Help Light the path to Amanda’s Healing

Hi everyone,

My name is Tiffany, and I am Amanda’s younger sister. I am reaching out because my sister has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and it has made life much more challenging for her. Due to her illness and the intense treatments, she has been unable to work, and the financial burden of medical bills and daily expenses has been growing.

Amanda has always been a fighter, and she continues to face this battle with incredible strength and courage. I am doing everything I can to support her, and I have started a fundraising effort to help cover her bills so she can focus on what truly matters—her health and well-being.

If you are able to contribute, any amount would mean the world to us. Even if you can’t donate, sharing this with others who may be willing to help would be deeply appreciated.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love, prayers, and support during this difficult time.

With gratitude,

Tiffany

From Amanda-

Good morning everyone. I wish now that I wouldn't have been so scared to let people in on my journey. This has been so hard mentality, physically, and emotionally. Ive felt so alone. I know I'm not but sometimes we can't help how we feel. Im not one to post ANYTHING ON. FACEBOOK!

Someone told me at the beginning of this that, An army of prayers is so much better that a handful...

She was so right❤️ So here it goes...

Earlier this year in March, it was all i could do to make it through work one Tuesday. I asked m6 daughter to take me to the er to be checked when I got home. She did. We got to the hospital, and they ran some test. One of the tests was a CTscan. The doctor comes back in the room and says that they found something. He tells me that the machines have really advanced over the past couple years, and that the c t machine lights up whenever it detects cancer. ..

ME: Well, did it light up?

Doctor: Yes. We are referring you to The Cancer Institute.

I took the deepest breath and almost hiccup cried during the inhale. I did not cry though. The car ride home was quiet and long. We both agreed not to tell anybody. Jayden's birthday was coming up on March 13 and he was leaving for the Bahamas. All I could think about was how this was gonna disrupt other people's lives around me. The doctor put me out of work for a week to wait on my other appointment at the cancer institute. Finally my appointment came. My daughter took me, and we argued the whole way. We got lost and was over an hour late. I'll called the office to reschedule and they told me to go ahead and come in because the doctor really wanted to see me. It was confirmed by the doctor. He diagnosed me with stage 4 Nuroendocrine cancer tumors. After this appointment.

I was having to go to the doctor two and three times a week. They told me that I had a really big tumor wrapped around the right side of my liver, that was mostly necrotic, and on the left side of my liver I had like six tumors trying to start. I still didn't cry. I was numb, in disbelief. I just turned 40. Cancer doesn't care about none of this. I continue to go to work every day, pushing myself through the symptoms that I was having. My feet were always swollen all the way up to my thighs almost. These hot flashes would come out of nowhere, and they were unlike anything I ever could imagined. My whole body would get so red, and my eyes would get bloodshot for about a minute, then the bright neon orange splotches would cover my body. These symptoms, i've been going on for about 6 months before I was diagnosed. Pure HELL. BEING NAUSEOUS ALL THE TIME SUCKS¡ ALL THAT I COULD TELL MYSELF OVER AND OVER WAS GOD'S GOT ME AND HE STILL DOES. they put me on this injection every month and I have no more of those symptoms. Thank God!

I feel like i've been sucked up in a tornado since March. All my doctors are specialist, because the kind of cancer that I was diagnosed with, it's very rare. They discussed surgery with me. I got the best surgeon that I think I could have gotten. We get along so well. Dr. Steven Trocha. He told me that I was going to be his problem child. We scheduled surgery several times.. lol. I kept canceling. Originally, we had talked about him going in and taking half of my liver, the big tumor on the right side and then getting the rest. I set up an emergency appointment on the monday before my surgery to find out exactly what he was gonna do. He told me he's gonna cut me from my breastplate to my pelvis. He then told me that he was not gonna take half my liver because it was gonna be too risky and he needed to make sure that he could preserve life. Also that I had a kidney blockage, because I had a tumor wrapped around my urethra, so they were going to have to take that out and then reconstruct it to my kidney so that I could use the bathroom properly.

