Dayna began her Healthcare career while still in High School. After a few years of working as an STNA, she met her husband Taft. Dayna has two kids Matthew (16), and Caitlyn (13). When Taft met her in 2011 she was very much playing the mother and father roles for the two kids in the absence, and indifference of their father’s. She was supermom, but when Taft joined the effort and life got easier and happier. Shortly after they started dating, she took the opportunity to go for a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) at the age of 24.  With the support of her family and friends she made it through the studying, the clinicals, cramming for tests, and passed the State Nursing Board Test with ease.  A challenging task under normal circumstances but add in to the mix working full time, taking care of two very active kids of her own, a construction worker boyfriend that’s always tired and dirty, and tending to her two nieces across the street while her sister battled her own medical illnesses. 

Her nursing career was always about being the natural caregiver that she is. Anyone who has had a loved one in a care facility had a favorite nurse. Dayna is that Nurse! She has always believed in patient dignity, and a high standard of care regardless of what type of patient it was.  

Many people had an influence on her life but none more than Grandma Nina. Nina pushed her to finish High School, work hard for what she wanted, and to be a good, honest person while doing it. Dayna’s Grandma raised her from age nine until she got her own place after high school. She is currently staying with us while Dayna is undergoing treatment. 

She went back to school again in 2018 for her RN.  We knew it would be a bigger challenge than the LPN course. She would need more time for studying, have more clinicals, and more dedication to her craft.  Towards the end of 2018, she noticed a small painful lump on the side of her left breast. She immediately took the necessary precautions and got a mammogram and scans.  After a biopsy revealed it to be a harmless hemangioma, the doctor suggested a lumpectomy to resolve the issue. She bounced back rather quickly and returned to work and her studies. 

With just over two semesters remaining in her nursing program she noticed the same painful, purple lump on her left breast again. The initial biopsy and scans revealed it be another hemangioma.  This time was different though. They wanted to remove her entire breast as a precaution, but surgery would conflict with the last few weeks of school. So, she finished the semester. The mastectomy went well but the pathology came back several days later as angiosarcoma. A rare, extremely aggressive cancer that is reserved for treatment by sarcoma specialists like Dr. Chen at The James Cancer Hospital in Columbus. The initial prognosis wasn’t too bad… She already had surgery, so chemotherapy started right away.  At this time Dayna had been working part-time to focus on her studies but now she was forced off for treatment. The chemo went pretty well, she even drove herself down and back every week with few difficulties. Chemotherapy was once a week only lasting a couple of hours. Her teachers worked with her schedule to accommodate her treatments. Weeks into chemo, she took her final nursing exam and passed. 

She would need a total of 6 weeks of treatment, 5 days a week beginning January 5, 2021. The last two weeks of radiation were very intense. The pain at the site was a constant companion, but she pushed through to the end. 


With only a few treatments left she noticed a pain on the opposite side, she described it as a pulled muscle at first, she even went to the chiropractor to get it worked out. The pain increased over the course of a week, nothing was helping. After a few trips to the local ER, other concerns arose. Her mastectomy site looked good, but her Liver did not.  While on the way to an outpatient oncology visit at The James she ended up in the ER again. Things took a turn for the worse this time, internal bleeding left her in the hospital for several days, and just when we thought the treatment was complete. She was diagnosed with angiosarcoma of the liver. Cancer had spread.  

It was also during this time that her daughters’ biological father filed for emergency custody of her 13-year-old daughter. 

Dayna has been a fighter all her life even when she wanted a normal life. The family is behind in most of our bills and the most recent traumas will only add to our ever-amassing debt.

It’s unclear how the new area will respond to treatment, but we know that the chemo will be taking a toll on her body and we would like to go on a family vacation as soon as we are able.  She doesn’t really care where just somewhere warm with her loved ones is all.