Katie's Summarized Journey:

Katie Freeman is currently fighting Serous Cell Carcinoma, a rare and aggressive uterine cancer. She needs your help to help keep her fighting.

Katie was diagnosed at stage 3 and it is currently stage 4. She is currently on chemotherapy after radiation. Some of her tumors are large and although not currently life threatening, require out-of-network doctors and facilities for effective treatment. Specialized treatment has been sought, but insurance has denied coverage. Self-pay options are available, but she has been quoted minimums of $25,000-$30,000 for initial treatments at facilities such as M.D. Anderson in Texas and Mayo Clinic, and $40,000-$60,000 for self-pay at California Proton Therapy for advanced targeted radiation treatment. This does not include costs for continued treatment, travel, and room/board. Katie has several medications which insurance is only partially covering or denying outright, even after appeals submitted by her care team. She is doing her best to follow a health-focused diet, but these nutritional needs are expensive. Katie also requires certain medical equipment to ease her symptoms and improve her quality of life, which, although partially covered by insurance, has been extremely poor in quality. Her husband, Nick, works in law enforcement and has been taking care of her full-time. Their funds are limited, and savings have run out during the fight. Her most recent tests show a slow decrease in tumor size and elimination of cancer in her heart. She needs help so she can keep fighting and win.

Commitment to Transparency:

We understand that any donation is a bond of trust that the funding goes towards its intended purpose of supporting Katie's fight for cancer and her quality of life. We strive to be forthcoming and transparent as possible. Whatever funding is reached we intend on opening up a designated bank account and posting updates of her journey, treatment plan costs, needs, etc. We're asking for $100,000 so we can get the ball rolling for the initial treatment quotes and start scheduling appointments for her. We have referrals out and are in contact with representatives of a few facilities already. Many of these facilities will not schedule appointments if payment is not secured beforehand. We would always hope for more funding, as the more we have, the more option's Katie has for the best care possible to help her win her battle. Every donation, big or small, helps her keep fighting.

Katie likes to post on social media to document her cancer journey, but sometimes forgets her logins and has to remake them losing some content. Were trying to get some accounts restored on Instagram and Facebook. You can follow her current social media here:

Katie's Instagrams

@callokatie1983

https://www.instagram.com/callokatie1983

@vibe.wellness.spa

https://www.instagram.com/vibe.wellness.spa

Katie's Facebooks

https://www.facebook.com/katie.burgess.2025

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61568104130135

Katie's full cancer story is blow. It is long, descriptive, and written with her consent. Here is how the last year has been for her.

We'll start with a little about our family. Katie is 40 years young and a mother of three. Her youngest is her daughter Sadie who is 17 years old and enjoys cooking. Her middle son, Luke, is 20 is a member of the LGBT community and recently married. Her oldest son, Cecil, is 21 and moved back home to help take care of her. Her husband, Nick, works in law enforcement a 90 minute commute away in one of the most dangerous cities in California. She lives in a small 3 bedroom apartment with her husband, son, and daughter who help and support her with her care. She also has 5 cats, four of which are rescues who couldn't find a home, led by a 21 year old cat who brings her much comfort and joy. Katie worked hard to earn her masters degree in psychology so she could help others as a family therapist. She also attained a certification in massage therapy so she could help people heal physically as well as mentally. Before her diagnosis Katie was working with animal rescue's and involved in her community.

The Beginning of the Complication:

Her unfortunate story starts in the beginning of 2024. In the months prior Katie had been making plans at fertility centers as she couldn't have a child naturally anymore and wanted to have a child together with Nick. Nick had worked an abundance of overtime to save up for the costs. They were making plans to go to Colorado and visit a fertility clinic to have a child that year. However, at the beginning of the year Katie started having stronger and more painful periods which were becoming alarmingly close together. She began passing large blood clots during these instances at large volumes. Eventually she was losing approximately 12-24oz of blood at a time every other day making her anemic, disoriented, and very scared. She sought treatment from her OBGYN to find the cause, which was diagnosed as large uterine fibroids growing and degenerating. They of course had to make the choice to postpone their family plans to handle her medical needs first. As treatment options were drafted, she continued to have increasingly painful and worse experiences requiring multiple trips to the emergency room.

