Hi there, friends.

If you are reading this, hopefully we have met and know each other. If we do, then you probably know that a year ago I was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. My original breast cancer was in 2018 at the age of 46 when I had bilateral mastectomies (same day surgery, back working 6 weeks later). I recovered over the next few years, and then I had a high grade recurrence in 2023 (a pretty cool trick since I had had both breasts removed for a low grade cancer back in '18). I worked around and through surgery to remove the new cancer, 36 rounds of radiation, an additional surgery to remove my ovaries, and I had barely turned around and was getting myself back in shape when I was diagnosed with metastases to my bones in early 2025.

Since then, I have "medically retired" from work due to physical and cognitive symptoms and side effects, first on short term disability for 6 months, which was fortunately a very generous policy from my employer. However, since September 2025, I have been trying to obtain my long term disability insurance from my employer without success. I was turned down because of their decision that my newly diagnosed metastatic cancer was a "pre-existing condition" because I had seen my oncology doctors for routine visits and was taking a medication to prevent recurrence. To be clear, I had been considered free of cancer since fall of 2023, and my first symptoms of metastatic cancer occurred in February of 2025. I have applied for and been granted Social Security Disability Insurance which means my income is now $3400/month. My medical insurance, for now, is still being kindly subsidized by my employer so that I only pay $431/month to cover myself and my kids. Even so, my medical bills are climbing. I just have a payment plan at the hospital and pay a small amount each month. COBRA will cost me $2,000/month to cover myself and my two kids and I am still a few years from being able to access Medicare.

I, along with a few helpful folks at my employer, am locked in a conflict with my Long Term Disability insurance provider. They continue to deny appeal after appeal, even though I have the support of my oncologist and my employer. I am on the verge of hiring an attorney to pursue this. It's unfair that my metastatic cancer is being called a pre-existing condition simply for following medical advice for surveillance and recurrence prevention. I planned appropriately and paid for the disability insurance, never once imagining that I would be treated this way by my employer's insurer, working as I have as a provider at this health care organization since 2009.

I am extraordinarily lucky. I have a roof over my head. I have food. I have healthcare. I have loving and generous family and friends. I am much more fortunate than most who can easily slip into medical bankruptcy and become unable to meet basic needs. I have started dipping into my retirement funds which are not very robust (I was always planning to bulk them up once I had finished getting my kids through college). So my basic needs are met due to the generosity of my husband and family, but that does not leave extra for the kinds of experiences I had hoped to have "someday". Traveling. Visiting friends. Going out for a meal, or tea. Buying new books, a gym membership, a bit more help around the house, etc.

So many of you have asked if there is anything you can do to help. Fortunately I am still able to drive, shop for groceries, cook, do most things around the house. But if you were hoping to contribute, even a little bit, to making my life easier and richer, I would gratefully accept small donations from people who love me. I don't need or want this going "viral". I just want to be able to breathe a little easier. I hope to be one of the people who live more than 10 years with this diagnosis and even more so, I hope to be someone who is feeling well enough to enjoy however many years I am given. The data says that the overall 5 year survival rate for metastatic breast cancer is around 35%, maybe a bit better for folks like me with only bone mets. I'm furiously hopeful. I'm not a statistic, but I feel like my time to shine is NOW and anything you can share to help make these days, months, and hopefully years really wonderful would be amazing.

In the past year I have been to Virginia and DC to check out colleges with Theo, Illinois to see all of my Harding relatives for the first time in years, Sweden to see Julia (twice!), NJ to visit family and float in a pool, Cape Cod to bring the dogs to the ocean for the first time, Virginia again to visit Theo in his new college and meet his friends and to be surprised by him singing a solo in his first college acapella concert. I've been to Dublin, Ireland with Dave to see my Irish relatives and to swim in the Irish Sea at Forty Foot. I went with a group of high school friends to a gala to support breast cancer research in Philadelphia, sponsored by one of those friends. A friend took me for a massage and a luxurious night at The Four Seasons in Boston last week. I am truly one of the luckiest people I know in so many ways. Next week I head to the Netherlands with my mom to see the tulips in person and find some windmills. Dave is sending Theo and me to Ireland in June because Theo has never met his Irish family and I want for us to be able to do that together. All three of us, Julia, Theo and I, are now Irish citizens. Most of the things I do are visit family and friends. I'm insanely fortunate. I'd just love to be able to breathe a bit easier. So far, I just keep making plans and hoping. None of my trips are action packed. I require lots of rest these days but I get so much pleasure from my travels and from spending good time with good people.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for already offering so much support in so many ways. I am confident that I am going to be ok financially in the long run, but the constant worry does detract from my well being. That's where your help would be invaluable. If and when my LTD ship comes in, I'll stop this fundraiser because I will be completely self-sufficient. Until then, I'll gratefully accept offers of support. Thank you.

love,

Anne