Help Christa fight Cancer

Dear friends of Christa and the Cartier Family,

We are reaching out on behalf of our beloved, spunky Christa Cartier—a devoted wife to Matt, an incredible mother to Sadie (14), Lucy (12), and Graham (9), cherished friend, daughter and nurse. Recently, Christa received the life-altering news of a fast-growing, Stage 3 cancer diagnosis (with positive lymph metastasis) and is undergoing tests to rule out Stage 4 cancer diagnosis. As she faces the challenge of a lifetime, the Cartier family needs the strength and love of their community now more than ever.

To help ease the immense burden during this difficult time, we’ve created this GoFundMe to support Christa and her family as they navigate the many challenges that lie ahead, including:

-Loss of Income: As a nurse, Christa’s income is vital to their household. With her focusing on her health, she will need to reduce her hours, creating financial strain for the family.

-Medical Bills and Treatment Costs: The cost of cancer treatments, including medical and naturopathic therapies, is significant and ongoing.

In addition to financial support, we have organized a meal train (including Uber Eats/DoorDash gift card options for those not in CO) to help lighten the load of daily tasks. You can contribute to the meal train here: Meal Train for Cartier Family

For those who prefer to avoid GoFundMe fees, donations can also be sent directly to Matt’s Venmo at @Matt-Cartier (look for the picture of a golf cart).

Most importantly, we ask for your prayers. We trust in the Great Physician to provide healing, comfort, wisdom, and strength for Christa and her entire family. Please remember Matt and the kids in your thoughts and prayers as they support their wife and mother through this challenging journey.

With gratitude,

Friends of Christa and the Cartier Family

MattDCartier at gmail dot com, ChristaCartier at gmail dot com

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Please enjoy a note below from Christa. She has wanted to share with those near and far, but has not had the bandwidth to reach everyone yet. She hopes her message is received in full here.❤️

9/30/24

Sweet Friends!

PLEASE forgive me if this is the first you are receiving this news. Life’s storms often arrive when we least expect them…

Friday, Sept 13th, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma with positive metastasis to my lymph nodes.

Unfortunately, my cancer is growing rather fast. A cancer’s KI67 score (which tells the speed of a cancer’s proliferation and metastasis) is considered “fast growing or aggressive” at a KI67 of up to 20; my KI67 is 51.

My oncology team has informed me we are going to be moving fast with treatment. This week I am undergoing further testing (CT, MRI, Full Body Nuclear Bone Scan) in the hopes of ruling out Stage 4. We invite you to pray with us as these things are being deciphered.

Thank you for your love and prayer,

Christa

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DETAILS:

Oncology Plan

First, I could not be more pleased with my oncology team. In addition to my Oncologist, Radiology Oncologist, and Surgeon, I will be meeting with a Naturopathic Doctor who will provide me modalities and treatments that will boost my immunity, aid in the minimization of treatment effects, AND boost the efficacy of the standard western treatments. I will be leaning fully on both allopathic and natural medicine. I feel blessed that each doctor is willing to work in tandem with the other.

Currently, if I am not found to be Stage 4, the plan will be as follows: an “ASAP” double mastectomy, and removal of cancerous lymph nodes. Followed by 12-20 wks of chemo, then 10 consecutive weeks of radiation, reconstructive surgery, and lastly, 5-10 years of hormone blockers as my cancer is both estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor positive. To my dismay, this means placing my body into immediate menopause just after I turn 45.

A Shiny Pink Astronaut

I went to TJMaxx Friday to window shop my anxiety away. I had just completed 7+ hours straight of dr appts. I was consciously aware in real time of why I was there unnecessarily browsing.

I happened to walk past a very shiny, pink (appropriately breast cancer shade of pink)… astronaut. I stopped in front of her and stared - for longer than I was personally comfortable. I picked her up, felt her weight, and quickly placed her back before anyone could see me admiring her. I admit, I picked her up and replaced her on the shelf multiple times. Deep inside, I felt she had some bizarre relevance to me. I quickly shut that connection down inside and rationally judged within my head, ‘what kind of person would even purchase that!?!’. (I’m sure you know where this may be going.)

