<div>This gofundme appeal is to support our favorite performer, friend, sister, daughter, and dog enthusiast Elizabeth Hayhurst. Elizabeth fought off cancer when she was 11 years old and now she needs our help to fight it off again. As some of you already know, earlier last year Elizabeth was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic melanoma, as the timeline for her becomes more and more unclear it has become more and more difficult, and cancer is very expensive. Elizabeth needs help paying for her treatments and other life expenses.
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<div>Okay so let's get to it.
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<div>In January of last year, Elizabeth had a tumor removed from her ribs, which unfortunately turned out to be malignant. A PET scan revealed multiple hot spots in several places but most importantly one in her lungs where surgery is not an option. A month later, they did another PET scan and the cancer had spread to a total of 6 tumors, 4 of which were now in her lungs. It had become clear that she had stage 4 metastatic melanoma. She was placed on a steady treatment plan of immunotherapy using the drug Keytruda, which has at best slowed the progression but has yet to effectively remove or reduce the size of any of the tumors.
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<div>The adverse effects of immunotherapy can be debilitating with extreme nerve damage,irregular heart beat, thyroid damage, joint and bone pain, difficulty breathing, and crippling fatigue.
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<div>Cancer freakin sucks and the medication can suck almost as much. The next phase of the treatment will involve several CT, PET, and MRI scans during the course of the next few months to a year as well as possibly a new more aggressive immunotherapy or an experimental cell therapy that involves an intrusive biopsy as well as several sessions of chemotherapy. Until she moves to the next phase she is currently taking targeted therapy as a stop gap and timeline extender. Targeted therapy has the same or worse side effects as immunotherapy which are incredibly disruptive to everyday life. The treatment, the scans, dealing with the side effects of the treatment, and general self-care are expensive and challenging. Elizabeth could really use our help relieving the financial strain that has been placed on her.
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<div>Elizabeth means so much to so many people, she has been an active member of the comedy community as a performer, writer, director, and producer for more than ten years. She has made friendships and built strong relationships with many of us even while she had been battling cancer.
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<div>The goal of this fundraiser is to relieve some of the financial burden this horrible disease has placed on Elizabeth and in general increasing her overall quality of life. She has been fighting cancer since she was 11 years old; please help her defeat it once and for all.
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<div>Please contribute anything you can to help Elizabeth now.
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John S

Elizabeth Hayhurst’s fight against cancer.

Still $40,234 to go. Help us build momentum.