Tracy's Breast Cancer Battle

I am writing to you all for support, love, prayers and financial assistance for our family member Tracy Mason. She has suffered from life-threatening diseases since birth, but her most recent diagnosis with a very rare and highly invasive form of cancer has tested limits.

 

For two-plus years, Tracy has been suffering from Invasive Pleomorphic Lobular Carcinoma (PLC), an aggressive form of breast cancer usually not found in women under age 65. As a result, she received a double mastectomy, reconstruction surgery, numerous rounds of radiation, and contoured chemotherapy.

 

On top of that, she is dealing with a muscle-wasting disease called Chemo Induced Potassium Wasting Syndrome, which pushes her to be mobile enough to get potassium infusions five days a week, Monday through Friday, at the University of Kansas Medical Hospital.

 

Alongside her cancer journey, she has been a long-time sufferer of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), a degenerative nerve disease that affects her muscles and results in difficulty walking and foot deformities. Through the process of that diagnosis alone, she has dealt with countless surgeries and infections due to her condition.

 

Currently, at her home, where her mom is the caretaker, she does not have access to a bathroom with a shower and using the stairs to get to her treatments at KU has provided its serious challenges.

 

We are asking for donations so Tracy can build a handicap-accessible bathroom (and potentially a chairlift) so she can feel more comfortable being independent.

 

As most of you know, to say that Tracy is a fighter would be a significant understatement. Her plan of attack has always been “whatever it takes.” While fighting her multiple diseases, she is helping others in the same situations by participating in a Patient and Investigator Voices Organizing Together (PIVOT) program. It is a program where cancer patients, co-survivors and researchers work together to design research that may lead to improved treatments and therapies. The University of Kansas Cancer Center is one of the few such cancer

center patient research advocacy initiatives in the country,

and Tracy’s feedback has helped guide the doctor’s research.

 

Asking for help is never easy, but our goal with this fundraiser is to alleviate the burden of not having handicap accessibility at home for Tracy.

 

A donation, re-share, or even good thoughts and prayers go a long way!

 

We appreciate any help you can provide!