Kelly Steffen's Cancer Relief Fund

Kelly survived breast cancer 5 years ago after completing a double radical mastectomy, full hysterectomy, chemo and radiation.  She has been diligent with her follow up doctor appointments, medicines and preventative scans.  She thought all was well until Tuesday, January 15, 2019.  Kelly had been feeling some pain in her side/back and thought she had a kidney stone.  She went to the ER because the pain was so debilitating.  At the ER she had an ultrasound and they found out that she was suffering from pain associated with Stage IV breast cancer metastasized to her liver.  Since then things have progressed extremely rapidly.  There are suspicious spots on her kidney, pancreas, hip and femur.  Her tumor markers in August 2018 were 8 (under 12 is normal) and this past week her tumor markers were 643.3!  This is a very aggressive cancer, but our girl is a fighter!  She is determined to see her three babies grow up.  The treatment plan has been established to be equally as aggressive as the cancer.  She has been told that there is no cure and no operation for this situation.  The doctors want to shrink the tumors to help relieve the pain.  Here is what the treatments have been so far: On Wednesday (1/23/19) she was given an IV push of Zometa to lower her extremely high calcium levels because the doctor did not think she could wait until her port was put in and to prevent stroke due to the high numbers.  On Thursday (1/24/19) Kelly went in to get another scan done and to get her port surgically placed.  On Friday (1/25/19) Kelly had her first chemo treatment with Taxol because the doctors told her she had no time to waste and could not wait until Monday to get started.  She had some complications with that chemo and ended up in the ER for some time before they could stabilize her breathing and pulse/oxygen numbers.  Kelly is at home now and working through the side effects associated with all of these medical treatments.  There is a long road ahead for her and her family. In just the last 12 days their medical bills have exceeded $10,000!  Jamie is the sole provider for the family and so he is balancing all of this while trying to provide financially, emotionally and physically for his wife and three kids (15, 13, and 9 years old).  The funds raised here will help with medical expenses, living expenses and, if possible, some family fun to build memories for the kids.  There is no plan for a trivia night, casino night, etc due to the fact that Kelly is in no condition to be attending such events.  Other ways you can help would be gift cards to help with food, entertainment, gas money, etc.  Since many people have already been so generous with food, there is no space to keep meals in their refrigerator or freezer, but restaurant gift cards are appreciated. I am Angela (Voss) Schmitt and I am blessed to be friends with Kelly since we were in kindergarten.  Please contact me with any questions or concerns as we are trying to limit the time Kelly is on the phone so that she can rest and be with her family when she is awake and socializing.