He told me that he thinks that my cancer started in my small intestines, and then metastasize to my liver. They also found it in my colon and in my pelvis. Surgery time was gonna be like 6 hours. I kept a lot of this a secret. I worked up until 2 days before my surgery.

October 10, 2024 i was like 45 minutes late to my surgery! I was in such good spirits that day even knowing that my life was about to change forever. For the good. God's got me I was prepped for surgery. The gave me valum in my IV before they gave me an epidural. I did not give a d*** about nothin! Lol

9:15 Here we go!

Surgery lasted 4 hours! They didn't have to recconstruct my urethra. The tumor was just leaning on it causing the blockage instead of wrapped around it! They took a 5th of my liver (left side) leaving the right side tumor to treat with radiation as soon as I heal from this. The cancer started in my small intestines. They took out some of my small intestines, 6 to 8 inches of my colon, and clusters of tumors out of my pelvis.

Waking up in recovery, OMGOODNESS THE PAIN! WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY!!! I had iv's coming out both my hands, the side of my neck and the middle of my back.

I HAD THE BEST RECOVERY NURSE! Evan. As soon as I woke up, he introduced hisself and I introduced myself and I said, okay, Evan, that's all we need to know right now, put me back out! He said, OK!

I was with Evan for 6 hours before they got my room ready. He told me every time that I woke up.I got a little nicer and nicer. I told him as long as he kept giving me that top shelf pain medicine, we weren't going to have no problems. that epidural was the best thing. I got to my room about 9 o'clock that night. I was already missing Evan. He was so funny. I was so hungry! I snuck just a little bit of food. I got in trouble too. I don't think i've ever been that hungry. They wouldn't let me have no food for 3 solid days, just liquids. I cried. When I went in the hospital i weighed 117 lbs, when I got home Thursday I weighed 110 lbs. When I was finally able to eat just a little bit on Saturday, it tore my stomach up so bad. I had to jump out my bed so fast. I started hallucinating that day. I honestly thought that I wasn't gonna make it. It was very touch and go in the bathroom for me that day. I held my sister's hand and laid my head on her arm while the nurse fanned me in this tiny bathroom and prayed, that God didn't take me this way.

(I back tracked a little... y'all still tracking?)

Saturday morning, they turned the epidural off i laid in the bed for an hour before i called my nurse and told her something bad was wrong. She told me they turned my epidural off. I asked her, what did they do that for?! I begged her to make them turn it back on. Saturday was hell. I still had my ketamine drip though. They bumped my ketamine up to 10mg, my delauldid up to 5mg, and 10 MG oxycodone in-between all that. I was also taking nerve blockers and muscle relaxers. Still, nothing masked that pain the way that the epidural did. I had the best nurses through this and all the support in the world, from my family and friends. It really made me bound and determined to fight as hard as I could to get better. I had more visitors this day than any of them. When I wasn't crying in pain, I was trying to poot. Lol. I felt like I had enough gas in me.That would power a hot air balloon. I told all my visitors. Excuse me, but y'all, I got to let it go. We all got a good laugh and used a lot of body spray!

Sunday my doctor was gonna take me off the ketamine. Well, saturday was so bad and hard on me that he changed his mind. I had a lot of pain in my neck. I found out just before. I left that there is a nerve that runs from your liver, up through your neck, and that's where all my pain in my neck had came from.

They didn't take me off the ketamine until Tuesday.

I didn't say all this because i want people to feel sorry for me. It's so easy for us to take the things for granted or not appreciate the little things that other people do for you, it truly is the little things that really matter, that makes all the difference in the world. I have been completely helpless through this and have had to depend on people around me 110%. I think that's been the hardest thing for me altogether. The love and the kindness that people have shown me has given me so much strength. I'm asking everyone who reads this to take 5 minutes out of your day to do something for somebody else without having anything to gain, except the seeing them smile. If we all do this, could you imagine the domino effect?! It makes me wanna cry now.

So i'm on my road to recovery, i knew it wasn't gonna be easy, but I know it's gonna be worth it. Now all i need is my army of prayers ❤️