[[09/03/2024 UPDATE: Medical woes continue. Days of non-stop vomiting led to an emergency flight to Boston, ERs in 2 countries (Ontario and MA), and now the urgent need for a combined surgery on my esophagus & stomach. I was denied Social Security Disability at the end of 2023 and have re-applied with disability attorneys' assistance. My financial situation is beyond dire. Any assistance -- financially, or to share my story -- is greatly welcomed.]]

{{08/01/2023 UPDATE: 6mo follow-up imaging last month found that I need TWO additional surgeries. Any assistance is greatly appreciated! I applied for Social Security Disability in 07/2020 and am STILL waiting for a determination.}}

First off:  THANK YOU for visiting my GoFundMe page. This in and of itself means so much to me, that you are investing your time to learn about my situation. If you want to skip my whole background story, jump down to My Breast Cancer Story to read how you can help. 

Long story short: I have a life-threatening autoimmune disease (AAG), I got aggressive breast cancer, I exhausted savings, & I STILL cannot afford my treatment for the ravages of cancer on my body and my numerous other medical ailments.

Now, I am humbly asking for your help to CONTINUE to survive - with even more new procedures, tests, medications, & surgeries!

Hi! I'm Laura (also known as Sam or Sammi). I have stage 3, grade 3 aggressive invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer. And I need your help to afford to live.

As the saying goes, "Here's a little bit about why I need your help now..."

On May 17, 2017, I was diagnosed at Johns Hopkins with an incredibly rare autoimmune disease where my immune system attacks and kills the nerves of my internal organs. At that point, it had led to almost the complete loss of my GI functioning from stomach to...well, the other end.

My neurogastroenterologist looked me in the eye and said, "You likely only have 12 months left to live."

We were afraid my disease would spread to my lungs and heart. Three years later, it still hasn't. But it certainly turned my life upside down.

After the diagnosis, my husband divorced me, saying, "I don't want to watch you die." Due to the severity of my symptoms, I had to withdraw from my residency. I spent the next 2 years in a deep depression. I had lost my marriage, my residency, my apartment, my health, my income, my savings, my career trajectory, and my will to live.

I was denied disability due to the fact that they hadn't heard of this very rare disease. 

~*~MY BREAST CANCER STORY~*~

In 2019, I decided to try again. To fight to get my life back. That autumn, I reapplied to residency. I spent all of January 2020 traveling around the country for interviews, and I was thrilled to match at my #1 site.

Three years after my diagnosis, in June 2020, I moved to Milwaukee by myself to begin my residency (specializing in oncology) at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

The day after I moved into my duplex, I discovered a hard mass in my left breast in the middle of the night. I was terrified.

The mass in my breast had literally grown in a matter of hours.

I spent the next 2 weeks undergoing mammography, ultrasounds, biopsies of my tumor and lymph nodes, discovering a second lump in my right breast. All by myself, alone, in Milwaukee, over a thousand miles from my parents back home in Massachusetts. Doctor after doctor, procedure and imaging, all by myself in the days leading up to the start of my residency.

My residency at MCW started on Wednesday, July 1st.

I was diagnosed with aggressive IDC breast cancer the next morning.

I knew it was cancer when the doctor's first words upon receiving the pathology results: "Who do you have here to support you?"

Me: "No one. I moved here by myself."

The cancer was so aggressive and the tumor so large (10cm x 10cm x 9cm) that I had my port surgically implanted and started chemotherapy only 7 working days after my diagnosis.

Read that again.

My team SCRAMBLED for fear this aggressive cancer would metastasize that quickly.

I spent the next 5 months receiving chemotherapy treatment.

The next night after my diagnosis, I dreamt that the chemo would be a Goblin Army, with goblins (some riding hyenas!) rampaging through my body intent on destroying my cancer, but of course killing my sheep and burning my villages and damaging my crops along the way. My friends and family all joined my Goblin Army to help me fight.

I'm asking for your help. Will you join my Goblin Army so I can afford the fight?

On December 11th, I underwent a complete mastectomy of the left breast. In February of 2021, I started daily radiation treatment.

I've been back on chemotherapy since April 2021.

But I cannot afford any of it. My treatments have bankrupted me, and I need your help. My Goblin Army has a lot of fighting left to do, as my cancer and cancer treatments have interacted with my autoimmune disease, making my life a lot harder...and more expensive.

Because of the need for me to start aggressive cancer treatment, I had to withdraw from my residency. I've been unemployed and, again, I was denied social security disability (thrice!). I could really use your help.

Please, please consider donating to help me fight and defeat my cancer. Any amount helps.

If you've read this far, THANK YOU.

Only 6 months separate these two photos, but I feel like years of life experiences separate them as well:

Thank you, my Goblin Army friends. Help me fight the good fight. And please, if you can, help me share my plea. I'm only one woman, shouting into the darkness at times.

I need you and your help.

With eternal gratitude,

Laura