Meaghan's Fight is Our Fight
Donation protected
“I can’t even remember which birthday it was when I started wishing that we would have a baby. It took me a second this year to think of a new birthday wish!” Meaghan Nichols, Facebook, Dec 12, 2019
Imagine waiting 9 long years to finally become pregnant. Imagine the excitement and joy when the positive test finally arrives! Meaghan and her husband Kris received this joyous news in February 2019. Now imagine, on that very same day, just hours after finding out they would finally have a baby, receiving a call from your doctor that you have been diagnosed with stage 4 Melanoma.
This is my dear friend Meaghan’s story. Once she received her melanoma diagnosis, she immediately met with doctors and specialists to learn what options she had. How would the cancer affect the pregnancy? Can this spread to the baby? What treatments can I receive while pregnant? She was asked over and over if she wished to end her pregnancy in order to pursue more aggressive cancer treatments. Again, and again, she said, “No. What are my other options.” Meaghan fought hard for this baby. She never once considered another path. Her cancer treatment would always involve consideration of her baby she was now carrying.
While pregnant, Meaghan endured two surgeries to remove the melanoma from her body. There were endless considerations, details, and risks involved, but again Meaghan fought to keep her baby safe. After the second surgery, and months of positive results, Meaghan was considered cancer free in August 2019, but the journey was not yet complete.
On October 30th, 2019, Meaghan and her husband Kris welcomed a beautiful baby boy..He was healthy, and he was finally here! Unfortunately Meaghan’s cancer journey was not yet over. First, Owen’s placenta had to be tested to ensure the cancer had not spread to him during the pregnancy. Luckily, his testing came out clear, and Owen was cancer free. Meaghan now had to have follow-up scans to continue her treatment to make sure the cancer was gone for good. At the end of 2019, they found a few new lesions on Meaghan’s liver after a PET scan was performed. After a biopsy, they determined that Meaghan’s melanoma had returned, and that she would need additional treatments to fight it.
Meaghan again met with specialists, and her care team determined she is an excellent candidate for a clinical cancer treatment trial in Los Angeles. The next steps for this family are proceeding with this treatment, and we are hopeful that this will lead to the cure of Meaghan’s cancer.
I wanted to start this GoFundMe in order to offer Meaghan and her family support during this really difficult time. Meaghan is facing challenges that no new mother should ever have to face. She just completed the most nerve-wracking 9 months of pregnancy, only to be confronted again with the reality of cancer. Instead of focusing her energy solely on her newborn baby and family, she is having to juggle doctor’s appointments, procedures, and tough decisions. Lastly, in a scary turn of recent events, their AirBnB in Los Angeles was struck with a fire on Wednesday January 29. Meaghan and family escaped, but the strenuous activity of climbing down 22 flights of stairs lead to some internal bleeding for Meaghan for which she had to undergo another surgery and hospital stay. She is recovering now, but this is just another reason this family needs our urgent support. Meaghan is stronger than anyone I know, and handles all of this with grace and positivity. In the midst of newborn sleep deprivation and hormones, this new set of circumstances adds a weight that any new mom would struggle to carry… but Meaghan takes it one day at a time with a smile on her face.
Meaghan has an extensive network of family, friends, and community. If ever there was a time that we can support someone we love, the time is now. My hope for this fundraiser is to ease some of the financial burden while Meaghan, Kris, and Owen have much bigger things to worry about. Let’s help them with medical bills, let’s help them buy diapers, and formula (Meaghan can no longer breastfeed due to treatments), let’s gift them with gas money to travel to Los Angeles for her treatments, let’s help with monthly expenses, let’s help supplement monthly income so Kris can be home more… Let’s help Meaghan, Kris, and Owen get through this. We know she’s strong, so let’s lift her and make her stronger.
We all have the same new birthday wish for Meaghan. #MeaghansFightisOurFight
Any donations given to this family are considered gifts.
Imagine waiting 9 long years to finally become pregnant. Imagine the excitement and joy when the positive test finally arrives! Meaghan and her husband Kris received this joyous news in February 2019. Now imagine, on that very same day, just hours after finding out they would finally have a baby, receiving a call from your doctor that you have been diagnosed with stage 4 Melanoma.
This is my dear friend Meaghan’s story. Once she received her melanoma diagnosis, she immediately met with doctors and specialists to learn what options she had. How would the cancer affect the pregnancy? Can this spread to the baby? What treatments can I receive while pregnant? She was asked over and over if she wished to end her pregnancy in order to pursue more aggressive cancer treatments. Again, and again, she said, “No. What are my other options.” Meaghan fought hard for this baby. She never once considered another path. Her cancer treatment would always involve consideration of her baby she was now carrying.
While pregnant, Meaghan endured two surgeries to remove the melanoma from her body. There were endless considerations, details, and risks involved, but again Meaghan fought to keep her baby safe. After the second surgery, and months of positive results, Meaghan was considered cancer free in August 2019, but the journey was not yet complete.
On October 30th, 2019, Meaghan and her husband Kris welcomed a beautiful baby boy..He was healthy, and he was finally here! Unfortunately Meaghan’s cancer journey was not yet over. First, Owen’s placenta had to be tested to ensure the cancer had not spread to him during the pregnancy. Luckily, his testing came out clear, and Owen was cancer free. Meaghan now had to have follow-up scans to continue her treatment to make sure the cancer was gone for good. At the end of 2019, they found a few new lesions on Meaghan’s liver after a PET scan was performed. After a biopsy, they determined that Meaghan’s melanoma had returned, and that she would need additional treatments to fight it.
Meaghan again met with specialists, and her care team determined she is an excellent candidate for a clinical cancer treatment trial in Los Angeles. The next steps for this family are proceeding with this treatment, and we are hopeful that this will lead to the cure of Meaghan’s cancer.
I wanted to start this GoFundMe in order to offer Meaghan and her family support during this really difficult time. Meaghan is facing challenges that no new mother should ever have to face. She just completed the most nerve-wracking 9 months of pregnancy, only to be confronted again with the reality of cancer. Instead of focusing her energy solely on her newborn baby and family, she is having to juggle doctor’s appointments, procedures, and tough decisions. Lastly, in a scary turn of recent events, their AirBnB in Los Angeles was struck with a fire on Wednesday January 29. Meaghan and family escaped, but the strenuous activity of climbing down 22 flights of stairs lead to some internal bleeding for Meaghan for which she had to undergo another surgery and hospital stay. She is recovering now, but this is just another reason this family needs our urgent support. Meaghan is stronger than anyone I know, and handles all of this with grace and positivity. In the midst of newborn sleep deprivation and hormones, this new set of circumstances adds a weight that any new mom would struggle to carry… but Meaghan takes it one day at a time with a smile on her face.
Meaghan has an extensive network of family, friends, and community. If ever there was a time that we can support someone we love, the time is now. My hope for this fundraiser is to ease some of the financial burden while Meaghan, Kris, and Owen have much bigger things to worry about. Let’s help them with medical bills, let’s help them buy diapers, and formula (Meaghan can no longer breastfeed due to treatments), let’s gift them with gas money to travel to Los Angeles for her treatments, let’s help with monthly expenses, let’s help supplement monthly income so Kris can be home more… Let’s help Meaghan, Kris, and Owen get through this. We know she’s strong, so let’s lift her and make her stronger.
We all have the same new birthday wish for Meaghan. #MeaghansFightisOurFight
Any donations given to this family are considered gifts.
Organizer and beneficiary
Valerie Dowling
Organizer
San Diego, CA
Kristopher Nichols
Beneficiary
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