Surgery and Heartbreak:

On June 20th Katie was admitted to the emergency room for fibroid pain and excessive bleeding, one day ahead of her surgery date. On June 21st Katie was taken for fibroid removal surgery which she was scared to undertake. The procedure was supposed to be a simple 30 minute operation and Nick would be off for the week to help her heal. She was reassured she would be fine and would be feeling relief in no time. 3 1/2 hours into the 30 minute procedure the Surgeon finally spoke with Nick in the waiting room. It went as wrong as it could have and she nearly died on the table. Katie did not have fibroids, she had an unknown uterine cancer which had grown through her uterus and was trying to wrap to her spine. Emergency surgical teams, including oncology, did what they could with what they had. The bleeding couldn't be stopped, so an emergency partial hysterectomy had to be performed. Due to her critical condition they couldn't remove all of the cancer had to settle with her being stabilized. Nick stayed in the waiting room to be called in to see her wake up as promised, only for a communication error leaving staff to not get him. Katie would awaken in her room, all alone and panicking, and only to find out not only was her fear justified, but she had stage 3 cancer, and she could never have a child again. They were devastated, but had a new problem to face. Katie chose to face it by getting out of the hospital bed that same night and exercise by walking around the hospital wing. Nick would stay by her side in the hospital until she was discharged and would not return to work for months.

The Pathology Report & Oncology Referrals:

Katie now waited for the pathology report to tell them what kind of cancer battle they would be fighting. In the coming days they would learn after being told the biopsy was sent to multiple different cancer centers including to Mayo Clinic, Stanford University, M.D Anderson, and others, that her cancer was indiscernible and possibly clear cell carcinoma. It would take weeks to learn it was actually one of the rarest and most aggressive uterine cancers, Serous cell carcinoma. She had to wait to see an oncologist which would take weeks. Nick would make calls to oncology offices and referral representatives only to be told to wait 3-5 days every 3-5 days, or that the system had an error and Katie would have to wait longer for an appointment settling with one on July 22nd. Meanwhile her cancer was growing at an alarming rate. She would be admitted to the hospital for hemorrhaging, swelling, and urination issues on July 7th. The tumor had already grown so large it had blocked her ureter causing her kidney damage. She had surgery to have a stent placed and would be hospitalized for 5 days. She would return to ER July 19th for more hemorrhaging, swelling, and pain. She was told nothing could be done currently because she needed to see a surgical oncologist first.

A Brutal Month in the Hospital:

On the morning of July 22nd, at around 5:00 am Katie was again hemorrhaging a disturbing amount of blood and in extreme pain. Nick drove her to her new oncologist's hospital in Sacramento to check her into the ER. She would wait in triage like this for 6 hours. While waiting, Nick contacted her surgical oncologist's office located in the same medical plaza across the street, and was told she would miss her appointment and would have to reschedule. This would mean no treatment for her cancer until a new appointment. Outraged, staff was told Katie would instead leave the ER, sit in the office hemorrhaging, and check into the ER after the visit. Staff then agreed to check with the oncologist who ultimately would see her in the ER. Katie would be taken to an ER room where she would wait for hours more. Unfortunately her tumor was now so large it had crushed the stent in her ureter. A catheter was installed for relief, only for the tumor to put so much pressure on her bladder it tried to push the catheter out. Nick had to hold it in place to relieve some pain until it could be removed. She was not provided sufficient pain medication and writhed in agony until she was admitted in the afternoon. Although her team ordered a CT scan and were prepared to help her by the next morning, it would be 2 full days of waiting without treatment. This even concerned her nurses enough to recommended the family go to the hospital directors office themselves should she not be treated by the 3rd day as it was becoming more and more life threatening. Fortunately in the next morning she was scanned and her operations began. Katie received a nephrostomy bag in her kidney to divert urine. She also received an embolization of her uterine cavity to stop the hemorrhaging.

She then needed a PET scan, but because it was scheduled at home they refused to allow her to make the appointment as an inpatient. Nick contacted each entity in person multiple times to get the communication across and get the appointments scheduled promptly. After Katie's PET scan she was given her chemotherapy and 4 hits of radiation in the same week. She unfortunately fell one morning on a wet floor, caused her mobility to decline for the rest of the stay. This, with the medications and treatment would cause her to become bed ridden and unable to care of any of her basic needs. This in turn caused blood clots, infections and their own complications. During this time of extra needed care it was believed her colon and bladder could possibly be compromised with cancer fistulizations, requiring her to have a pre-emptive colostomy surgery. Different Hospitalists had different outlooks, some wanting discharge before she was free of all issues, and others wanting more observation. Nick was able to have the doctors keep her until she was comfortably stable, she was discharged on August 8th.

