Updated

(8/16/22) - My name is Ashley, and I am fundraising for my 18-year-old sister, Jayden Gaylord. Last week, she was diagnosed with Nodular Melanoma, the most aggressive and rapidly spreading form of skin cancer. This form of cancer has become a large tumor on Jay's neck that looks drastically different week by week. Tomorrow (8/17/22), she is receiving surgery in Kansas City to remove as much of the tumor as possible, but they won't be able to remove all of it. The surgery has some complications due to how deep and close to her facial nerves the tumor is. We are discussing radiation with the doctors, which seems to be the next step forward after surgery. Jayden is autistic; she is very lighthearted, and our family and close friends don't believe the total weight of the situation has hit her yet. Facing death is hard to come to terms with, no matter who you are.

(8/18/22) - Jay's surgery to remove the tumor went better than expected. The doctors removed more of the mass than anticipated, and her facial nerves were not paralyzed, so we can still see her beautiful smile. Jay spent a good while resting and still mostly is; she's mentally and physically drained and ready to be home in her routine. They did a CT of her spinal cord today, and we are waiting on the results. They will do a needle biopsy tomorrow (8/19/22) because there are some cancerous cells on her lung. Melanoma has a very high rate of spreading to the brain, so they also did an MRI today.

(8/19/22) - The lung biopsy went well; now we wait for results from that. They plan on starting radiation on that area as soon as possible. We got the results from Jay's MRI; they found two masses. She has a mass on her brain's parietal lobe about an inch in diameter. The second mass is smaller and on her frontal lobe. They are starting her on steroids to reduce swelling and sending in a neuro specialist. Jay is taking this hard; she's getting a better and better picture of what's happening.

(8/21/22) - Jay's pain is down, her appetite is up, and she's in good spirits. Not much is happening over the weekend besides letting the steroids reduce swelling and inflammation in her brain.

(8/22/22) - Jay got to meet with the medical oncologist directing her care. They made a thermoplastic mask that is molded to Jay's head and keeps her bolted down to the table while they do the stereotactic radiosurgery (basically targeted radiation for the brain metastases). Jay was released from the hospital's care this afternoon, and thanks to the hospital's recommendation Jay and our mom can stay at a place called the Friendship Inn. The Friendship Inn is reserved for families who live more than 30 miles away and need a place to stay while a loved one is dealing with a serious illness or unexpected trauma. Although not free, accommodations are affordable and offer a much more comfortable environment than a hospital waiting room. The people there have been very good to my family, and we are so grateful that places like this are available to those who need them.

(8/23/22) - Today, Jay received the first round of stereotactic radiosurgery. She didn't feel anything, which is excellent. The hardest part for her was staying still while strapped down to the table for 30-45 minutes. She is exhausted now and ready to come home. Thankfully it's only two more days of treatments for the brain metastases. We confirmed with the radiation oncologist that they could leave KC to return to Derby after her treatments are finished on Thursday; until then, they will stay at the Friendship Inn.

(8/24/22) - Second round of stereotactic radiosurgery is today. As long as all goes well, she should only need one more round of this tomorrow and then she can come home for a few days.

(8/25/22) - Last round of stereotactic radiosurgery today, and then she gets to come home! Before they start the final treatment, they're going to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to enjoy themselves and the city. We still need to figure out what the plan for chemo is with her doctors but they've confirmed she is able to come home for the weekend at least!

(8/26/22) - It's finally Friday, and Jay and mom came back home late last night. Jay is so relieved to be in her own space and bed again, even if just for a few days. We discussed Jay's treatment plan and bucket list with her medical oncologist over the phone, and he cleared Jay to go to California this week! They plan on starting chemo when she gets back.

(8/27/22) - Before their flight, Jay came by to visit with my family and I for a few hours. It was so great to see her, especially since she was in such great spirits. She had no idea she was getting to live out some of her bucket list until the night before so she was very excited. After visiting they caught a flight to Texas and then a flight to California since there wasn't any direct flights from Kansas. While in California Jay got to stay with some family we don't get to see very often. She and mom were so happy to see them, and staying with family was a lot more comforting than finding somewhere on their own to stay. They offered so much love and support just like they always do. We're so thankful to have such a great family.

(8/28/22) - Happy updates only for the next few days thankfully. Today was Jay's first time at Universal Studios! They got an express pass since they won't be in LA for very long. She got to pick a wand, ride the harry potter ride, transformers ride, she got to hug Bumblebee, had lunch at the Krusty Burger from the Simpsons, they got to go on a studio tour of the movie sets from Transformers, Jay got a caricature drawing done of herself, they saw a special effects show where someone lit themselves on fire, and an animal actors show full of birds, dogs, cats, racoons, guinea pigs and all kinds of other preforming animals and spent the end of the day enjoying the sunset on the beach with family. It was a VERY long day but it was full of so much joy and excitement.

