Support Dani's Cancer Recovery Fund

 

Beloved Friends and my Brilliant Community,

 

On April 2, 2021, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma ( Clinical Stage IIIA T2-T3N1) cancer of the right breast, and since that very moment, life has been blanketed with a tremendous daring love, unyielding terror, and an unfathomed sense of surrender. For many months previous to my diagnosis, I requested testing like a mammogram or ultrasound but I was denied any kind of testing on two occasions, both providers citing my young age. On September 3, 2021, I began the second part of the laborious chemotherapy journey with Taxol, after completing four rounds of dose dense Adriamycin- Cyclophosphamide. As of late, I have found myself in and out of the hospital with weekly chemotherapy infusion, treatment follow-ups, testing, surgeon visits and on top of all of this- I recently survived and fully recovered from Covid-19 in late August. After six rounds of heavy dose dense chemotherapy infusions, I learned a few days ago on October 1, 2021 that the size of the tumor was reflective of and measuring the same size as when I first started treatment, another challenging revelation.

 

For many who know me, I've been present in community- in exploration, in deeping my own commitment to a radical love, and in listening to messages that come from a remembrance far beyond this time. Community has held me, radicalized me, offered devotion, and emboldened belief in a sacred home, one that exists in each other. I am raising funds and calling upon my wider community to support me and this trajectory--contending with cancer amidst spirit beckoning for a gentler existence. This fund will directly support the costs related to: medical bills and out of pocket medical expenses, not covered by insurance; transportation costs for multiple hospital visits per month; medicine and hormonal treatments which will be required for up 10 years after radiation treatment; temporary housing needs during my surgery and recovery, as I am currently traveling more than 7 hours per week for treatments and oncology-related appointments; dynamic healing tools I find critical to my care like, ancestral medicine and practices, supplements and vitamins, plant medicine, acupuncture, body work, individual therapy and other modalities-all of which are not covered by insurance. To date, I have accrued more than $7,500 in personal debt due to hospital, emergency room visits, and medical care. My treatment plan along with chemotherapy (I have completed 5 rounds as of today) include surgery, radiation treatment every week for up to two months, and long-term hormonal treatments over the next 10 years. Navigating the medical industrial complex in itself is taxing, heavy, and burdensome. Doing so while contending with my aliveness is dizzying and dismaying. It's why I am opening myself up and inviting you in as I grapple with my survivorship and the bravery that cancer commands. With your support family and friends, , I know we can move mountains, make life gentler, and bring a bit of ease into the room as I continue my treatment.
 
As a femme WOC who has survived multitudes in my lifetime, I find myself in the toughest stretch of a grueling, yet transformative passageway- every aspect of my physical realm and my spiritual space feel challenged. Cancer has ripped into and crawled into the sweetest of days---at times toppled by grief, dismayed by the piercing nature of chemo, and then chemo’s abhorrent disregard for generative aliveness , creation, and grace in general. It has tried taking what I held dear: my curly tendrils, a gift from my ancestors are no more; my body suspended in time, aching to feel the full breadth of movement once again. And each time that cancer takes, I have learned to meet it with the softness that I and many others deserve. What has gone untouched is my belief in a transformative love, a love that tells me I am intricately bound, connected to, and in existence parallel to you. Every offering on this platform will directly go to ensuring that my medical costs will be covered so that I can fully focus on healing and in generating a stable foundation to rise from. Thank you for your generosity, for believing in me, for bearing witness, for helping my love go on forever in our time.
 
In deep reverence,
 
Dani