I met Tina a few months ago through Fostering with Infinity Farms Animal Sanctuary and Rescue. In those few months, I have gotten to know Tina as a caring, loving, and generous person who would do anything for her fur babies. She loves puppies and loves to show them off. The Tina that I know is funny, kind, generous, selfless. She constantly pours into others and loves them unconditionally. Recently, Tina opened up to me about her struggles with fighting Cancer. 


Here is her story: 

In July of 2015, Tina became very weak and ill. Even walking through her own house became a struggle. Every day things just seemed to get worse, until one night, Tina’s husband, Jeremy found her passed out in the shower and took her to the ER. During this hospital stay, doctors found that her hemoglobin was 5 which should be between 12-16. This meant she needed a blood transfusion. Tina then needed blood transfusions every two weeks for over a month. After 3 blood transfusions in less than 6 weeks, doctors began to worry. After many more tests, a tumor was found in her small intestines and she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma.  


She had surgery in October and again in December and ended up having 12 inches of her small intestines removed. Afterwards, she was sent to an oncologist and was stable until May 2016 when she started having pains in her stomach again. A petscan revealed that the cancer was back in the lymph nodes in Tina’s stomach. After a visit to MD Anderson and several more tests, doctors found that there was a small spot on her brain and small spot on her liver. After 6 months of treatment, a PET scan showed that it was all gone except the spot on Tina’s brain. This spot was so small that doctors decided to just leave it alone and keep an eye on it through MRI's. Following this, Tina was declared Cancer free for 1.5 years!!!

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In February 2018, Tina discovered a couple knots under her skin: one in her groin area and one on her back side. After tests, Tina found out that her fight again Cancer was not finished yet. In May 2018, Tina’s oncologist decided to try an immunotherapy with Obdivio and Yervoy, but it made Tina very very ill. Throughout June and July, she was so sick that she, her husband, and two daughters feared that she was going to die. She was bed ridden, sick, & couldn't keep anything down at all, not even water. Tina was hospitalized 3 times from June to August because she was so sick & dehydrated. After another hospitalization, Tina was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and her  treatments stopped because the medicine made her too ill. 

It was finally looking up for Tina around September and October 2018. She finally was feeling better each day a little at a time. In October, Tina’s Oncologist decided to put her back on medicine to combat her tumors because she finally felt better. This medicine is the one that gave Tina and her family hope again for the future. Unfortunately the medicine is slow acting and her insurance no longer covers it. She will now have to pay nearly $4600 each month to continue her fight against cancer. 


Tina can NOT afford to continue treatments now and she needs our help. She is always the first person to offer help when anyone in the community needs it and now she needs our help. Her daughters are 18 and 13 and need their moms love and guidance through their teenage years. Tina’s  husband and daughters need her to be okay. They need her to get this medicine. 

Please consider helping Tina on her fight against Cancer! Together we are stronger