A dear friend of the organizer is facing an ongoing cancer battle after being diagnosed with Stage 2 malignant breast cancer nearly a year ago. Before this diagnosis, she had already been living for 16 years with two serious autoimmune diseases. She also carries the loss of both of her parents, who died from cancer when she was in her twenties.

For years, everyday life has required strength and endurance. After the birth of her daughter, she went through a severe flare that lasted for years and still did everything she could to care for her child. Then came months of testing and biopsies, followed by an extremely difficult course of chemotherapy that brought debilitating side effects, severe pain, and days confined to bed. Since then, she has undergone major surgery and a second surgery after doctors found that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. She is now beginning another round of chemotherapy, with radiation still ahead, and will need ongoing medical treatment for the foreseeable future.

Through all of this, she has been unable to work. As a mother, one of her greatest struggles has been trying to care for her daughter and remain emotionally present while battling overwhelming illness and cancer. She has had to navigate the heartbreak of not always having the energy to do the things she wants to do with her daughter, while also trying to protect her from the fear and uncertainty surrounding her health. Her husband has been working 12–16 hour days, seven days a week, doing everything he can to keep their family afloat. But between medical expenses and the ever-increasing cost of simply keeping a household running, they need help.

This fundraiser is to help ease the constant financial pressure on her family as treatment continues. Donations will help cover rent, utilities, groceries, a necessary vehicle payment for her husband's work truck, repairs to their other vehicle, and basic needs for their daughter. Because these are ongoing household expenses, recurring donations can make a meaningful difference by helping her family keep up with monthly essentials through treatment. One-time gifts are also deeply appreciated and will help right away.

If you are able to give or share this fundraiser, your support will help this family stay grounded in the middle of a long and exhausting fight. Every act of kindness matters.