Help Katie: Breast & Liver Cancer Battle after brain surgery
Donation protected
Updated.
Hi again everyone: It’s Shannon, Conan & Ryan McCarthy reaching out to all of our friends, family members & followers to humbly ask you to consider sharing this story & donating to help offset expenses related to our sister’s (Katie McCarthy Hildebrand) treatments for brain surgery and STAGE 4 Breast, Liver & Bone Cancer. Some of you were already aware of the medical challenges Katie faced the last year. But for many of you, this may be the first time you’ve learned that our beautiful & talented sister Katie acquired a severe convulsive disorder that almost took her life repeatedly for which she recently had two brain surgeries. And during her second brain surgery, doctors discovered cancer.
Those of you who know Katie are already aware of the kind, loving sister, mother & aunt Katie is in our family. If you went to school with her or worked with her in the television industry then you may remember her as a talented actress who won awards & was a repeat extra on the television series “FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.”
She is a shining light of kindness, beauty & generosity.
Still others of you will know Katie as a fully engaged, contributing member & supporter of recovery groups like AA. Katie is a firm advocate and believer in all aspects of Sober Living and the power of God to help overcome adversity & guide us through seemingly insurmountable odds. She is a frequent speaker, advocate & alumni for support recovery groups & is always willing to lend her help to anyone in need.
Onset of Katie’s convulsive condition was sudden, unexpected & progressed very rapidly within the first 6 months following the death of her son Vale. Neurologists initially struggled to find an exact diagnosis, wanting to label her condition as possible Parkinson’s, then possible Huntington’s, then looking at epilepsy and searching for brain tumors & a few other diagnoses before finally determining that another condition like Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) combined with severe Dystonia following tragic loss & grief were the most likely culprits for her constant & severe convulsive condition. Her entire nervous system was just giving up. After a year of specialized care doctors tried multiple kinds of medication treatments, then after injection therapy failed to paralyze her seizures; it was finally determined, quite suddenly, that brain surgery was the only option. But during her brain surgeries doctors made the initial discovery that breast cancer looked like it had taken over Katie as well. Further examination led to finding it in her lymph nodes. And after additional testing it was determined to be Stage 4 Cancer that has metastasized affecting multiple areas including breast, liver & bone. Her future remains uncertain but Katie is the paragon of hope. Treatments for her cancer are currently underway & will involve 6 rounds of the highest dose chemotherapy on the market, immunotherapy, more surgery(ies) and radiation. The chemo is up first to try to reduce her largest tumors before surgery can be considered. This process will be long & exceptionally painful. So far Katie has experienced 2 different complications from chemo that resulted in ambulance trips to the hospital & in patient stays related to Gall Bladder then severe Kidney chemo complications. But she remains in good spirits.
Regarding work — A year and a half ago Katie was sent home as medically unable to work and she receives absolutely no pay & no work benefits of any kind. She remains unable to work and unfortunately, we have learned that the process of getting approved for governmental SSI disability benefits may take more than two years from where we are currently. In the meantime, she is sincerely struggling with some very expensive medical needs.
Please help if you can & feel free to share our request for help with others who may want to know about our sister’s plight.
Thank you so much for taking a moment to read & to consider making a contribution.
God bless.
Hi again everyone: It’s Shannon, Conan & Ryan McCarthy reaching out to all of our friends, family members & followers to humbly ask you to consider sharing this story & donating to help offset expenses related to our sister’s (Katie McCarthy Hildebrand) treatments for brain surgery and STAGE 4 Breast, Liver & Bone Cancer. Some of you were already aware of the medical challenges Katie faced the last year. But for many of you, this may be the first time you’ve learned that our beautiful & talented sister Katie acquired a severe convulsive disorder that almost took her life repeatedly for which she recently had two brain surgeries. And during her second brain surgery, doctors discovered cancer.
Those of you who know Katie are already aware of the kind, loving sister, mother & aunt Katie is in our family. If you went to school with her or worked with her in the television industry then you may remember her as a talented actress who won awards & was a repeat extra on the television series “FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.”
She is a shining light of kindness, beauty & generosity.
Still others of you will know Katie as a fully engaged, contributing member & supporter of recovery groups like AA. Katie is a firm advocate and believer in all aspects of Sober Living and the power of God to help overcome adversity & guide us through seemingly insurmountable odds. She is a frequent speaker, advocate & alumni for support recovery groups & is always willing to lend her help to anyone in need.
Onset of Katie’s convulsive condition was sudden, unexpected & progressed very rapidly within the first 6 months following the death of her son Vale. Neurologists initially struggled to find an exact diagnosis, wanting to label her condition as possible Parkinson’s, then possible Huntington’s, then looking at epilepsy and searching for brain tumors & a few other diagnoses before finally determining that another condition like Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) combined with severe Dystonia following tragic loss & grief were the most likely culprits for her constant & severe convulsive condition. Her entire nervous system was just giving up. After a year of specialized care doctors tried multiple kinds of medication treatments, then after injection therapy failed to paralyze her seizures; it was finally determined, quite suddenly, that brain surgery was the only option. But during her brain surgeries doctors made the initial discovery that breast cancer looked like it had taken over Katie as well. Further examination led to finding it in her lymph nodes. And after additional testing it was determined to be Stage 4 Cancer that has metastasized affecting multiple areas including breast, liver & bone. Her future remains uncertain but Katie is the paragon of hope. Treatments for her cancer are currently underway & will involve 6 rounds of the highest dose chemotherapy on the market, immunotherapy, more surgery(ies) and radiation. The chemo is up first to try to reduce her largest tumors before surgery can be considered. This process will be long & exceptionally painful. So far Katie has experienced 2 different complications from chemo that resulted in ambulance trips to the hospital & in patient stays related to Gall Bladder then severe Kidney chemo complications. But she remains in good spirits.
Regarding work — A year and a half ago Katie was sent home as medically unable to work and she receives absolutely no pay & no work benefits of any kind. She remains unable to work and unfortunately, we have learned that the process of getting approved for governmental SSI disability benefits may take more than two years from where we are currently. In the meantime, she is sincerely struggling with some very expensive medical needs.
Please help if you can & feel free to share our request for help with others who may want to know about our sister’s plight.
Thank you so much for taking a moment to read & to consider making a contribution.
God bless.
Co-organisers (2)
Shannon Million McCarthy
Organiser
Austin, TX
Conan McCarthy
Co-organiser