Support Sara Boyle's Battle Against Stage 4 Cancer

Dear friends and family,

Our dearest sister, Sara Boyle, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer. To say our family is devastated by the news would be an understatement.

If you have the pleasure of knowing Sara, you know she’s an incredible mother to 5 wonderful kiddos; Elijah (17), Ella (15), Eben (14), Isaiah (10), and Ben (10). She is a steadfast, encouraging, and loving wife to her husband, Dan. They just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary this month. She is the oldest of 7 sisters, and we all rely on her selfless advice and example regularly. Sara is a teacher and loves making learning come alive for her students, especially in her science classroom. She is also a reliable, encouraging, and loyal friend. She is always one call away and willing to lend an ear or help out, even with an already full schedule.

Over the past year, Sara started experiencing gastrointestinal issues. After multiple consultations, tests, procedures, and misdiagnoses, the doctors finally discovered a stricture in her colon. She tried all of the non-surgical options, like medication and elimination diets, but came to the conclusion with her doctors that surgery to remove the damaged section of her colon was necessary.

During her month-long wait for her surgery to take place in mid-August, Sara's gastrointestinal issues intensified. Her doctors were unable to provide any additional solutions. She was on a liquid-only diet for weeks, but said she felt like she was carrying a bowling ball around in her belly. After a few days of intense pain, Sara went to the ER to seek additional solutions and testing. During her hospitalization, doctors found multiple masses in her abdomen that weren't visible on her CT scans from 6 months prior. We were all holding out hope that they were benign cysts, but it wasn’t looking that way.

On July 23rd, Sara underwent major surgery to remove the masses and address the colon stricture. Due to what the doctors found before and during surgery, they ended up doing a complete hysterectomy, removing her appendix and several lymph nodes. One of the tumors they removed from her abdomen was almost seven inches in width. Sara was in the hospital for 2 weeks for surgery and then recovery. On the day she was able to go home, the hospital team called with her pathology results and confirmed it was indeed cancer, and it was aggressive. The cancer is Adenocarcinoma, and she has stage 4 since the cancer has already metastasized to multiple organs.

Sara is home with family, recovering from surgery and working to rebuild her strength. In order for her body to make it through the expected upcoming chemotherapy treatments, she will need to fully recover from her surgery first. We are now awaiting PET scan results to determine the extent of additional cancer and possible treatment options. We know the road ahead will be incredibly challenging, but we are leaning on the Lord, friends, family, and holding onto hope.

To everyone who has reached out and offered support in the form of prayers, meals, babysitting, encouraging notes, scriptures, and tuition assistance, we are so grateful! We have all been blessed by the outpouring of love from personal friends, extended family, neighbors, fellow homeschoolers, current and prior church family, and her Co-op and CHA Community.

Please continue to pray for complete healing, strength, and peace for Sara, Dan, and their kiddos. We have seen God work in miraculous ways before and are praying for the miracle of healing for her body. If you feel led to support them financially, your gift will help ease the burden of medical expenses, additional family costs, and lost income from both Sara and Dan. Our goal is to raise $20,000 to support the Boyle family during this life-changing time. We are hoping to get them through the next few months focused on their family and Sara’s upcoming treatments.

Sara has an appointment with the Oncology team at Johns Hopkins this Friday, where hopefully they will walk away with PET scan results, a treatment plan, and a prognosis.

Thank you all for your prayers and generosity.

With gratitude,

Sara’s Sisters & Family