Help Courtney Fight Aggressive Triple Positive Breast Cancer

Today was Courtney’s first chemo infusion. Seven hours in the chair. Sixteen weeks ahead us. She showed up strong and crushed day one like a champ. Right before the infusions started, when they flushed her port with saline, her body reacted. A vasovagal response. She seized for a moment. and my heart stopped....

In that instant, something in me cracked. That was the moment I knew, we need help if she is going to beat this!

Courtney has triple positive breast cancer. HER2 positive, ER positive, PR positive. We found the tumor in early March. At the time, it measured 2.3 centimeters. By the grace compassion and kindness of a close and dear family friend we were about to get Courtney, not only into Sloan Kettering, but treated by one of the top breast cancer specialist in the country, Dr. Larry Norton, he’s pioneered targeted treatments for Court’s specific breast cancer (Gene, if you read this - we can not express how forever grateful & thankful we are for you getting us this absolutely life changing care, we love you) By the time we had completed biopsies and driven back and forth to Memorial Sloan Kettering, four hours each way, in just six short weeks her tumor had more than doubled in size and grown to 5.1 centimeters. Sloan also found three more invasive DCIS tumors.

This cancer is very aggressive. And so is the treatment. Weekly chemo for sixteen weeks, then targeted chemo (pioneered by Norton) for a year, double mastectomy, radiation… and then when the fights just about over in a year… just to prevent reoccurrence of her specific cancer biology, which is fueled by estrogen and progesterone from occurring again, she will have to, at 30 years old! , have hormone suppression therapy and or have her ovaries shutdown or removed…This means she’s going to be medically induced into early menopause…

The chemo only gets harder. Her immune system will crash. She’ll lose her hair. There will be days where she can’t move, can’t eat, can’t get up. After surgery, she’ll need help with everything — dressing, bathing, standing. Recovery will be slow. It will be painful. She will need care, We want to give this pure and beautiful soul the chance to heal in comfort, with dignity, without compromise. I won’t have it any other way.

Life really is crazy, Courtney had just started building her personal training business, we built a gym for her, she had a plan and, she had so much momentum. All of that stopped the moment we got the diagnosis. Now we are on one income. Which doesn’t go far these days and everything we have is being poured into her survival.

The financial reality is staggering. Between chemotherapy, surgery, recovery, medicine, integrative, functional and holistic care, supplements, travel, and everything insurance ignores, (horrible health insurance ) we are looking at $150,000 to $250,000 in out-of-pocket costs. I don’t care what it costs so long as Courtney has whatever it takes to do this the right way.

Courtney is my fiancé. My partner. My best friend. The love of my life. She didn’t do anything to deserve this, but she’s showing up for it with courage most people will never have to find. She’s not asking for pity. Neither am I. We are asking for help. For the chance to get through this without drowning in the weight of it.

If you know Courtney, if you know me, if you know us, then you know asking for help is not something we do easily. But this is life or death. Right now we are more scared than proud. We are afraid. We are exhausted. And we do not know where else to turn. If you feel this, if you have ever wondered what it looks like when someone is truly fighting for their life, this is it. It is happening right now.

If you can give, please do. If you can share this, please do. Courtney has every chance to survive this, but the toll it will take on her body, our lives, and our future is staggering. Without help, this will break us financially. With help, she can focus on healing. With help, we can get through this. Every single act of support matters. Every dollar, every share, every ounce of care brings us one step closer to giving Courtney the peace and strength she needs to fight and beat this.

Love,

Brandon & Courtney