Hello! In case you don’t know me—my name is Brittany and Layla is one of my very best friends.

Recently a small mass was discovered in her chest. It was believed to be her Thymus Gland. Typically this is something present during childhood that gradually shrinks away, but thought to have instead grown into the mass inside her chest.

She had a surgery for removal of the mass which was completed successfully in December right before Christmas. Due to the nature of the procedure a biopsy was taken of the mass. When Layla went back for her two week follow up appointment, she received extremely unexpected news. The mass came back positive for Early Stage Mediastinal Grey Zone Lymphoma.

A diagnosis like this is devastating. Layla is 25, a newlywed, and a proud student of a graduate program at MSU. This year would have marked her last semester of her masters program. She made the heartbreaking decision to take a leave of absence from her program as her next few months with include incredibly intense chemotherapy treatments in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Layla’s treatments will include monthly chemotherapy that will require a 4-5 day admission each time. Her tentative plan is to receive treatment for 6 months. Due the rare nature of her type of cancer, she is to begin treatment as soon as possible. Her PET scan was satisfactory. Showing only residual cancer in the area her mass was removed. No visible spreading to any other areas of her body. Next steps are a bone marrow biopsy to determine further spread of cancer if any, and a subsequent echocardiogram to make sure her heart is well enough to begin treatment. She will likely be admitted the same day as her echocardiogram to begin her first round of chemotherapy. That being said she will begin treatment in a matter of weeks.

With Layla’s permission I’ve created this fundraiser for her. This will really help with travel, medical bills, and regular living expenses as we all know how expensive medical care like this can become. Most importantly I would love for Layla to be worry free as she focuses on the journey ahead of her.

If you cannot donate please share and thank you so much for taking your time to read about our best girl.