Stage 4 Cancer, Baby on the Way - One Amazing Fam!

My name is M.C. Rivetti, I am the General Manager of a Massage Envy in Utah. I started this fundraiser as part of a group effort to help Audrey and her family, who are part of our clinic family. The Burries are expecting their second child in July, 2021 - a very happy moment for any young family. While awaiting this new joy to enter their lives, Mark, Audrey's husband, was diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer in April, 2021.

The Burries are made up of Mark, Audrey, Jonathan (6), and a new baby girl due in July, 2021.

Audrey Burrie has been a therapist for many years, helping others feel, and perform, their best. She is an incredibly hard worker and dedicates her time to taking care of others. Her selflessness, dedication, and kindness define her as a person. She is continuing to work a full-time schedule, despite being over 8 months pregnant.

Mark is an attentive and loving father who adores Jonathan and his wife. He is also a dedicated professional, focused on building his career and was going back to school to further that goal. Mark and Audrey are staying positive while Mark fights cancer. Both are continuing to work, Mark doing his best as he fights debilitating fatigue, nausea, neuropathy, pain, as well as all the other struggles that go along with aggressive cancer treatment.

Help us alleviate the financial strain so they can focus on healing and bringing a precious new life into the world! Any donation you make will be sincerely appreciated and go directly to the Burrie family to help pay the expenses of Mark's treatment and, their soon to be, new daughter.


Here is their story in Audrey’s words:

"Hi! We are the Burries - Mark, Audrey and Jonathan. 2020 was a pretty crazy year and like most individuals and families, we were hoping for a positive future going into 2021.

The end of 2020 gave us hope as we were finally able to purchase a house to call our own! Mark had started a new job, within his current company (T-Mobile), Jonathan had started Kindergarten and we found out we were expecting a new addition to our little family of three - a baby girl!

Life was going great so we were hopeful that 2021 would continue to bless us and the first few months did. The pregnancy was progressing as it should, our baby girl continued to grow healthy and strong. Jonathan was excelling in his speech therapy sessions and Mark was heading back to school, enrolling at Colorado Technical University, for business management, with a focus on logistics; thanks to a program through work.

March came and Mark started to feel ill and just wasn't feeling like his normal self. After a visit to our doctor, we were sent in for a CT scan and colonoscopy. The results came back and we were quickly referred to the Utah Cancer Specialists based on those results.

In April, 2021, we had an initial consultation with an oncologist who said he wanted to run even more tests, (a PET scan and liver biopsy), as he was afraid that the previous test results were pointing to a stage IV cancer diagnosis. He let us know that depending on the cancer itself, and if it had spread, that a treatment plan may not be an option. Needless to say we were a little devastated but tried to remain positive and hopeful.

When we met back up with the oncologist, we went in hoping for the best but expecting the worst. The results were in and it was verified that Mark did indeed have Stage IV colorectal cancer. However, the cancer had not spread and because of that, the doctor was optimistic that treatment would be possible and effective but he wanted to start it right away.

Mark is now undergoing chemotherapy and will continue to go through it twice a month for the next 3-4 months. If the chemo works, we can then go ahead with plans for surgery and radiation. Mark has not been a stranger to adversity or medical procedures (he was born with cerebral palsy and has had to undergo several surgeries since birth) but the cancer/chemo has really started to take its toll on him and we have only just begun. Mark has always been a hard worker and always strives to give more than what is expected. He is always the first to offer help when a need arises as that is just the type of person he is.

A little bit about Mark, Jonathan and baby girl:

Mark enjoys being a husband and father. He enjoys spending time with our son playing various games, reading books, and watching Marvel movies. He is a California native so he grew up with a love for anything Disney related (we are a big Disney fan household) and likes to learn and read up on the new and latest tech that is coming out.

Jonathan, just turned 6, and has a speech delay (suspected of having Childhood Apraxia of Speech aka CAS) and undergoes speech therapy during school and then once a week through a private therapist. Other than the speech delay, he is your typical 6 year old crazy, fun-loving boy. He enjoys playing all sorts of games (board, card and Nintendo Switch), putting puzzles together, playing outside at the park (we live in a town home so no real yard to play in), bubbles, anything Mario, Spider-Man, Paw Patrol or cars. He is in this stage of loving to learn anything he can through science experiments and is SUPER excited to be a big brother.

Baby girl will come join our family July 7th via c-section."