Hello there and thank you for taking the time to read my story... My name is Kelley Gardiner, I'm now 46 and a mother of 4 children. I've always been a hard worker and have always been on the go non-stop. That is until 2022. I just knew something was off with me. I would get tired quickly, my body ached, I craved sweets, which wasn't normal for me. And then it happened, I found a large lump in my left breast! It appeared out of nowhere in April while my family and I were on vacation. I called my doctor and scheduled an appointment for when we got back home. By that time, we couldn't find the lump, it was gone! He thought maybe it was due to hormones and my cycle. It made sense... until it came back again in October and never went away... (I want to add that I had a mammogram in February of 2022 with no findings.) I went for an ultrasound, and it was decided that I needed a biopsy. I had it done the day before Thanksgiving 2022. The day after Thanksgiving, I received a call from a doctor. She explained to me that the results came back, and it was positive for Invasive Lobular Carcinoma, stage 1, grade 1. I was in shock! My mother had breast cancer, and hers metastasized to her stomach and ultimately took her life. I didn't know how to feel. I just knew I had to stay strong for my children. The following week I met with the oncology team, we went over a plan, and I decided to have a bilateral mastectomy. Due to my family history, I wanted to be aggressive and get ahead of this thing! I had my surgery on January 31st of 2023, everything went well, it was nearly an 8-hour surgery. When I awoke and the surgeon came in, he had a few other people with him. I assumed this was just normal. It wasn't... He explained to me that the cancer was also in 18 of 22 lymph nodes they removed! This changed everything, I went under stage 1, and awoke stage 3b Now before I wasn't going to need chemotherapy, this changed everything now. I needed chemotherapy, radiation, and I needed to be on hormone blockers for the rest of my life. I made it through chemotherapy, it was tough at times but I did it! I also made it through radiation, which was tough halfway through, I took a week off to heal some (my skin was raw) and then came back and finished it up. I was on hormone therapy and tamoxifen since I was done with chemotherapy. I decided that I wanted a hysterectomy, due to having hormone-positive cancer, and I was done having children, I would be proactive about this. I had my hysterectomy on June 19th, 2024. Now I had a bone scan and a CT scan in March, which came back clear (yay). So imagine how surprised I was when I got the call that the lobular cancer was everywhere in my cervix, ovaries, fallopian tubes, etc. Bam, stage 4 now I then was able to get a PET scan, which I begged for after my chemotherapy, but was denied over and over. We are now watching some spots on my spine. I'm on a chemo pill I take twice a day, and I'm still on hormone therapy. The exemestane (hormone blocker) causes me aching pains constantly, it's horrible. And the Verzenio causes a whole host of things, thinning hair, memory loss, vision changes, vomiting, major fatigue, and also can cause pain. I also get bloodwork done every two weeks and I'm neutropenic (low white blood cell counts) which means I'm more vulnerable to getting sick I haven't been able to work, it's nearly impossible. I do not like to ask for help, but I feel this time it's necessary. I appreciate you all, even if you cannot donate, please pray for me and my children and share this if possible. May God bless you and your loved ones and thanks again for listening to my story.