Update:

The pathology on the tumor they cut off of my heart came back as being malignant instead of benign. Nueroendorine carcinoid. I had a PET Scan on oct 20 2025. The scan showed numerous nodules of NET in both of my lungs.

Hi, my name is Misty Dicks Allbright, and I never thought I’d be writing this — but in a few days, I’ll be undergoing open-heart surgery in Birmingham to remove a rare tumor from my heart.

Many of you locals may know me from Mike's store in Pine Level or know my husband, Randy Allbright. We have 5 children between us. The youngest 2 are still in high school.

This all started last Christmas morning when I woke up with shoulder pain. The next day at work, that pain spread to my chest and felt like someone was trying to pry my shoulder apart. I went to a local hospital, but even though my heart rate was racing and my enzymes were elevated, they sent me home.

By that Sunday, with my symptoms not improving, Randy insisted we go to Baptist South. Doctors initially believed I was having a heart attack or that I had a blood clot in my heart. A CT scan showed what they thought was a clot in my left ventricle, and I was immediately admitted. But after further testing, including an echocardiogram, no clot was found. I was diagnosed with pericarditis and eventually discharged.

My primary care doctor referred me to a cardiologist for follow-up, where I underwent a stress test. That’s when things got serious. The imaging revealed something no one in the office had seen before. Suddenly, words like "growth," "mass," "tumor," "rare," and "medical mystery" became part of my everyday vocabulary.

Since then, I’ve seen multiple specialists in three different cities, gone through every imaging scan possible, and missed more work in the past eight months than I have in the past seven years.

The diagnosis: a golf-ball-sized hemangioma(rate , benign) on my left ventricle.

There is no alternative treatment. The only path forward is open-heart surgery with a full sternotomy to remove the tumor.

This fundraiser will help us to cover:

• Travel and hotel costs for surgery and follow-up in Birmingham

• Assist with bills while I’m out of work recovering. Randy is going to miss a lot of work, as well, taking me to appointments.

• Household support during the healing process

We are trying to raise $2,700 to get us through this period without falling behind.

This wasn’t on our dance card — but here we are. Randy and I always make it happen by doing it together. If you can donate, share this, or simply send prayers or words of encouragement, it truly means the world.

Thank you from the bottom of my (temporarily broken but soon to be repaired) heart. ❤️

With gratitude,

Misty