I have Stage 4 Breast Cancer and Need Your Help

This is my story. Last year (2021) at the height of my life of building a future I had achieved several goals in my life with my career in Cybersecurity along with personal goals. I was also in graduate school, working on my Master of Science in Cybersecurity. (Which I did achieve in February of 2022.) Everything was moving along smoothly in my life until I fell ill in December of 2021. I went to my family doctor because I knew something was wrong because my armpit turned into an outty, and I was running a nasty high fever besides feeling like I had the world’s worst flu. I went and had a COVID test, and it came back negative. In the meantime, my doctor sent me out to have a mammogram and ultrasound to see what was going on. After the mammogram and ultrasound, I was sent off to have a biopsy.

On January 24, 2022, I received a phone call with the worst news I could possibly get. My family doctor called to tell me that I have breast cancer. The pathology report stated that I have Invasive Lobular Carcinoma of the left breast. On January 27, 2022, I met with the surgeon and many other doctors that day consisting of including my oncologist, radiologist, nurse ambassador, and a few others. Each doctor specialized in key areas related to the care for my cancer treatment. I had additional scans and test they needed to figure out my staging along with my prognosis. The genealogy specialist advised me to send it out for testing to see if I had any of the known genes for breast cancer/ovarian cancer. I also had a biopsy done on my right breast which also came back as Invasive Lobular Carcinoma.

In early February this year, after the CT scans of my chest and abdomen along with breast MRI it was found that I have stage 4 breast cancer which at the time had spread to my bones in several areas. Due to the advanced staging of my cancer, I was not operable and was solely in my Oncologist’s hands for treatment. My prognosis at the time was one year, maybe two years. It was also discovered from my scans that my cancer was partially blocking my urethra tube which caused my left kidney to be rather enlarged. Due to this, I needed surgery for a stent placement to help my kidney drain properly to my bladder which took place later in February. I started my first cycle of treatment afterward, with IBrance and Letrozole which at first looked like my body was responding rather well to the treatment. When I started the second cycle of my treatment, I started to get sicker and ran into complications.

At this point, my Oncologist advised me to take a break from treatment to allow my body to recover, but I still continued to go downhill. Typically, the medication used for my treatment has a long half-life for why my Oncologist could allow my body to take this break. I just was not getting better and started struggling to eat meals or simply go to the bathroom. Just this past week on Monday I had additional CT scans, to look and see what is going on with my cancer. It turned out that my cancer even in treatment was continuing to spread. It is in my stomach, GI tract, spleen, liver, gallbladder, urethra tube, and additional areas of my bones. The scan showed degradation of my bones as well due to cancer continuing to attack my system. It is showing free fluid and the list just goes on and on. I know my Oncologist has expressed concern for me why this coming Monday, May 16, 2022, I will be starting chemo infusion. My prognoses are not looking too good, and we all are hoping it is not too late as it is. I have been with Palliative care to help with the pain, nausea, vomiting, extreme exhaustion, and everything else to help make things bearable. I am also scheduled to get a port put in later this month. Instead of getting better, I am getting worse, and the hope is that the upcoming chemo treatment will stop my cancer and that it is not too late. I am scheduled to have my current stent replaced on May 19, 2022, because it must keep being switched out due to the partial blockage my cancer is causing. Otherwise, the alternative treatment is to put a tube into the side of my back going into the kidney which then drains into a bag. The stent at times has been hard to bear because it is painful.

I am asking for help with medical costs because it is becoming very hard to make ends meet. Even though I have been receiving short-term disability and now switched to long-term disability it is not enough to cover all the expenses. I don’t even receive my first long-term disability check until next month. Between prescription co-payments and procedure co-payments along with the gas to even get to my appointments, there isn’t enough to cover everything. Not to mention regular bills and obligations that need to be taken care of. Any donation to help ease this burden is greatly appreciated including sharing my story.