Help me TACKLE Cancer!

I am Briiana Gorrell, originally born in Ft. Worth, Texas. Most people that know me know me as “Simba”. My hair became my trademark. I am known for it and my love of football, which I have been passionate about my whole life. In 2017, my dream to become a professional football player became a reality when I joined the Fayetteville Fierce (Fayetteville, NC). Since then I have played for the San Diego Surge and the San Diego Rebellion – both in San Diego, CA. I was presented with the opportunity to play with the Houston Mambas and moved to Houston for the sole purpose of playing football for the organization.

Football is second only to baseball as America’s pastime. The energy, love, and support we get from the fans everywhere we go is awesome. As much as I love to play, I love being able to provide an entertaining outlet for the fans. I truly believe, “you got to give the people what they want!” In addition to football, I developed a passion for music and started pursuing at a very early age – 14 or 15 years old. I have always been a responsible individual, as I have worked two jobs alongside pursuing my two great loves.

On September 22, 2023, at 4pm, I received a call that turned my world upside down. I was diagnosed with Primary Mediastinal Large B-Cell Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive cancer that typically affects young women between the ages of 30 and 39… I am 28 years old. It was presented as a mass in my chest of about 3 centimeters in July of 2023- barely noticeable. Now it is a 3-dimensional mass of almost 7 inches (about the size of a mini watermelon), affecting my ability to breathe. The mass is pressing against my lung, windpipe, and my heart. Because I have an extremely aggressive but treatable form of lymphoma, I was admitted to the hospital on Sunday, September 24, 2023. Biopsy results were in by Thursday, September 28, 2023, and I now had my treatment plan, which will last 18 weeks. It will consist of 6 rounds of chemotherapy, with a 5-day in-patient hospital stay every 3 weeks. It is a lot to take in in such a short amount of time. However, after 3 months of multiple ER visits and hospital stays with no one able to give me answers, I now at least have an answer to the issues and what it will take to get it fixed.

The immediacy of need here for medical treatment has thrown my life into a tailspin. In addition to preparing for the football season, I worked 2 jobs. As I have no children, I am my singular responsibility and was able to support myself. This entire situation has been jarring, but the hardest part was finding out that I could no longer support myself. All of this happened so quickly, and I have had to learn about resources that I never knew existed, let alone how to access them. There are timetables associated with them and due to hospital visits, I simply do not have that kind of time. I have always been the person that people could turn to for help and I would turn myself inside out if it would help another person. I am now in a position where I have to do one of the hardest things I have ever done and that is to ask for help for myself.

I have hit every challenge head on and I am ready to TACKLE this cancer. However, the cost burden associated with it makes team a necessity. Like any team, everybody’s position is important. Therefore, as I ask for donations to help with my treatment, recovery, and other wrap around service needs, no amount is too small. My desire to triumph means no contribution is insignificant, even if it is just sharing my story with others. For lymphoma patients without health insurance and that have to self-pay, the average cost of treatment alone for the first year is around of $200,000. Adding on the costs of housing, food, transportation to and from appointments, and cleaning services to provide a safe environment to heal in, I have been forced to accept that I will not be able to afford to financially fight to live while fighting to live.