Hi Everyone,

We come to you in request for your support for our sweet mother, Kelli Dennis. She needs our help and support in fighting Stage 4 Breast Cancer. Our mom is truly one of the most loving, giving, and resilient humans in the world. To know her is to love her. She has a heart of gold and is always helping others so we are hoping we can give some of that help back to her.

Long story ahead, but we want to give everyone insight as to what our mom has been through in the past six months.

Our mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2023. After ultrasounds, multiple biopsies, and an MRI, she was officially diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. She had an additional procedure to insert the tracer for her future lumpectomy. She had the lumpectomy at the end of November. To our unfortunate surprise, we learned that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. The doctor removed 17 lymph nodes, all which turned out positive for cancer. This was a separate incision and procedure that same day. She went on to recover with more time off work. She had more MRI’s, blood draws, genetic testing, and went in for a PET scan. It was after we got the results of the PET scan that our entire world flipped upside down. We learned that the cancer had metastasized to many areas in her bones and a small area on her liver. She then had a bone scan, and the next day had a liver biopsy. They were unsuccessful with the liver biopsy, so they went ahead and did a bone biopsy. She also had a terrible experience with the first oncologist she saw. Luckily, we found her another one who is incredible. He ordered a lot more testing, more detailed genetic testing, blood draws, etc. My mom also had to have a few appointments for counseling on her new medications. All of this meant more time off work.

She fell critically ill in January 2024. She was hospitalized for four days with very critical labs. She experienced hypercalcemia due to the metastasis in her bones which caused her to go into kidney failure. She has greatly struggled since then. She has been unable to regain her strength and experiencing debilitating fatigue with a slew of other symptoms. She also just completed two weeks of radiation, 5 days each week, which meant more time off work. She was hardly able to work this past week due to side effects from the radiation and her medication.

She has been experiencing debilitating back pain, so she was seen by an orthopedic. He ordered two additional MRI’s and a CT scan. We learned that the cancer has broken down and weakened most of her hip which will now require her to have hip surgery. We also learned that she has a recent compression fracture in her back, most likely caused by the cancer, so they are recommending back surgery as well. She will be off work for a month, maybe two depending on recovery. It is possible she will need to recoup at a rehab facility before returning home. She will then need outpatient PT to regain her strength and mobility.

She is also going to be seen at UofM this month and she has a referral out to Cleveland Clinic so we will be making a trip out there sometime too.

She lives alone and simply won’t be able to keep up on the bills with all these missed hours at work and the mounting medical bills. We are asking each of you to consider donating. Despite all this our mom has remained positive and is still fighting like hell. We are in awe of her every single day. She truly is the strongest person we know. We would love for her to simply focus on her health without having to worry about finances. It would mean so much to us if you could help, even if it’s just a few dollars. If you’re unable to donate, please share this post with as many people as you possibly can. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. We appreciate it more than you know.

Much love from Kelli's kids,

Elena, Justine and Jordan