Emilie’s Journey

Just a few short weeks ago, my sister Emilie received the news no body wants to hear. She has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her breast cancer is HER2 positive. The HER2 cancer contains a protein that promotes rapid growth of cancer cells. Emilie will have a PET scan completed this Thursday to see if her cancer has spread elsewhere in her body; however, her doctors remain hopeful that it hasn’t. In these past two weeks, Emilie has undergone numerous biopsies and tests and these won’t be ending soon. She has seen oncologists, radiologists, surgeons, genetic specialists, dietitians, and fertility specialists to name a few. She has had to make many big, life changing, personal decisions with little notice.

Emilie will have her port placed Friday and begin Chemotherapy within the next two weeks. She will continue chemo through February. Throughout her treatment with chemo, she will have continued lab work and PET scans to ensure her tumors are shrinking. Once she is finished with chemo, she will have a double mastectomy with lymph node removal. Once the surgery is complete, she will have more chemotherapy and possibly radiation. This current treatment plan is somewhat tentative, depending on her PET scan results.

Emilie currently resides in Florida and is a Behavior Interventionist at an elementary school where she works with special needs kids. Throughout this entire process, Emilie will have to miss work not only for her appointments and chemo, but also on her bad days when she isn’t feeling well. She will quickly run out of paid time off. Her medical bills are already piling up and several aspects of what she has to go through are not covered by her insurance. Emilie does not like to ask for help, but with everything happening so suddenly, we feel this is the best way to help her as she doesn’t need any further financial stress added on to what she is already going through.

Emilie has a long journey ahead of her. This has completely come out of nowhere and is totally overwhelming, as it would be for anyone. During her treatment, she will be limited on visitors to immediate family only as she will have a weakened immune system. We would appreciate all of the prayers, encouragement, and positive vibes for Emilie. If you’d like to reach out to Emilie or send her something personally, please reach out to my parents, myself, Kaylie, or Natalie and we will get you in contact with her.

She is tough and we know she will beat this. Keep fighting Em! We love you!