Help Ruth Ann in Her Fight Against Breast Cancer

I'm Michelle and I want to introduce you to my mom, Ruth Ann.

On February 21, 2025 life changed for my mom. As she would say, "[she] didn't know exactly what was ahead of [her] or the ripple effects it would have on all those who love [her]." She was diagnosed with HER2+/NEU Hormone Negative Stage 2a Grade 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, a very aggressive cancer with high reoccurrence rate. If left untreated, life expectancy past 5 years is 50%; with treatment it's 85%.

As one can imagine a diagnosis like this changes everything. The main goal and treatment target is "curative", meaning the goal is to kill all of the cancer in her body.

In early March, my mom started treatment with Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy every three weeks which came with quite difficult side effects. Although her team of doctors tried to help manage the side effects by the medicine the treatment and side effects thereof were brutal on my mom. She said the bone pain was intense. Over the counter options didn't give her any relief and prescription pain relief was short lived.

During this time, eating was quite a challenge. Very few foods were tolerable and what she was able to eat one day was not consistent the next. From nausea, mouth sores, not being able to eat, needing to use the restroom within 10 minutes of eating, exhaustion and fatigue left Mom physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually drained -- it was a true struggle for her to get up and take a shower.

Although she struggled, she managed to get up every day despite the side effects of the treatment to go to work. Unfortunately, her job was eliminated due to company relocation. For the first round of treatment she was able to stay with her company, and as they left the US she became eligible for Cobra.

Cobra allowed my mom to keep her insurance at the cost of her full premium.

On August 6, 2025 Mom had a partial mastectomy, with the removal of several lymph nodes. What was a 3.1 cm tumor at diagnosis shrunk to a 2 mm tumor at the time of surgery which means that the treatment did its job. We are all very thrilled with this news! The lymph nodes all came back clear, except for one which showed signs of micro mastitis - small amounts of the tumor started to metastasize. However, the tumor was removed with clear margins.

With the high reoccurrence rate and discovery of the micro mastitis, Mom's Oncology Team decided the best course of action was more treatment:

Radiation (30 Total Rounds: 5 days a week for 6 weeks)

Targeted Chemo/Immunotherapy (every 3 weeks for 14 Rounds)

The goal is to give my mom the stability she needs to fight the Cancer without having to constantly be worried about finding a job (although that is high on her priority list). This will let her have the time off for her cancer treatments.

We are asking for a total of $25,000 to help my mom balance getting to and from her treatments (which are about an hours drive from where she lives), her monthly Chemo bill, as well as her Cobra Insurance as this is not a free service, but one that is needed. It turns out that expense is significantly less than 1 Chemo Treatment alone.

If you or anyone you know is able and willing to give to my mom's donation that would be truly helpful at this time. We are all fighting alongside her the best we can, and would love to invite you to come alongside of her as she fights this cancer.

Thank you for your time and consideration.