Support Mellissa (Masha's) Fight Against Breast Cancer

Hello my name is Anthony. When you hear the words "You have cancer", your entire world changes in an instant. As cliché as it sounds, it's true. I had never dreamed that at 45 years old, my wife, my best friend, and all around great human being would be having to fight against breast cancer. As soon as we heard the words, we both began to fear the worst. But this is more her story than mine to tell.

Hello everyone, I'm Mellissa (nickname Masha) and I'm 45 years old. I wrote this to share my story and gather support during this challenging time.

I was diagnosed with a very aggressive breast cancer plus HER2-positive in May of this year. My oncologist is currently ordering a PET scan as he believes based off of the tumors sizes from May to now June growing rapidly that im possibly dealing metastatic breast cancer and at least one confirmed metastatic lymph node. I will find out what stage I am at with that and additional testing.

I’m a private person and independent, but this illness has made me realize I can’t do it alone. So I'm humbly reaching out to family, friends and hopefully kind strangers for help in my battle against breast cancer.

I'm not able to work right now due to blurred vision , other side side effects of my current prescriptions and rapidly upcoming medical treatments and surgeries. My husband is disabled and is on very limited income. The impact on my life has been overwhelming. I’m already simplifying my life to absolutely just the bare essentials, but I need help to get through the next six months or more of treatment and surgeries. My insurance is limited on what it covers in regards to chemotherapy, immunotherapy, surgeries and everything I need to stay physically strong, comfortable, healthy and to fight this. I've looked at different foundations for financial assistance but they are not taking applications currently, but hopefully later this year. With the cost of living, cost of food and gas not including supplies needed at home and at chemotherapy it's overwhelming even with help from my family and friends.

This fundraiser is to help cover my living expenses during treatments and recovery until I can work again. These expenses include potentially housing costs( depending on where my surgeries happen vs where I live), cleaning supplies, cell phone, internet, car-related or transportation to treatment costs, food, possibly delivery services, supplements, medical bills, medical supplies and other treatment-related costs not included in my insurance coverage. As I'm just about to start treatments, many medical expenses remain unknown, and I will update everyone as I learn more. I need focus on recovery without the added stress of mounting bills and costs or going without something I can't afford that can help me in this battle.

As of now I will have my chemotherapy port put in on June 20th. I start chemotherapy and immunotherapy on June 24th. Immunotherapy might shrink the tumors, and there are several targeted drug therapies for this specific type of cancer, which gives me reason to be very hopeful. Though I do not yet know which, if any, additional therapies might be in my future. I was advised of a double masectomy and hopefully reconstruction by my oncologist.

Despite so many uncertainties in my future I remain extremely hopeful. I feel blessed to have an amazing family, loving friends and great medical staff so far in my corner, and I’m determined to do everything I can to beat this cancer. My goal is to get back to the work, get outside more, spend time with my family and friends, and visit my Mom and Stepdad who are 2,600 miles away in Tennessee. All of these reasons remind me that I can’t give up. I have something worth fighting for, My life. This is worth fighting for.

Update: Masha has finished first round of chemo, but has been getting infusions for the last few days. Nurses are concerned she might have an infection or a virus, but we'll find out soon on that. Thanks again for all who donated.