Karens Breast Cancer Fund
Donation protected
Their story began in 1985 when Charlie & Karen met and feel in love at L'amour. They married 7 yrs. later, had 2 kids, Brittany 22 & Johnny 16. Johnny was diagnosed at 18 mos.. with Cerebral Palsy & at 4 with Autism. Caring for a child with disabilities is expensive & they live day to day since Johnny was diagnosed.
Karen has been a caregiver most of her adult life, first her mom, her son, her mother in law & then husband Charlie. She is very active in the autism community. She raises awareness & acceptance everyday.
She has been raising money for autism charites for years. Organizing fundraiser's from start to finish for the last few years for her son's Autism Unit. She also raised money for Surfers for Autism & Autism Speaks in the past but asking for help for herself is very hard to do that's where I come in. I'm a very old friend and know her well and this is her story.
It has been one medical issue after another for them. Karen's husband Charlie had tonsil cancer 2 years ago underwent chemo & radiation for months. At the same time her son had to have major surgery on his leg for his CP. After that Charlie had surgery on his throat to stretch his throat and most recently (Feb) a hernia operation. Charlie's was still out of work & recovering when Karen found the lump.
Right before she found her lump she was helping to raise money for a 26yr old friend who had a mammogram which shows a number of masses in her breast. Karen found her lump Super Bowl Sunday night. It was weird... She talked to the girl she was trying to help raise money at Superbowl then came home went to sleep & woke up with massive pain in her left breast. She felt her breast, felt a lump but the pain went away so she went back to sleep and thought it was a bad dream. She forgot all about it for 2 days then remembered it & decided to check and yes she did have a lump, it was not a bad dream!
She went to her doctor who send her for a mammo, ultrasound, needle biopsy, breast MRI & several more tests followed.
Karen was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.
Her oncologists told probably stage 2 but can't be sure until surgery. The lump was 2.8 cm (about the size of a golf ball) & abute to her chest muscles so they decided to do Chemo first to shrink it. She is getting 4 treatments of 2 chemo drugs every other week for 8 weeks (3 hrs. a day) Then another chemo drug 1x a week for 12 weeks (5hrs a day) After she is finished with chemo, they will do a scan to see if it shrunk and decide whether she needs surgery. If surgery is needed it will be surgery then radiation for 8 weeks, 7 days a week.
If no surgery is needed then just radiation which will be same as above. It all depends how much it shrunk .
Whatever little savings they had is gone, it went to numerous medical bills.
Every test Karen had done they wanted copays up front. Last month it was either get the tests needed done or pay mortgage & bills. Karen had tests done & paid the mortgage & bills late and btw this month everything is late too.
The money raised will be used to pay medical bills & other expenses since they are still paying Charlie's medical bills and Johnny's as well as her's and the total of treatment is at least 7+ months if everything goes good but could be longer if Karen needs surgery or has any infections.
Please help with whatever you can, no amount is too small and everything is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
Hugs you all and thanks you in advance.
Cindy
Karen has been a caregiver most of her adult life, first her mom, her son, her mother in law & then husband Charlie. She is very active in the autism community. She raises awareness & acceptance everyday.
She has been raising money for autism charites for years. Organizing fundraiser's from start to finish for the last few years for her son's Autism Unit. She also raised money for Surfers for Autism & Autism Speaks in the past but asking for help for herself is very hard to do that's where I come in. I'm a very old friend and know her well and this is her story.
It has been one medical issue after another for them. Karen's husband Charlie had tonsil cancer 2 years ago underwent chemo & radiation for months. At the same time her son had to have major surgery on his leg for his CP. After that Charlie had surgery on his throat to stretch his throat and most recently (Feb) a hernia operation. Charlie's was still out of work & recovering when Karen found the lump.
Right before she found her lump she was helping to raise money for a 26yr old friend who had a mammogram which shows a number of masses in her breast. Karen found her lump Super Bowl Sunday night. It was weird... She talked to the girl she was trying to help raise money at Superbowl then came home went to sleep & woke up with massive pain in her left breast. She felt her breast, felt a lump but the pain went away so she went back to sleep and thought it was a bad dream. She forgot all about it for 2 days then remembered it & decided to check and yes she did have a lump, it was not a bad dream!
She went to her doctor who send her for a mammo, ultrasound, needle biopsy, breast MRI & several more tests followed.
Karen was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.
Her oncologists told probably stage 2 but can't be sure until surgery. The lump was 2.8 cm (about the size of a golf ball) & abute to her chest muscles so they decided to do Chemo first to shrink it. She is getting 4 treatments of 2 chemo drugs every other week for 8 weeks (3 hrs. a day) Then another chemo drug 1x a week for 12 weeks (5hrs a day) After she is finished with chemo, they will do a scan to see if it shrunk and decide whether she needs surgery. If surgery is needed it will be surgery then radiation for 8 weeks, 7 days a week.
If no surgery is needed then just radiation which will be same as above. It all depends how much it shrunk .
Whatever little savings they had is gone, it went to numerous medical bills.
Every test Karen had done they wanted copays up front. Last month it was either get the tests needed done or pay mortgage & bills. Karen had tests done & paid the mortgage & bills late and btw this month everything is late too.
The money raised will be used to pay medical bills & other expenses since they are still paying Charlie's medical bills and Johnny's as well as her's and the total of treatment is at least 7+ months if everything goes good but could be longer if Karen needs surgery or has any infections.
Please help with whatever you can, no amount is too small and everything is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
Hugs you all and thanks you in advance.
Cindy
Organizer and beneficiary
Cindy Allison Martyn
Organizer
Napanoch, NY
Karen Ferrendi
Beneficiary