(8/29/22) - Jay and Mom spent the morning visiting with family and getting to know one of the newest additions to the family, our adorable baby nephew. After that it was time for day two of Universal, which of course means you have to do the city walk! The city walk is basically a bunch of shops leading up to the entrance to Universal. They stopped in and shopped around for a few souvenirs, then Jay got to revisit all her favorite attractions. Those who know Jay well know she LOVES transformers. Mom was able to get Megatron to talk to Jay personally, and wish her luck on her medical journey she has ahead and commend her for the strength she's shown so far through her treatments. It was a really touching moment for Jay, and we will cherish the video of her excitement forever. After Universal they went to Sephora at the Beverly Hills Mall. While there Jay got her first set of false lashes and she loves them so much. They had a ton of fun. When it was time for dinner they met up with some of the family and went to a place called Toca Madera where the staff treated Jay like royalty. The place was beautiful, food was great and she felt on top of the world. Afterwards they went back to our family's place and made cookie doh for a late night treat to end the day.

(8/30/22) - To start the day off right they had breakfast on the beach with family. Toes in the sand, enjoying the ocean breeze before catching their flight back home. A great start to a really rough travel day. Their plane ended up needing some maintenance, so they had to wait hours after their take off time to actually get started on their journey home. There still isn't a direct flight from California to Kansas, so they took a flight to Texas again. Since their flight was delayed, they ended up missing their connecting flight from Texas to Kansas and had to quickly find somewhere to stay in Texas overnight. Thankfully there happened to be a family member on their flight with them who had a hotel room already, so they were able to stay with them.

(8/31/22) - Thankfully there weren't any issues with travel today. Mom and Jay took their scheduled flight to KC. A family friend picked them up from the airport, took them to lunch, and drove them to Jay's oncologist's office for lab work and an appointment before headed to the hospital. After the appointment they took an Uber to the hospital. The Uber driver was really awesome, and he drove a Tesla, which he let Jay drive for a little bit through an app on his phone. That was a great distraction, especially right before headed into the hospital. They had to give her an IV and PICC line, which is basically an IV that goes through her arm and directly to her heart. She had a really hard time when they put that one in, but thankfully they're keeping it there until she's ready to go home so she won't have to do that again anytime soon. For now they're just giving her lots of fluids before they start chemo tomorrow.

(9/1/22) - Today is day one of chemo. Spending time in the hospital is never fun, but it went about as well as it could have. Day one was painless, not a ton of discomfort or anything. Jay made the best of her day she could, she watched transformers and had pizza. Her PICC line makes it difficult to sleep comfortably but overall she is doing really well.

(9/2/22) - Today was day two of chemo treatments, and we got some amazing news from Jay's doctors. The result from the lab came back early from her tumor they removed, and found out it has the BRAF V600E mutation. While that sounds scary, that means that they can change the treatment plan to an oral chemo therapy, instead of staying at the hospital to receive chemo through an IV for weeks at a time. So basically, Jay gets to come home and take chemo pills instead, and it'll be more effective for the type of cancer she has. We will know how her body responds to this type of treatment in a few weeks. For now, she has to stay at the hospital while she receives antibiotics for a slight infection at her incision site, but other than the infection she is ready to come home!

(9/3/22) - We are waiting for results to come back to know what type of infection Jay has specifically, for the mean time they're just giving her general antibiotics. Today was a pretty boring day at the hospital overall, which is always a good thing. The best part about Jay's day today is she was able to see and visit with her dad for a few hours. She's missed him so much. Hopefully just a few more days of antibiotics!

(9/4/22) - They got back some of the cultures and it looks like mom and Jay are needing to stay in KC for another couple days minimum for IV antibiotics and to make sure this infection doesn't spread. Jay has a pseudomonas infection and a staph infection. We are waiting on more cultures, and the staph infection might be MRSA. Thankfully she feels physically fine, the chemo isn't bothering her and it's just a skin infection. It's good they are at the hospital surrounded by great doctors, but Jay is so unhappy. She thought she would be home by now.

(9/5/22) - The CT scan showed a pocket of infection. Until they drained it Jay wasn't allowed to eat so she was not super happy about that. They did a minor surgery to drain it, and stuffed it full of gauze. Replacing the gauze will be mom's job whenever they're finally able to leave the hospital. She was fully awake for this surgery, not even a local anesthetic and she did so well. She was even laughing through her surgery. They're gonna send off some of what they collected to the labs to do more testing to see if there are more types of infection than they already are aware of.

(9/6/22) - It seems like the abscess they drained yesterday is doing well and the infection is responding to the antibiotics. Her doctors started a culture from the abscess yesterday so we are waiting to make sure she doesn't have any other infectious bacteria we need to address. We should have the cultures back tomorrow or Thursday. While taking her vitals today they saw her temperature was 99.9, but the doctors said not to worry until it hits 100.4. So they are keeping an eye out to make sure she isn't getting a fever. As long as she doesn't have a fever, and there aren't any other complications, Jay should be ready to come back home for a while.

(9/7/22) - Jay's temperature went back down, and cultures came back. Everything is looking good, so they got to come home today! Mom will continue to pack the abscess with gauze but everything seems to be healing really well! They are both so relieved to finally be home for a while.

This fund is being set up to help cover the costs of travel, medical expenses, missed work from appointments, toiletries and whatever else they may need while staying out of town for the procedures and treatments. Cancer sucks, and the goal is to get her healthy again. If, for some reason, we cannot get her back on her feet, our goal will be to tick a few boxes off her bucket list while we still have time.