Lee & Philomena Raines

A little background:
In August 1992, Lee join the Spartanburg Police Department as a reserve  police officer. In December 1993, he transitioned over to a full-time police officer position.  He is now a lieutenant and has almost 28 years of exemplary service with the Spartanburg Police Department.  Philomena also served as a police officer with the City of Spartanburg between August 1995 and October 1998.   Lee and Philomena have been a part of our police family for over 25 years.

Jump to summer 2018:
In June 2018, Philomena started having swelling in her right ankle which escalated to what they initially thought were blood clots in her right leg.  After treatment for blood clots, Philomena was persistent with the doctors that something wasn't right.   They continued to investigate and in December 2018, they discovered she had a mass in her right leg that was metastatic leiomyosarcoma.

Leiomyosarcoma is a rare type of cancer that affects smooth muscle tissue. These tumors are most common in the abdomen, but they can occur anywhere in the body.

Unfortunately, this cancer doesn’t show up in blood work.  It took the progression of the swelling to become a blood clot, which went to her lungs, for them to get the devastating news that she had a high grade, soft tissue leiomyosarcoma. 

Over the last six months of 2018, Philomena had been to a doctor (family, orthopedic, hematologist) more than thirty times trying to find out what was wrong with her leg. Once diagnosed, she underwent radiation therapy for more than a month leading up to a radical resection of her right femur in March, 2019. The lime size tumor encased her vascular bundle which made necessary the inclusion of the vascular team to do a vascular bypass, along with the orthopedic oncology team.


The report coming out of that surgery was good.  The margins were clear, so the team felt like they got it all. Philomena spent months rehabilitating her leg to be able to walk on it and bend the knee.

Because Philomena was diagnosed with soft tissue leiomyosarcoma, she undergoes a full body scan every 90 days.  The hope and prayer is that the scans comes back clear.  

In September 2019, during a routine 90 day scan, a small nodule was discovered in her lower left lung. The diagnosis of metastatic disease was crushing, but her amazing orthopedic oncologist at MUSC encouraged her that it wasn’t a death sentence.

In October 2019, a thoracic surgeon at MUSC removed the nodule from her lung.  Philomena did great with the recovery and went back to work in two weeks.

Philomena had a wonderful Christmas with her family, but cancer is like a storm in the rear view mirror, never fully out of view.

This January, Philomena had another 90-day scan.  The tumors were back. After a second opinion at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC, the decision was made to receive chemotherapy treatment at MUSC.

Philomena proceeded with treatment, but unfortunately, the first two chemotherapy regimens did nothing to slow the growth.  She is now on a 3rd chemo regimen, and we’re praying for the best.

Philomena has been isolated in her home because of the COVID 19 virus.  The cancer and the treatments are wearing her body down.  Please help us lift up Philomena and Lee by donating to their gofundme fundraiser. 

Since the start of this, Philomena has undergone two surgeries and many interventional radiology procedures.  She's had several hospital stays not related to surgery.  She's had dozens of MRIs, CTs, and ultrasounds.  At this point she's had 25 sessions of radiation therapy and 6 rounds of chemotherapy (between 3 drug regimens).

On top of all the tests and treatments that she has endured, Lee and Philomena are also having to travel back and forth to MUSC in Charleston.  Sometimes it's a one day trip, but others have stretched out to a week or more.

Your donations will help Lee & Philomena offset medical bills for all of her treatments, as well as help pay for all their associated travel expenses.  

Lee & Philomena have always been generous, and we'd like to return the favor.  Thank you for your love and support, which they both really need right now!