Hey there everyone. I’m Jonnie and my husband is Zakaria. I was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Well, actually 2 different types; one in each breast. One is what’s called Triple Negative breast cancer and the other is Invasive Ductal carcinoma with necrosis and it is ER/PR+/HER2-. Which means, one is a hormone acceptant cancer and one is not.  Both very aggressive and the TNBC has a rather poor outcome. I’ve been in chemotherapy for about 10 weeks now and it’s hard. I’ve had to stop working and now my husband is the sole earner in our home. We are sometimes barely paycheck to paycheck even though he has a good job and great benefits. The diagnosis came as a shock as you can imagine. One day I was in the shower and yes it was “breast self exam day” for me and I felt a lump. It was as big as a walnut in the shell. I immediately went to the doctor and asked for a mammogram. Well what was even more of a shock was them finding cancer in both breasts. And one chemotherapy does not treat both simultaneously. So I will have another 12 weeks of chemotherapy to treat the right breast. At some point around the beginning of August I am tentatively scheduled for a bilateral mastectomy and God Willing reconstruction based on any findings in my lymph nodes at that time. I’m currently a stage 3 patient but if my lymph nodes show anything they said I will immediately be a stage 4. There are a lot of unknowns for now. So chemotherapy and immunotherapy rounds out to about 24 weeks (without the delays for extreme side effect sickness and low blood counts) So my current day to day is dealing with just about every side effect I can get from the chemotherapy and immunotherapy I’m getting weekly. Every Thursday; I inject myself with a white blood cell stimulant 24 hours after chemo. This causes great pain. And I spend a lot of my days in bed. Sick. My darling husband works as much as he can. And he shops for us, cooks and cleans. And takes care of me without any thought for himself. It takes its toll on a person.  We plan to use the extra money to relieve the stresses of the bills piling up and the necessary items not covered by insurance. We have cut out any and every “extra” you can imagine. But it’s still not quite enough. Basic needs add up quickly in addition to the out of pocket expenses for items NOT covered under insurance. 

We thank you all sincerely for every donation, prayer, good thought and supportive communication. May you all stay happy and healthy and never ever have to go through this.