Back Home & Initial Treatment Results.

After discharge Katie was given 4x more doses of radiation and began chemotherapy. Her referrals for an oncologist were repeatedly delayed and she was made to see the hospital oncologist by default 45 minutes away. This caused Katie discomfort and stress, as her chemo was postponed for seemingly arbitrary reasons without much thought or evaluation (Merely coughing once on video call resulting in her chemo being delayed) This ultimately resulted in the networks oncology supervisor for northern California being contacted. This resulted in an expedited referral to her current oncologist. Katie's colostomy took several weeks to get the hang of with much tribulation. Her medications also became troublesome as since they changed so often, pharmacists started denying her medications. Katie's prognosis was good however, with the tumor shrinking 50% with the initial treatment and beginning to die. An abscess drain was installed giving her a third bag to live with. Unfortunately during this hospital stay her first rescue cat, Luna, passed away. Katie would return home once again devastated, but persevering with her treatment. She continued with her chemotherapy and would develop severe neuropathy in her arms, legs, hands, and feet which have improved but still persist today.

Treatment roller coaster:

Katie continued her treatments, being postponed for chemo half of the time causing her concern. However she was showing progress with the removal of the ureter stent, removal of her nephrostomy bag, and removal of her abscess bag. She was told during a visit that her shrinking tumor, once believed Unresectable, was doing well and she would be evaluated for surgery. However her luck would turn as the cancer metastasized to a single lymph node. Katie was told she would not have surgery now, and they would not be trying to target the lymph node with radiation nor removing it. This was flabbergasting. During her 5th Chemo cycle Katie had an allergic reaction to her chemotherapy, resulting in being taken off that chemo and placed on Levatinb. This raised her blood pressure significantly and caused her bone pain. She was now on so many pain medications she developed jittering. During this time she began to suffer from a hernia around the colostomy site. Although she was told it was reversible when it was placed, and no longer necessary through updated scans showing the area was never actually fistulated, her surgical oncologist was unwilling to correct it nor the hernia. This caused Katie extreme grief. We continued treatment through December where she took another PET scan and did not get back the results. Knowing this was bad, her family waited for impending poor news. The treatment was ineffective, multiple lymph nodes were effected, and there now spots showing in her liver, abdominal wall, and a small spot in her lungs. We again pressured her doctors for targeted treatment on these areas, especially the lungs, but were again denied. Katie was told she would be told when to worry and they did not need to hit her with hard treatment just yet. It seemed Katie had continued to work hard to stay physically healthy preparing for a rough treatment her doctors would hesitate to give her. Without the funding to hire a private doctor, Katie had to either keep her current team, or stop treatment and wait on other referrals. We applied for second opinions and hoped for the best.

Clinical Trial:

After a scan showing the Lenvatib was only slowing and not stopping the cancer, Katie was told there was a new phase 2 clinical trial she could pursue. She would have to be off treatment for 6 weeks to qualify, which was a tough choice. She was set up for radiation and chemo for March 4th. On March 3rd she was accepted entered into the trial and began treatment on March 6th. She would not be allowed to have chemo or radiation while on this trial. Katie was excited and celebrated with her family to an old family vacation spot, the first trip in a long while. She felt great on the medication and continued to stay active and eat healthy. She had partial complications and felt lumps under the hernia on her stomach. Her new Clinical Trial Doctor told her it was a combination of the hernia and blood clot. This concerned her but she continued with the trial until week 6 when she had another scan with more bad news. The trial had failed, and the bulges on her stomach were not from the hernia or blood clots, they too were cancer. To add insult to injury, a new object appeared on her heart. Once again we were devastated. Now she had effectively been off chemo and radiation treatment for 3 months of time. Misinformation and hesitation from her care team saw her begin to lose hope.

Back to Chemo and Radiation:

Katie felt more and more that her doctors had pre-determined her survival back in June and weren't interested in fighting as hard as she wanted. Unfortunately, we were not able to travel to other facilities for specialized treatment due to insurance denials and finances. We would be told we had to attempt certain treatments before she could be referred anywhere else, which never came to fruition when the time came. The costs of this battle had been high, and with Nick taking care of Katie around the clock and not being able to work overtime, their savings had run dry. Fortunately, her care team now seemed to be on board with a more aggressive treatment. Katie would be doing chemo 1x a week for 3x weeks and be receiving a round of radiation for her heart to knock that problem out. We have already contacted a specialized radiation facility at California Protons Cancer Therapy Center, and reached out to Sutter's Mills-Peninsula Medical Center regarding their new ION robotic bronchoscopy platform for treatment of lung cancers which her doctors approved for her referral. We have also been advised by a second opinion Katie's hernia and colostomy can be repaired, she just needs to have the cancer shrink enough to do it.

