Help Shay and Zak Through Medical Crisis

Hi to anyone who is reading this!

my name is Shay Haberstroh, and I’m a permanently, progressively disabled wife who’s taken care of her abled husband, Zak! A lot of you already know us from how much I’ve shared my own story, and our story, online to my community of shayshitsinthebag! ❤️‍

in May, I found out that after 7 years unknowingly, only after going through a third miscarriage- all pregnancies encouraged via doctors, that I had two separate tumors, ‘borderline ovarian tumors’, on each ovary, and that both had enlarged immensely since the last time it was ever noted to me, in 2021, that I even had ovarian cysts. Not only was it highly discouraging to find out that I had reproductive health issues for so long, hidden, because once we noted the tumors, we were able to date back notes of the cysts from 2022, 2021, 2018 and 2017, 3 of the years without a notice to me. It was discouraging to know I was so let down, so highly encouraged to reproduce through this all, and that I had found out just how infertile it all actually made me. That my angel babies would only be that, angels.

The next few months I went through an extensive process of numerous ovarian procedures to check the status of the ‘BOTs’, by June they grew a few inches, by September a few more, and by late October a new mass was grown on the left side, equating to two on the left now and one on the right. That is when I was referred to an oncologist for the worry of ovarian cancer.

I met my oncologist quickly after that, and from there she was able to assess the severity of my tumors/masses/once ovarian cysts, via MRI in early December.

Two weeks later I was given the notice that, my left ovarian masses were now extremely lessened in size, but had t2 shading with lesions; and that the right side was a hemorrhaging mass still at 10+cm (originally noted at 14cm). All of this information, plus my symptoms, plus the invasive scans and procedures equated my situation to a later stage of endometriosis. I still unfortunately will even have to go through the surgery process to eventually diagnosis the official staging, but as of right now that is a waiting game.

The only good news out of this in the last two weeks, was that my condition as of right now: is NOT cancerous!

but, the sad part, is that I have to be extremely on top of everything going on now, because of how bad the masses still have gotten, so that it STAYS not cancerous.

The was late December, it’s now the beginning of January and I’ve already been in the er twice since the 1st of 2025 due to severe pains from the hemorrhagic mass. TLDR for pain scale: it’s a 10/10 on a 99% chance of rupture right now; I’ve went through sepsis in my bowels, lost my intestinal tract and even had 13 stomach surgeries because of that all… this still feels worse pain-wise to me, than all of that did.

I am currently waiting to here back from my oncologist for the next plans of my healthcare, while dosing up on maximum pain medications, fighting the urge to go back to an emergency department before I hear back from my doctor- it’s been incredibly tough dealing with all of this in the last month alone, but especially since May. I went 5 of these last 7 months hearing the word ‘cancer’, and now I’ve been diagnosed with a new learning curve of an illness that’s hiddenly, detrimentally ruined all my hopes and dreams I built for my family. It’s been a lot mentally, physically and especially debt-wise, financially.

On top of this, I am expected to finally get my fitted wheelchair at the end of this month after a 2 year process of trying so! I’ve been utilizing a manual, donated, hospital wheelchair since January of 2022, with an interval of using an electric wheelchair from April 2022 to July 2023 before it died; I went for the process of gaining a fitted to my body, manual wheelchair, back in January of 2023 but because of a poor insurance, and then insurance lapse, it never went through, so I continued using the manual hospital chair until I finally gained help from my most recent, newer insurance last year, and I went for my new fitted wheelchair process two months ago, in October! That’s due to get to me by the end of this month, and I am physically now in now shape to prepare for that solo if my husband is working. On top of any hidden charges my insurance will have once it arrives. As of right now, my out of pocket due is only $80, but that could change at any moment via insurance.

So, at the end of all this, why I am fundraising medically?

To save money, in order to keep my husband home from work longer; not only for physical demands I may need, for hospital trips, admissions or anything that could happen soon. I no longer drive myself, anywhere, so he is also my sole caretaker in other means as well.

To fix some of the medical debt we accumulated since May, while also fixing some of the life financial debt we also accumulated. We are currently one month behind on rent, so 4 days past, because we just do not have all of that in our budget from an unexpected medical bill as my insurance started over and the deductible has as well; it just wasn’t expected to need to go to the er twice last week. So life debt, plus medical debt, has us personally more stressed than we ever have been.

And also, for any other medical necessities I may end up needing. That includes: unexpected wheelchair costs, pain management, er trips that may go over my deductible, and so on!

I recently crowdfunded on my Instagram platform, and a lot of amazing wonderful souls encouraged just setting up an official go fund me for this cause. This go fund me goes directly to insuring the safety of keeping my husband home for at least a month while we figure out the next plan of action in my health care. This is the official total of all of our bills accumulated to debt, plus 3 weeks no work for my husband/caregiver Zak, and for any random medical necessities needed. I wouldn’t ask for more than we truly need and I wouldn’t even set this GFM up unless it was direly needed and also appreciatedly encouraged by kind souls who care about my family during this time.

I really was hoping to start 2025 with less of the worries I gained in 2024, and as of right now that’s just now the look of it. I have the worst baseline of health I’ve ever known, and that’s something I never expected as someone who already was medically intubated for previous health conditions. I was in a very healthier state all around when I received encouragement of starting my little family, via doctors, so ever since my world has come crashing down in more ways than expected; it’s really tested the strains of my marriage. And all I need as a person in this existence, is my husband who now also caregives. So if there’s any means to be able to help my family recoup, readjust and reaffirm our safety in my life and my health, it would go beyond words for us and we greatly appreciate anyone who even took the time to read this far. Thank you for the support in any capacity possible. ❤️‍

Shay and Zak