I walked away from the astronaut several times. Literally. But I kept coming back to her like a magnet. What was going on? I was by now becoming quite uncomfortable with myself and worried about my bizarre draw to her! As I began to turn my back a final time I heard these words inside,

“You are about to go where you have never been before.”

I turned around, lifted her from the shelf and stared. ‘This is ridiculous!’ I thought. But I knew deep inside I was not going to put her back down this time.

Then it hit me. I AM going where I have never been before. A new chapter is here. Cancer is here. A fight is here. New experiences are here - ready, willing, or not.

As I held her in my hands, I literally stared at my own reflection in her shiny pink astronaut helmet. I looked at my tired reflection, peering back at myself; I saw fear in my face. It was like looking at a stranger. My face was radically different from how I had felt (and looked) before the diagnosis. I looked at my reflection within the astronaut’s shine; my inner monologue thought, ‘I am so afraid of the unknown ahead.’ My eyes suddenly shifted focus — off myself and onto the strong and brave shape of the sturdy astronaut… she was suited up for the purpose of exploring a risky unknown.

I don’t know the last time I purposefully extended myself into any sort of a risky unknown; in fact, that is sort of the antithesis of who I am. I like things calculated, in my hands, at my disposal, in my preferred order, predictable, meticulous, …you get the picture. I make a great Type A nurse; but a Type A patient never fairs as well as one who simply accepts what is and who leans into the process.

I realized right there in that messy store aisle that the only way I’m going to successfully see the other side of all this, is to willfully lean into the risky unknown — like the shiny pink astronaut. After all, she looked like she was suited up for fun, even joy. How was my situation much different? - - - I think time froze at some point. I don’t know how long I was staring into the astronaut. But then and there I realized I WANT TO JOURNEY THIS LIFE AS FULLY AND FREELY AND WILLINGLY as the astronaut does.

—- But my fear and worry… yes and my control, could not come with me. Fullness, and freedom, and willingness were the only things that would accompany me forward.

But how do you just cut ties with burdens you have carried around your whole life?

—- And just as He often does, Jesus came to mind. He graciously knew I was going to need Him for the ride ahead, even before I did. HE is the One who desires to carry these burdens for me. He’s always been the One I can yield every moment to. He alone has been my deepest peace in life’s storms. He resets my heart, grounds me, gives me a life perspective this world could never offer… so why have I never taken Him up on letting Him carry these heavy burdens before? I mean his track record is pretty impeccable. He’s the One who has already endured all things before me, even death.

It was finally time; I no longer wanted them. Jesus did. It was suddenly so plain and simple. I loosed their proverbial reins from my white-knuckled emotional grip and left them somewhere in that aisle with all the other disheveled things, and decided I was finally ready to walk away and release control.

I placed her shiny weighted body gently into my cart and walked to the checkout-line. My heart raced a little as my insides struggled to land somewhere between feeling embarrassed and taking proud ownership of my new insights. The cashier picked up my shiny pink astronaut in her two hands and gasped, “What would someone do with this!!? How hilarious!!”. She cackled a bit more. I paused. I smiled at her silently and gently and I felt a peace not my own come over me and with an unusual anticipation and vibrance, I thought, ‘I’m going on a journey.’ I was oddly filled with a new anticipation for life and for what was ahead.

I understand that this journey will be exhausting and debilitating. I will have a time without breasts, and maybe a head without hair. But I will have Jesus with me in each uncomfortable ‘checkout-line’. — And, He will be the one holding my baggage for me; He’s been asking for 44 years, so He seems to be insisting on it. ;)

And so my journey begins…‍♀️‍➡️✝️‍

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Lastly, I would be honored to have anyone who feels led to do so, to join in as my ‘crew members’ - to team up with me and my family as we walk into the unknown, in whatever creative capacity you desire. Like a buffalo - who is known to walk into the storms they face - our family is leaning in, and choosing to walk into whatever may lie ahead in this storm.

With Love,

Christa