Laura Blacksten

Many may or may not know, Brian was laid off from his job in late November/beginning of December 2022. He was able to find a job 2 months later and started on 2/1/23. Laura is a school teacher at High Point Central and their daughter is in her first year of college.

About a year ½ ago, Laura started having back pain. Her Dr wanted to give her a steroid shot to help with the inflammation that was “supposedly” causing her pain. Laura’s pain kept getting worse and the weekend of the 2/4 she started getting tingles in her toes. An MRI had been scheduled for 2/9 that she was waiting on. However, By Wednesday 2/8, Laura was having trouble with her legs, and she was trying to stand up when the leg collapsed underneath her and broke her foot.

Laura was taken to HP regional where they assessed the foot, but they also performed an MRI on her back to determine why it happened. They discovered a rather large mass in a muscle in her back. She was transferred to Wake Forest Baptist in Winston Salem that same night.

Laura was fast tracked to determine what kind of mass this was. They performed a CT of her abdomen to see if it were anywhere else other than the back. That scan came back clear, which was good news. They did a biopsy of the mass on Friday and found out right before surgery on Saturday that it was indeed sarcoma.

The surgery lasted approximately 12 hours. The Dr’s had a surprise when they went to operate because the mass was a lot bigger than they thought. They removed all the mass that they could but had to leave some cells behind that had reached her aorta. Laura of course is in a lot of pain and they are keeping it at bay. She will meet with an oncologist for the plan to radiate those cells remaining. On 2/13 she will have surgery to correct her broken foot.

Brian has not been able to work since Wednesday last week and it’s not determined when he can get back to work. These funds will go to assist with anything that they may have right now (food, travel expenses, etc) and help with any bills that will be coming in later. If you don’t know, Laura is a huge worrier, so I wanted to make it to where she didn’t have to worry about how the bills were going to get paid.

Brian and Laura really feel the love with everyone who has reached out and asking what they can do to help. They both really appreciate all the love and prayers. Please keep the prayers coming for complete healing. Feel free to share, Laura would like all the prayers that she can get. Right now, they are taking it one day at a time.