About a month ago, Alison heard the dreaded words no one wants to hear; that the lump that had been growing in her lower abdomen was in fact cancer. On July 30th, Alison had to undergo emergency surgery to remove the growth, not yet knowing for sure what type of cancer she had or how much tissue the surgeons may have to take. Since then, it was confirmed that Alison has an extremely rare type of cancer: Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans, or DFSP. This cancer is so rare (affecting 1 in 100,000- 1 in 1 million people per year), that Alison’s Oncologist recently let her know that she did not feel comfortable treating it herself, and in fact, there are no specialists in Arizona that have treated this type of cancer. Alison’s Oncologist has referred her to MD Anderson in Houston, Texas, to treat this extremely rare cancer. She will have to travel to Houston and stay there for two weeks just to go to her first appointment, to determine how they will move forward in treating her cancer.

As many of you may know, the Mowen family has already been through so much since November of 2018, when Alison had a seizure that would forever change their lives. She has continued to have seizures to this day, and doctors have still not been able to determine the cause. The Mowen family has bravely weathered the storm through Alison’s seizure disorder, and now through her newly diagnosed DFSP cancer diagnosis. As you can imagine, the medical costs they have incurred have been extensive. The costs are only growing as Alison and Dan do everything they can to fight this rare cancer.  We would like to support the Mowens by fundraising for medical assistance, to make sure Alison’s health and recovery is their primary focus.