Support Amy’s PHight Against Breast Cancer

Hi , thanks for stopping by! I’m so glad you could join me.

My name is Nora and I am here to tell you a little story that some of you may know already, but if not, buckle up…

On March 22, 2023 my best friend Amy was diagnosed with a rare, chronic, progressive, and life changing cardiovascular disease called Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH). If you wanna know more click here: Amy’s LinkTree. This landed her in the ICU for aggressive treatment due to the severity of her PAH. The course of treatment required her to be placed on a pump with continuous medication that she received through a port in her chest.

I know! That’s a lot! But that’s not why we’re here.

This forced her to cut back her hours at work, now only allowing her to work 4 hours a day, 4 days a week and requires her to be on supplemental oxygen part-time.

Fast forward to a change in pumps from an IV pump to a SubQ pump, to a combination of medications taken daily because of severe contact dermatitis (which required another hospital stay), to a divorce (currently still in the process), to a diagnosis of an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) which is a type of heart defect, to genetic testing which led to a SOX17 gene linking the ASD and PAH. That means Amy was born with both and it was only missed for 34 years!

Are you tired yet? I am, imagine how Amy’s feeling ‍

I won’t bore you with any more of the medical mumbo jumbo. If you’re interested in Amy’s whole journey you can follow her at the links below.

Surprisingly that’s not why we’re here either.

That brings us (in warp speed) to now. On September 13th, 2024 Amy was diagnosed with a Grade 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) stage 2b. I swear, you can’t make this stuff up.

In case you’re unfamiliar with those fun words I used up there, they mean my best friend was just diagnosed with Breast Cancer. This October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month) has hit a little differently.

After countless doctor’s appointments (and waiting room wiggles, literally just the beginning) there is finally a plan in place. One we hope will leave Amy cancer free. Starting October 22nd she will begin both chemotherapy and hormone-therapy treatments. These treatments will last 12 weeks during which she’ll need to commute to and from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Chestnut Hill every week for 4 to 6 hours. Hopefully this will shrink her tumor to allow for a lumpectomy or mastectomy sometime in February 2025.

Now that you’re all caught up we can get to the reason I’ve gathered you all here. As you can imagine, Amy has to take time off of work for both her treatments and then the surgery that will follow. This will create a huge financial burden on her (as if being diagnosed with cancer after her ASD AND PAH diagnosis wasn’t enough, right?)

Amy is a single mom to an almost 12 year old, and has no other source of income, so money is already tight, right? (Remember I mentioned the divorce) Now she’s going to have to take more time off for weekly treatments and subsequent surgery (OH and the treatment that will follow post surgery, can’t forget that too.) We’re looking to help take some of the financial burden off of her so she can focus on her fight. Any size donation will be helpful in ensuring that she and her son are taken care of financially while she’s off of work. The money will go towards gas to and from treatment, as well as other medical necessities that may not be covered under insurance, and to paying bills while she’s out of work. Any money left over will be placed into a trust for her son.

If you wish to make donations directly to Amy she has both PayPal and Venmo.

PayPal: @amjmachado

Venmo: @Amy-Kefalas

Amy has also been documenting her journey on both TikTok at AmysPHight and Instagram at amysphight please feel free to join in her fight!!

We’re fighting this till the end