Help young mum fight battle against rare & aggressive Cancer

Sarah Kathleen Blight, Only 29, is an incredibly dedicated, loving mother to her 4-year-old son Lachlan, who is her entire world. Sarah is a wonderful daughter and beloved by her whole family, she is the best friend you could ever imagine. Truthfully, there isn't a single thing she wouldn't do for those she loves or even just a stranger in need of help and now, she needs yours.

Sarah is incredibly selfless, kind, loving, and thoughtful. Sarah's life is so precious, especially to her four-year-old son. She is a single mother who works incredibly hard to provide everything her son could need or want. Sarah's beautiful son was diagnosed with autism, Sarah has thrived as a mother exceeding all of his higher needs, she is an incredible mother.

For background,

Sarah struggled with endometriosis, infertility, and polycystic ovary syndrome for several years before her recent diagnosis. Sarah underwent multiple surgeries to manage her disease, she struggled with chronic pain, bleeding, and many difficult symptoms but always found the strength to fight for her son.

In early February of this year, she approached her doctor because she was concerned about the amount of pain she was in, after an ultrasound scan it was discovered she had a growth between her rectum and vagina that was already measuring at 4.7cm over the following few weeks it grew to 6cm, then again over the following few months it grew to a massive 7.5cm by the start of July, at this stage she was advised that this growth appeared to be a tumor (a solid mass) and not an endometrioma as previously thought, Sarah was immediately put on a waitlist for emergency surgery.

Sarah had her first surgery on the 19th of July 2024 the intention was to remove the growth and to complete a biopsy to assess what exactly we were dealing with, we were warned at this stage that it was a possibility it was cancerous.

Sarah underwent a 6-hour surgery, unfortunately, there were some complications and she woke up from the surgery with a C-section cut across her entire abdomen, they also had to remove her entire lower rectum, a large portion of her vaginal wall, and a portion of her bowel, they found the tumor encased inside an endometrioma which they also removed and biopsied.

Following the Surgery Sarah wasn't provided with post-op antibiotics (Antibiotics were provided during surgery but were not continued post-opp) unfortunately, this resulted in a severe pooling infection in her cervix that spread to three other areas including incision sites, Sarah was incredibly sick and not healing, she was provided intravenous antibiotics and began to improve. However, unfortunately, this was only the start of the bad news.

At this stage, we were still waiting for the biopsy results, this would take a total of two weeks and not the 5 days as initially advised.

Unfortunately, within the following days things took a turn for the worst, Sarah developed yet another severe post-surgery complication, which can be summarized as a dangerous leak in her bowel leaving no other option but further emergency surgery to provide her a colostomy bag to circumvent the leak and allow her body to heal, she will have this bag for three months.

The day before the second emergency surgery to install a colostomy bag we received the worst possible news. We received the biopsy results, Sarah was diagnosed with a very rare form of ovarian cancer called Cystadenocarcinoma, as mentioned above this form of cancer is extremely rare and aggressive, furthermore, the location of the cancer is virtually unheard of. Unbelievably, The endometriosis (which is tissue similar to the lining of the uterus growing outside of the uterus) acted as a host for the cancer, the cancer recognized the endometrioma as the same tissue found inside her reproductive organs and began to grow in the vaginal/bowel/rectal area.

This news was Earth-shattering to Sarah, her family, her friends and all who love her. The following days were filled with confusion, shock and many, many tears.

As with her story, unfortunately, this wasn't the end of the bad news.

When Sarah underwent her surgery to install a colostomy bag, further biopsies were taken of the surrounding tissue, this was done is an effort to assess how advanced the cancer is and what options would be available to her in terms of treatment. Heartbreakingly, we have now been informed that the cancer has indeed spread and cancer cells were found on her vaginal wall, furthermore, Cystadenocarcinoma is historically unresponsive to standard cancer treatments like chemotherapy leaving Sarah with limited options, the standard treatment for this type of cancer is to excise the cancer which usually requires a full hysterectomy, however, the cancer on her vaginal wall substantially complicates this as this can not be excised. The final blow was being told that they are unable to perform any kind of surgery to remove the cancer for three months due to the colostomy bag, leaving a three month window where the cancer could spread further.

Sarah's specialists intend to induce menopause during this 3 month period as a way of slowing the growth of the cancer, they are also planning comprehensive genomic profiling which will allow them to take a closer look at what is often referred to as a "fingerprint" of Sarah's cancer, they do this by looking for changes in over 500 genes, the change in these genes are referred to as biomarkers which will allow a more detailed picture potentially opening the door to more personalized treatment options, although at this time Sarah's options still remain very limited.

Can you help?

As mentioned above Sarah is a single mother, she was working part time to support her autistic four-year-old son.

The cancer, the endometriosis, the surgeries, associated complications, and the colostomy bag have left Sarah unable to care for her son full-time, unable to work, earn money, and frankly she is going to struggle significantly with everyday life as she starts what can only be described as the fight for her life.

There are going to be Medical costs, which include both treatment and testing, furthermore, a loss of income means Sarah will not be able to fully provide for her son and will very likely lose her rental and financial stability.

Any Donation would be deeply, deeply appreciated and in terms of treatment it could be the difference between life and death.

Every time you share her story you are helping her in this fight and also raising awareness abut ovarian cancer and its devastating effects on women's lives.

If you can donate, every dollar counts and is so deeply appreciated.

Let's show this incredible woman and mother she is not alone in this fight.

#Cystadenocarcinoma #warrior #cancer