At only 32 years old, Brittany’s world was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2025. It is not something one expects to hear at her age, but it is happening more and more. Thankfully, she was diagnosed early, in stage one. In October she bravely underwent surgery, followed by a difficult recovery that required four weeks away from work.

Now, Brittany is taking strong medications to reduce the risk of the cancer cells spreading. The side effects make it challenging to balance being a mom to their 5-year old daughter and working as a behavior interventionist at a local school.

On November 12th, 2025, Brittany began four weeks of radiation treatment. She is attempting to work part-time, while driving 90+ miles a day, for almost daily radiation appointments. Her hope is to return to regular hours when school resumes in January, after the (unpaid) winter break.

Ryan, her husband, is doing everything he can—running his self-employed Tecknowledgy Repair business while also stepping up at home to ease Brittany’s burden. But the reality is that Brittany’s not-quite-full time position doesn’t qualify for benefits, and our state’s new paid medical leave program won’t begin until 2026. They need her income to avoid going into debt. Yet cancer treatment cannot wait.

As Ryan’s sister, I want to assure you that every dollar raised will go directly toward covering Brittany’s 8+ weeks of lost income plus any fuel expenses for driving 50-90+ miles each weekday for radiation treatments (Becker → Elk River → St. Cloud → back to Becker).

We thoughtfully set an initial conservative target of $5000, just to help cover lost wages in October & reduced hours in Nov-Dec (plus gas). As of 11/16, it seems impossible for Brittany to continue working part-time over then next 3.5 weeks-- due to the effects of radiation treatment. Our new target to accommodate additional time off is $6200. Although gofundme advises to continue raising your target- we will not be increasing it again.

As of 11/17, we can reach our updated goal together if:

Brittany and Ryan are not the type to ask for help— they’d rather be the ones offering it to others. In getting Brittany’s permission to create this fundraiser , I told her “sometimes it takes a village, and this is your turn to let your village show up for you.”

So let’s show up for Brittany while she goes through this physically and emotionally challenging process of kicking cancer to the curb. Every gift, no matter the size, is a step toward easing their burden and lifting them up during this fight.

Thank you for reading.

Thank you for being her village.