Keisha Ray's Fight Against Cancer

This is tough to write.

Hi. I'm Michelle Byrd, Keisha Ray's sister (in-law). We are asking for your help to raise funds to help Keisha continue her fight against cancer.

Keisha is a spunky, 40-year-old mother of 2, wife, and teacher at Elmore County High School. She is devoted to God, her family, her friends, and all of the young people she has taught and mentored over her 15-year teaching career. (Photo above shows Keisha at the ECHS graduation this year...she had chemo two days before and INSISTED on going to love on her students.)

In April 2022, Keisha was diagnosed with Poorly Differentiated Gastric Adenocarcinoma with signet ring cells, an aggressive and fast-growing cancer. The prognosis is usually poor because it is typically found at a later stage and after spreading. Thankfully, Keisha's was found before it left her stomach.

Doctors at MD Anderson have located some suspicious cells outside of her stomach, but we believe and pray that the chemo she does after surgery will kill those escapee cells and that they will not spread to other organs.

My family and I have created this GoFundMe to help raise money to pay for Keisha's trip to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for Keisha to have surgery. She will need to stay in the hospital for a week and then stay in Houston for a month after surgery for follow-up appointments. This GoFundMe will help pay for the travel expenses, hotel and food while in Houston.

If this raises more than the original amount, the money will be used for future visits, treatments, and chemo this fall. Insurance and her cancer policy do not cover most of this trip, which has cost much more than we had hoped.

Keisha will have surgery on the morning of Friday, July 8, 2022, to remove her stomach, lymph nodes, and ovaries. They found 2-3 inch cysts on her ovaries during some of her tests, so they will remove those also. They will do tests on everything that is removed to check for cancer.

During the month after surgery and still in Houston, she will have a J-feeding tube and will be on a liquid diet. Each week the surgeon will decrease the amount of food she receives through the feeding tube and increase the amount of food (liquid) she eats.

She will be on a liquid diet for a couple of months.

Keisha will start chemo treatments again around August 24 and will continue these for most of the fall semester.

By faith, we believe God is in control and will take care of Keisha, no matter the outcome.

Our family covets your prayers, and any assistance you can provide would help relieve the costly financial burden that cancer brings.

Thank you for reading her story. We know that God will be glorified through her and her fight.

God bless you all.

Love,

The Ray and Byrd Families