Kristin's Rally Against Ovarian Cancer

Hi Everyone -

This is Kristin's Support Squad. As many of you know, Kristin Beltz was admitted to the hospital on November 19th with severe abdominal pain, bloating and a high fever - she hadn't been feeling right for a while and things were escalating. The scans showed a large mass, and Drs believed it was benign, and scheduled a regular follow-up at UofI for 3 weeks out. Kristin, listening to her body, knew something was wrong and insisted on having additional labs and scans ran immediately... thank goodness she did. The bloodwork came back with elevated tumor markers indicating cancer, and the additional scans showed signs of a yolk sac tumor(malignant).

Two days later, they called and had her meet with the Oncology Team at UofI Hospitals in Iowa City, and was quickly scheduled for emergency surgery on November 26th to remove the mass, and collect further pathology reports. During her surgery they removed her uterus and left ovary due to the spread of the 27cm x 18cm x 10cm mass that was made up of germ cells, they still believed it to be an immature teratoma/yolk sac tumor. They were able to remove majority of the mass, but not all of it.

On November 27th, while recovering from surgery, the pathology report confirmed what they expected, the mass was Advanced Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer, and she would need to complete 3 rounds of intense chemotherapy treatments(3 week schedule per round - some inpatient/some outpatient)... she received this news just one day before her 39th birthday.

Kristin started her chemo infusions on December 12th 2022, and has been a strong fighter through the whole process. She has also been scared, tired, sick and eager to get better for her children and husband. As she continues down the road of battle and recovery, supporting her is our main priority. We would love to remove some of the financial stress that has already accumulated by donating towards the medical bills and helping offset some required living expenses.

Since many people have reached out wondering what they can do to help, your donations will be a huge contribution to her, Josh and the kids. Kristin and her family appreciate all the support, calls, texts, prayers and gestures made while she faces the road ahead. She can't begin to thank you enough. Love to you all.

(For current updates and more details on how Kristin is doing, she does a great job updating her Facebook profile weekly of her journey with ovarian cancer.)

#CancerSucks #OvarianCancerWarrior