was a good response to treatment.

Battle #3: On February 24, 2021, Charisse had a 3-month follow-up PET scan, and the results confirmed a positive response to treatment, meaning her pelvic lymph nodes were back to normal size and had no sign of disease. However, the excitement was short-lived, as those results also revealed concern that the cancer may have spread to a distant area beyond the primary site. After additional scans and two biopsies, the doctors confirmed that the cancer had metastasized to the right adrenal gland and the right supraclavicular lymph node. The battle was not over. On Wednesday, May 5, 2021, Charisse began another round of treatment, starting with chemotherapy (Paclitaxel +Carboplatin/ Avastin) through a port-a-cath IV, which will be administered every 3 weeks. The number of treatments is still to be determined as it will be based on how the cancer responds, which will be assessed through radiology scans (MRI, PET, or CT) after treatment #3. Charisse completed Chemo treatments on Wednesday, August 18, 2021; however, she's continued to receive the Avastin treatment via infusion every three weeks.

Battle #4: On Monday, August 29th, 2022, Charisse learned the cancer had returned and immediately started a chemo regimen of Carboplatin, Paclitaxel (Taxol), and Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) just two days later. Her standard 3-month PET-CT scan revealed recurrent and metastatic disease along with a partial bowel obstruction, bilateral ureteral obstruction, and bilateral Hydronephrosis and Hyrdroureter - likely due to the location of the cancer. This led to her spending 10 days in the hospital and having bilateral nephrostomy tubes placed. The fall and winter of 2022 were rough for Charisse as she had multiple hospital stays due to complications and infections from the nephrostomy tubes. She continued treatment during this time and finished in January 2023.

Battle #5: Late October 2023, Charisse learned that the cancer grew and spread to a new location, her left supraclavicular lymph node (a lymph node behind the collar bone). Instead of starting chemo immediately, she decided to take some time to process and prepare herself for the mental, emotional, and physical journey ahead. She started treatment (Carboplatin + Paclitaxel) on January 8, 2024. She wanted to at least have an entire year in which she wasn’t starting chemo treatment. She’s expected to finish chemo treatments at the end of April 2024.

Please share this with your communities as we continue to lift Charisse in love and support her on her journey to beat cancer.