Support Olesya & Her Family in Overcoming Lymphoma

What should have been the most joyous periods of their lives, following the birth of their third daughter Ava, Olesya and her family are facing yet another heart-wrenching challenge with her lymphoma diagnosis. This period was made even more challenging by the fact that less than a year ago, she lost her father to colon cancer. Although he was only 57, we are grateful that he lived the joy of walking both daughters down the aisle and had the chance to play with his beautiful grandkids. Olesya, a young mother of three beautiful girls, now confronts the harshness of cancer once again, having to put her life and time with her children on hold as she battles through this unimaginable reality. Per her oncologist, the prognosis is good, but the journey is very individual to everyone and not without some level of risk and uncertainty.

We ask friends, family, and our community to pray for her recovery and help support her young family in their time of need. Your donations will help ease the medical and living expenses burden, allowing Olesya to focus on healing and her family.

In creating this GoFundMe, I asked Olesya to share her story. Below is her experience recounted in her own words.

"In April of 2023, colon cancer took my father away from me. That month, as I was mourning his loss, I found out I was pregnant with a new life, a baby girl. It truly helped lift my spirits as I believed it was a gift from him, as I still do. Unfortunately, as soon as I was pregnant, I became sick and had been ill throughout my entire pregnancy. I was a mother of 2 children at the time and always had the positive mindset that kids always bring home germs, and I keep catching colds/flu/ viruses from them. My luck.

I always had a cough, a heavy feeling in my chest, shortness of breath, and the feeling of water in my lungs. Being a wife, full-time mother of two girls ages 6 and 3, a nurse working full time in the hospital plus pregnant, I always blamed those symptoms on pregnancy and just kept pushing through. I didn't have time to get checked, and my OB visits were fine. My mother, however, didn't feel that way and eventually forced me to go to the doctor.

In 2021, my younger sister Julia was pregnant with her son when she developed such symptoms, and the unfortunate truth is at about six months pregnant, she got diagnosed with Large B Cell Mediastinal Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She had to go through chemotherapy treatments during her pregnancy. It was a scary and stressful experience for the entire family. So, every time my mother heard me cough, it brought her back to when my sister was pregnant and coughing, and it scared her. So she kept insisting I go to the doctor.

I was put on antibiotics, thinking it was an infection, and was sent to the pulmonologist just in case. In December, the pulmonologist saw me and said I sounded clear, my coughing was from post-nasal drip, and everything was fine. At this point, I was already around 33 weeks pregnant and still feeling these symptoms, but really blaming them all on the pregnancy now.

At approximately 34 weeks, my OB had me go out on medical leave and on bed rest due to premature contractions. I delivered my daughter Ava on January 13, 2024. She was 7lb 8oz of cuteness, and my plan was to breastfeed, bond with my baby, and forget about the terrible year of 2023.

It was a rough 5 weeks. Ava wasn't gaining weight; she was jaundiced, and I could not understand how this was happening. I didn't have this complication with my other 2 children. She turned 4 weeks old, and on top of her issues, I now developed a fever of 103.5 Every day that passed, I kept thinking, "I got the flu from the girls; they just had it 2 weeks ago". Every day, this fever stayed strong, anywhere from 102.7-103.5'F.

On day 8 of the fever, my mother forced me to go to urgent care. I went that evening, and urgent care tried to send me to the hospital via ambulance because my ECG was abnormal, my heart rate was 138 with the feeling of palpitations, and no Covid or flu was detected. I couldn't leave my baby; I was breastfeeding her. I needed to make sure she had food and would be ok. I told urgent care I would go home to settle my children's childcare, and my husband would take me to the hospital the next morning. I pumped through the night and the morning in preparation to go to the hospital, thinking I had pneumonia. I thought I would spend about 6-8 hours in the ER the next day and be home in the evening.

On February 18, I went to the ER with shortness of breath, palpitations, a heart rate of 140, difficulty breathing, and swelling in my face around my neck and clavicular areas. Several diagnostic exams, tests, and bloodwork were performed. I was told I have a cardiac tamponade that needed to be drained immediately, fluid around my lung that needed to be drained, and a right mediastinal mass on my lung measuring 10cm x 9cm which was also encapsulating my superior vena cava and brachiocephalic arteries which was most likely cancerous.

I was sent in an ambulance to a second hospital, where the cardiac tamponade drainage was performed almost immediately. In interventional radiology, they removed 500ml of bloody fluid and left a drain that removed approximately another liter of fluid over the next few days. The next day, they did a Thoracentesis on my right lung and removed almost a liter of fluid from there. My heart rate stayed in the mid 130's-160's, depending on my activity level. Among many more tests, blood work, and scans, a biopsy was done on my lymph node, which confirmed my diagnosis. I had Classical Hodgkin's Lymphoma stage 2B. I spent 4 days in the Cardiac ICU, 1 week on the Telemetry unit and 5 days on the oncology unit where I received my first Chemotherapy treatment. I was unable to see my children, I was told I must stop breastfeeding, and I was missing my newborn baby growing up. It was one of the most difficult 16 days of my life.

I was finally discharged on March 4. I had a port placement a week later, and now I'm continuing through this new, unknown journey.

I have come to the realization that many pregnant and post-partum mothers get diagnosed with some type of Hodgkin's/ non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Please don't blame all symptoms on pregnancy. Listen to your body if it is telling you something. As mothers, we quickly push aside our needs to tend to our children. We must take care of ourselves to be there for them."

We deeply appreciate every share, prayer, and donation as Olesya's family navigates this profoundly challenging journey.

Thank you.