Partners duties and transition to caregiver:

Nick stayed the entire duration for all of her hospital stays, going home to check in as often as he could. As nursing staff was overworked, he would do what he could to help her comfort and care. He would start at 7am updating the nurses and doctors of Katie's condition and habits from the day before. He would cataloging all issues, health changes, input and output of meals and fluids with dates, times, and measurements so she could receive effective next steps of care. He would spend any free time between doctors scheduling her expected appointments. He would assist her with eating her meals at 7am, noon, and 6pm, and any periods after when she became hungry or thirsty. When possible he would walk to the nearby store for any items Katie needed, and update friends and family daily. He would care for her until 2-3am when her last medications were given. Then sleep in a chair and start again the next day at 6am.

When home Nick spends the day scheduling her appointments, and taking care of the family and managing the household. Nick helps with transportation to all of her appointments ranging from Auburn to San Francisco. He has done countless hours of research to properly adjust her diet and supplement needs as her condition transforms. This stress has caused medical issues for Nick with anxiety, sleep, stress ulcers and other issues requiring his own surgery and prescription medications for treatment.

Family, Friends and Law Enforcement Agency support:

Family friends would make visits, bring supplies, and make time for her. When she was back home they would take Katie out for an evening so she could feel normal. Katie reconnected with God and her old church who helped with emotional support and a few meals after her long hospitalization. Nick would update his work and supervisors with detailed updates, and asked them to share the details to his coworkers in a plea for support. He also asked for resources and support services he believed to be available. He would learn his families situation was not shared as asked. He would also learn during this time that certain assumed benefits were limited or incorrect and experienced a disorganization of information for not only himself, but other coworkers as well.

With the exception of a few specific people, and some of Nicks team mates and coworkers which showed support with a doordash card, flowers and a generous amount of sick-time donations, support was limited. Although the line level was supportive, there was little to no family atmosphere or assistance at the administrative level. This included denying a request for assistance and support with making an early GoFundMe, nor any other crowdfunding, donations, promotions, or outreach. There are several assistance programs targeted towards law enforcement, however many are unfortunately only able to assist direct members and not family members. Many are also limited in their ability to donate. CALEA, for instance, advised they could only help if Nick went on a psychological medical leave to pay bills for up to 3 months.

Katie's fighting spirit:

Throughout this process Katie has done her best to be positive and involve herself in the community. She rediscovered God and began attending church when she could. Katie has continued her work as a therapist to help others. She started a massage business with a friend and continued to massage clients throughout her own treatment. She makes cancer positive Instagram reels and posts about her struggles with messages of hope and strength. Katie's story is unfortunate and long. It was told in its entirety others could see how rough her road has been and how hard she has fought. She has been through more than her fair share of heartache during her battle with cancer, getting nearly every negative side effect possible. But she is strong and continues to fight on, doing everything she can to keep herself healthy and fit for her treatments. I work in one of the most dangerous professions in one of the most violent cities in California and there is no doubt in my mind that Katie is a tougher fighter with a stronger spirit than me.

When asked by Doctors to try and do the minimum, she would instead strive for above and beyond. When her neuropathy caused her to lose feeling in her arms and legs she continued to push herself to adapt and be independent. When asked to do the physical minimum of in-bed physical therapy. She instead would walk 2 miles a day, hit the gym, and stubbornly do whatever she could around the house (even when told not to). When asked to eat only what she could keep down, she changed her entire diet and battled nausea, taste changes, and food aversions to keep her nutrition healthy. When treated like a standard care patient, Katie instead did everything she could to show she was a stronger deviation and was ready for a hard fight. Unfortunately it seemed at every opportunity luck would not be on her side, weather it be misdiagnosis, an unbelieving doctor, or just her odds being against her. I know she has what it takes to survive. The cancer was nearly beaten already, and as of her last scans, the spot on her heart has disappeared and her tumors feel smaller. She just needs some support to get some specialized treatment to help her across the finish line.