Standing with Sarah: A Fierce Fight Against Cancer

Our sister, daughter, granddaughter, niece, and cousin, Sarah Downey, is a 21-year old Providence College student and a future educator. She is a proud after school teacher at the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Providence and a lover of reading, the beach, and quaint cafés. However, recently she has become something else - something no young adult should ever have to become: a cancer patient.

On February 1st of 2024, following an abnormal chest x-ray and months of trying to independently manage severe chest pain, Sarah brought herself to the emergency room, where a CT scan of her chest confirmed a large mass in her mediastinum. Sarah, after spending twenty-seven days across three different hospitals, received an official diagnosis at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. She was not only diagnosed with cancer, but with Angiosarcoma - a rare and aggressive cancer that originates in the blood and lymph vessels and brings with it an unfavorable prognosis.

Due to the aggressive nature of the cancer and the mass’s location in and around the heart, Sarah began chemotherapy immediately after receiving her diagnosis. She continues to undergo chemotherapy at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which will soon be combined with proton radiation therapy at Mass General Hospital. The duration of her treatments is currently uncertain.

We have started this GoFundMe page in order to ease the financial burdens Sarah faces as a result of ongoing medical treatments and doctor appointments, as well as a reduced income. Although Sarah has adequate medical coverage, the medical costs incurred by this illness continue to grow and place an unnecessary burden on Sarah and her single-mother, Elizabeth.

Sarah, aware of the poor prognosis of the disease, maintains a positive outlook, in which she takes each day as it comes. She fights with strength and grace and is determined to live her best life despite the side effects of intensive treatment.

We humbly ask for your support in reducing this burden and, in doing so, giving Sarah the ability to focus on fighting this disease and maintaining the best possible quality of life.

With sincere gratitude,

The Downey, DeSousa, and Medeiros families