Hello there!

It’s very hard for me to ask for help, but I know this next part of my journey would not be possible without the love and support of #teamRachael.

As many of you know, the last four years have been a doozy. I successfully finished chemo and other treatments for two kinds of breast cancer in August of 2023. I ended a long term relationship and began living on my own for the first time in November of 2024. I will also soon be celebrating one year of sobriety from alcohol on 2/28/2026. I have switched jobs (several times!) and finally landed back at Cheshire Medical in September after being unemployed for 2.5 months last summer. And that’s just the beginning!

After finishing treatment, I was told by two different doctors I could no longer become pregnant. And if, and even IF I did, the hormonal changes that come with pregnancy would be dangerous to my health and could cause an increased risk in my cancer returning. In June of 2025, I found out that I was indeed pregnant and shortly after that suffered a miscarriage. Because of my breast cancer history, I was given only two options for birth control to make sure this didn’t happen again. The first option put me in severe pain for several months. My doctors and I have determined that a bilateral salpingectomy (having my falliopian tubes removed) is the best course of treatment for me. This cancer-adjacent surgery (as I am calling it!) is scheduled four weeks from today - 3/18/2026.

I am SO blessed to have an amazing support system in my corner. I am equally blessed that after being at my job for less than six months, I am able to take the necessary time off to have, heal and recover post surgery. However, I do not qualify for FMLA and will be unpaid for the time I am out of work. This is where I (humbly) ask for your help.

Between an increase in rent earlier this year and depleting a large part of my savings last summer when I was unemployed, I am essentially living paycheck to paycheck. Being out of work and without pay for 2+ weeks will make it nearly impossible for me to pay my rent, utilities and to put money towards the hospital bill itself from surgery. When I say that truly any amount helps, I mean it. When I say that I *really* can’t do this alone, I mean that too.

For those of you that made it this far, thank you for any help you are able to offer (even just sharing this Gofundme) to help me take care of myself. I love you all.

Rachael