Natalie Van Brocklin's Road to Recovery

On January 8th of this year, while at work at the Nevada Legislature, Natalie experienced a sudden onset of excruciating pain in her right hip when she went to get up from where she was sitting. Shocked, she tried to shake it off and move on with her day. It quickly became apparent that something was seriously wrong, and she drove herself to urgent care after work, where x-rays showed she had a cyst of some sort in her hip joint. Baffled as to why she hadn’t felt this pain before, she left with directions to stay off of it for a few weeks, reach out to The ROC, and take anti-inflammatories despite the knowledge that she is allergic to them. Only a few hours later, while back at home, the pain became so horrific that Natalie called a friend to take her to the hospital. After hours of waiting, she was taken back for a CT scan that showed a large tumor had fractured her hip. She was promptly admitted to the Critical Decision Unit at Renown for further testing. Over the course of the next three days, Natalie was told she had everything from multiple myeloma to bone cancer, but no one could confirm with any sort of certainty. Upon discharge, she was told they couldn’t pinpoint the pathology without a needle biopsy, which she would need to schedule once she was discharged.

Confused and in a ton of pain, Natalie was sent home barely able to walk without any concrete answers. On January 21st (her birthday), Natalie received her first needle biopsy. The pathology came back inconclusive, and she was rescheduled for a second biopsy 10 days later. Due to the awkward placement of the tumor and the inability to get an adequate sample without causing a further fracture, the second biopsy also came back inconclusive from both Renown and Stanford, where it was sent for a second opinion.

Between the two outpatient biopsies, Natalie also experienced the sudden loss of her older brother Adam, further compounding the grief and agony she was already experiencing. To further make this time unimaginable, she had to put one of her beloved dogs down shortly after losing her brother.

Without any answers and still unable to walk without the assistance of a walker or cane, Natalie returned to the legislature at the beginning of March due to the unknown stability of the state catastrophic pay she had been receiving since taking leave in January. At this time, her doctor placed her under surveillance for two weeks and agreed to reconvene in mid-March, very reluctantly allowing her to begin working again.

Once back at work, Natalie persevered for a couple of weeks, masking both the physical and emotional pain she was experiencing with a smile on her face like all of us are used to seeing from her. Only able to use a cane in the building while covering an expansive property as a legislative aide floater has taken a further toll on her body. Two weeks into being back at work, she received the news that her fracture had not gotten any better and had actually gotten worse. With the pain only increasing since she returned, Natalie made the tough decision to go back out on leave and aggressively treat the tumor. As of right now, the state has only granted her two weeks of catastrophic leave, which will be up on April 1st. At this current time it appears unlikely they will extend it. 

After two inconclusive needle biopsies, the next step is to go under anesthesia for a more comprehensive biopsy. Regardless of the pathology findings, Natalie’s orthopedic oncologist knows the only way to get Natalie out of chronic pain and regain her quality of life is to remove the tumor and perform a total hip replacement. In addition, he is still uncertain of whether or not she will need aggressive treatment if it is indeed cancer.

As a single mom to two wonderful kids, Natalie needs our support to help cover her medical expenses and sustain her family while she focuses on her health. She’s almost always worked two jobs, doing hair on the side after she entered politics. Due to the physical demands on her body neither are an option right now. She is expected to be out of work for a minimum of two to three months, and the financial burden is already overwhelming. Your contributions will help alleviate some of this stress and allow her to concentrate on recovery. Natalie is always the first person to volunteer to help others, and now it's her turn to ask for a helping hand.