Helping Tara through cancer treatment.

Tara has been a friend of mine since kindergarten and she has been through more than I can even imagine in her 37 years.  I am hoping to help Tara alleviate some stress and worry with this fundraiser on behalf of Tara. In 2013 Tara had a prophylactic double mastectomy as she was very high risk to develop breast cancer, the same disease that killed her father, she has the genetic BRCA 1 mutation, she had to take this threat seriously.  Little did she know  that her implant-based breast reconstruction would cause a different kind of cancer, a cancer with no cure.  Soon after her surgery, Tara began having complications for the next 7 years and went through 3 set of implants.

Tara  had a PET scan in 2018 that showed lymph nodes throughout her chest, which she used to argue to have her implants removed in 2019.  She fought for a follow-up PET scan and could not get her surgeons to follow through. Tara was finally able to het her primary care doctor to get her a PET scan in March, revealing she still had lymph nodes, as well as lesions on her spine, left hip, and shoulder.  After 7 years of fighting and advocating for herself, she finally got some answers, in March of this year Tara was diagnosed with myeloma, a cancer typically found in people over 60 year old. . 

Tara was initially diagnosed with smoldering multiple myeloma, however as Tara's pain worsened, she progressed to active multiple myeloma.  The cancer spread quickly from her left hip to her right hip and spine.   For her cancer to spread like this, that means she has had it for at lease 5 years, the entire time she was telling her doctors something was wrong. 

Tara has been receiving chemotherapy since August while trying to continue working part time with the school district.  Tara will soon begin getting ready for stem cell transplant, where she will be hospitalized for at least 3 weeks.  Tara is a part time employee and does not have paid time off to take when she is not feeling well or going to appointments, if she doesn't work, she doesn't get paid.  It's time we pull together and help our friend through this journey. Please considering donating to Tara as she has limited resources and really would appreciate any help. 

Here  is a recent article from the Daily Iowan for more about Tara's journey.