My name is Havala Meinen. I work at Silsbee Middle School in the cafeteria, where everyone there, including the students, calls me by my middle name, Linda. Some of them will also give me hugs and say, "Hi Mason's mom" or "Hi Dakota's mom," and tell me a bit about their day. I miss that so much!

I am battling breast cancer which has spread to my lymph nodes. I had 2 surgeries at the same time, which took 4+ hours. Later, after the doctors did their testing on the 7-inch mass and the lymph nodes, they found out that the cancer spread further than they thought, but it's too small to work on. So now, I've been told that once I'm healed from surgery, I have to do 5 months of chemo and radiation every day, Monday through Friday. My treatments will be at MD Anderson in The Woodlands. It's over a 2-hour drive one way to the hospital, and with me not able to work...it would be greatly appreciated if anyone could help because the gas and medical bills are through the roof.

Besides the pain and exhaustion, I'm just ready to (like Larry the Cable Guy says) "get 'er done"! I'm staying positive not just for myself but for my husband and 3 children. We are coping and adjusting the best we can and are leaving this in God's hands. Thank you so much to whoever can help us!