Jen's Breast Cancer Battle Fund

Hi, my name is Savannah and I want to tell you a bit about my mom's story.  She had a lump in her breast for over a year and the mammogram showed it was a possible cyst, but no concern for cancer. It wasn't until she insisted on further testing that in August of 2016, she was diagnosed with stage 3, grade 3, triple negative invasive ductal carcenoma. In simpler terms, my mother of 37 was diagnosed with not only the rarest but the most aggressive form of breast cancer.  The size of the lump was 10-12 cm, most lumps at 1-2 cm are considered large! It compromised 2-3 lymph nodes, as well.

Since then, she went through 16 treatments of chemo, including Adriomycin which is the most dangerous and toxic of chemos, nicknamed 'the red devil'. In February 2017 she had a double mastecomy and opted out of reconstruction. Then she went through radiation treatments every day from March 28th through May 20... 25 treatments in total!

One of the many things I've admired about my mom is that throughout this journey she has remained nothing but faithful and trusting that all of this had a purpose.
I also admire her dedication to her family. She is truly self-sacrificing. She always thinks of serving others before she thinks of herself in life and at work. Her career was centered on helping adults and children with special needs.  Her desire to serve didn't stop there. She dedicated much of her personal time to investing in the lives of jr. high and high school students in our church. She is passionate about helping students feel safe and connected.

It has been no where near easy watching my mother be so ill and so sick and worrying for her life all the while we are all trying to adjust to new resposibilities. Watching my little brother, Cade who is 12 years old watch our mom go through everything was so very difficult.  He kept so much of it inside and silently struggled.  It was inspiring watching my Dad be so faithful and hard working and doing everything in his power to support her up to and including adopting my brother and I! We have been so blessed by the financial and emotional support received by so many. Every penny we have received has been used wisely. Even so much so that in order to throw a high school graduation party for me in June, my mom sold many of our personal belongings to pay for it.

If you or anyone in your family has ever suffered with a terminal illness, you are well aware of the financial burdens that it brings. It hurts my heart to see my parents feel like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. I want to be able to do something to help with their financial burden and that is why I have created this gofundme account.

We are still receiving bills from her chemotherapy and have yet to recieve anything from her radiation and surgery.  As a single income family, we have become well aware that we do not have the funds to pay for all that will be due.  We've sought out financial advice and are being diligent with what we do have, but we know that the only way we're going to get through this without becoming terribly in debt is through trusting God and the support of others. It isn't easy nor comfortable to reach out to family or strangers for that matter to ask for money but even at my young age I understand that this is not something we can get through on our own. With this, I humbly ask you to consider a donation. The funds collected in this account will go to helping my family pay outstanding medical bills as well as any other family expense that may come up that we cannot afford.