It Takes a Village to Beat Cancer! Help Steph O!

Stephanie Ocampo is a smart, dedicated, incredibly hardworking young woman. She is 20 years old and has been diagnosed with Metaplastic Breast Carcinoma. Not only is it shocking to be diagnosed with cancer at such a young age, but also, it is one of the more rare forms – only 1% of all breast cancers. There are not a lot of research and treatment standards for it as it is so rare, and also often, triple negative, requiring a highly individualized treatment. One up side is that MD Anderson here in Texas is one of the few places in the country that has been doing limited study on it.
 
Stephanie is a full time student and works part-time at The Steeping Room.  She started working with us in high school and has continued now through college. She not only takes this on but helps support her mom and 4 year old sister. She is a bright light who is in for an incredible fight.
 
Stephanie currently has insurance through school but will lose it when she drops credits and will have to pay back what has been covered if she drops out during the semester. We are working to get her on to Medicaid and get financial assistance through the program she enters, but as many of you know cancer is very expensive and not something that a young person is in the position to take on.
 
We are reaching out to our community and asking you to donate if you can, and to please share this in your networks.  We are calling far and wide on the community to help lift Stephanie through the waves.