Join Us in Supporting C.J. Cassidy's Cancer Treatment

With C.J.'s (Courtney's) permission, I wanted to start her a GoFundMe to help her out. She's a great neighbor and friend...always willing to help people out and even picks up trash around the neighborhood due to her love of nature and a little bit of OCD. :)

For as long as I have known her, she has dealt with GERD and has had back pains for about 2 years now. She thought the back pains were from helping her father after his surgery or from doing gymnastics at trampoline parks. At the beginning of the summer she made an appointment with her PCP to discuss how she was feeling and he ordered her an ultrasound. They found a mass (10 cm by 8 cm) on the right side of her stomach near her kidney so he ordered a CT Scan to get more information. She was called in to discuss the results and her PCP told her that it looked like cancer because there were more tumors and then referred her to oncology. Pretty much the entire summer was filled with scans, MRI's, appointments with various doctors, biopsies, etc. When the first biopsy came back, she was told that she had Stage 4 Neuroendocrine Cancer (NET) and that they'd present her case to the tumor board to get extra feedback from various doctors.

Through my own research, it is more of a rare cancer and is the most diverse of cancers. They don't know the origin of her cancer but felt that chemotherapy would be a good place to start with the goal of shrinking the tumors before a possible surgery. We all know CJ likes to have things planned out so I think that not having all of the answers and being rushed through the care plan system this summer has really been upsetting. But I feel like she has kept her spirits high and has a good outlook with her care team that they "will figure it out as we go".

The reason I started this fundraiser is because CJ took time off work to help out her Dad last year and she is currently on disability from teaching. Her treatments were approved by insurance EXCEPT the immunotherapy which her doctor feels will aid the chemo and help her immune system fight the cancer cells. The immunotherapy is over $10,000 so any help, I'm sure she and her family would appreciate.

I don't have a Facebook account so please help by sharing with family and friends. We love you CJ and wish you healing. God bless.