Help Kristi Fight Cancer

This is Kristi Chan and her beautiful family. You may know her as the mom who helped lead cookie sales for your child's Girl Scouts Troop, or the occupational therapist who lovingly taught your child the skills they needed to be independent. Perhaps you shared shifts with her as a fellow swim team parent, shared carpool shifts for the kids' various activities, or you may have trained with her in the various Kaia challenges. Maybe you see her as the cousin/niece/aunt/daughter/mother/wife who always made sure you knew how important family is to her. She is a friend and giver to many. She always made time to be all those things for everyone she knew.

 

In February this year (2021), Kristi was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. She has two gene mutations KRAS G12D and SMAD4. With no targeted therapies available, in March she anxiously began her first chemotherapy cocktail of Carboplatin, Alitma, and Keytruda (infusions 1x every 3 weeks for 4 rounds). In June, she had surgery to remove her entire left lung along with several cancerous lymph nodes. After having sufficiently recovered from the pneumonectomy, in August she began maintenance chemo with Alitma and Keytruda (infusions 1x every 3 weeks for 4 rounds). However, CT and PET scans in October showed progression of the cancer in the lymph nodes and a new area in the chest wall / back muscle. This called for trying a different chemotherapy combination: Taxotere and Cyramza, which she started at the end of October. After 3 rounds of this new combination, PET scans in December showed further progression of active cancer in the lymph nodes, chest wall, pleural effusion, and adrenal glands. Kristi will try a different chemotherapy drug Gemcitabine (Gemzar) starting with an infusion on Christmas Eve and another infusion on New Year's Eve. Throughout all this, Kristi has fought valiantly, continually seeking multiple second opinions from leading cancer research hospitals including UCSF, Stanford, MD Anderson and City of Hope. She has researched various clinical trials. With each scan result, she has again sought second opinions to ensure she is seeing all of the best options out there. If she is accepted into a clinical trial, it is looking more likely that she may need to travel out of state for multiple appointments, labs, tests, and treatments.

 

Kristi has fought so hard over this past year and she is not ready to stop fighting. She has already received so much love and support from so many family and friends. Thank you to all of you who have already done so much. All of you have helped fuel her in her battle against lung cancer.

While some have asked to send their support through GoFundMe, if you prefer to send donations through Venmo, Kristi's personal Venmo is: Kristi-Chan-2

Thank you for being a part of Team Kristi!

- Jen Batacan & Teri Frenkel