Supanna beating Cancer.. AGAIN!

Hello there! We are Gina Rodela and Francia Raisa, two of Supanna Sakhakorn’s best friends. Those of you that know us are already aware that Supanna is battling cancer for the THIRD time.

The three of us have been friends since high school. We’ve been together through thick and thin, through all of life’s ups and downs, supporting each other in everything. If you know her personally, you know that she would do anything she could to help others, often going above and beyond. Now, she needs us to do that for her.

It’s been a really rough past 5 years as she has fought against this awful disease. During this 3rd occurrence, her circumstances have changed dramatically, and she is in need of financial help. The bills are all piling up, and we don’t know when she’ll be able to start working full time - she hasn’t worked since July. We want to help, but we can’t do it alone. Help us help our friend!

The longer story:

It was really scary when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2018, just before her 30th birthday. As her birthday approached, she should have been excited to celebrate this huge milestone in life. Instead she was scheduling a procedure to hopefully help save her life the week before her birthday.

In May of 2018, she underwent her first surgery to remove a lump. In June 2018 she had a second surgery to get clearer margins and then started 24 rounds of radiation in September. What a year to start your 30s, but we all hoped that was the end of her battle with cancer. By the end of the year, she was well enough to take a trip to Paris, her favorite place to be.

In January 2020, after a few weeks of mysterious symptoms, she got confirmation that the cancer had come back. She started 6 months of chemo, followed by 6 more months of continued antibody treatments, going in every three weeks for IV treatments. A double mastectomy was scheduled for June and she underwent another 24 rounds of radiation after healing from surgery. She had planed to spend the summer in Paris, which had to be cancelled (even before COVID shut everything down). Since it was COVID times, she had to spend her treatments days alone in the clinic, and couldn’t have any visitors during her hospital stays.

Reconstructive surgery has to wait until 1 year after radiation ends, so she wasn’t eligible until September of 2021. Due to COVID, all surgeries were back logged, so she didn’t get to have her reconstructive surgery until February of 2022, more than 18 months after her double mastectomy. Still, it was supposed to be the final step in her battle with cancer.

Supanna has been a math teacher since 2011, a job that she loves and that she is SO good at. If you know Supanna, you know her love for France. She has visited multiple times in her life. It’s been a dream of hers to live in France and the opportunity finally presented itself in 2022. She was accepted in May to a program where she would spend a year teaching in France. She spent the next few months preparing her move. She gave her notice at the school where she had been working for over 10 years, gave up the lease on her apartment and transitioned to a more minimalistic lifestyle in preparation for France. This all happened while she was grieving the loss of her wonderful father, who passed away from his own battle with cancer in May, only a week after she found out she’d been accepted to the teaching program.

After a few weeks of (different) mysterious symptoms, in August 2022, she found out the cancer had come back for the third time. This was devastating, since Supanna had spent the last few months preparing to move to France, only to be told she had to immediately cancel her trip and start chemo again, right away. Another 6 rounds of chemo were scheduled, followed by continued antibody treatments (for the rest of her life this time). She had to give up the job in France, and hasn’t been able to work - her doctor has put her on disability for a year. Without a job, she has had to pay for her own health insurance out of pocket. To top off an already challenging year, she was in a car accident in December 2022 (thankfully, nobody was hurt), resulting in the loss of her beloved Mini Cooper. And the driver responsible for the accident fled the scene! All of this, without having a job or any source of income. The bills have piled up, and we don’t know when she’ll be able to start working full time - she hasn’t worked since July 2022. We want to help, but we can’t do it alone. We want to help her pay her bills and get back on her feet. Help us help our friend!