Hi, my name is Crystal and I'm raising money to help my cousin Heather and her family with the financial struggles they will soon face as she fights cancer for the second time in her short life. Heather is a wife and mother of 5 exceptional children, one of which has a rare chromosome disorder called Ring 14. To say she has her hands full is an understatement. Finding the words to say has not been easy, so the best way I could put her and her family's situation and needs into words are to post Heather's own words. Heather made a post when she bravely told everyone her diagnosis.

This has been one of the hardest weeks of our lives and one of my biggest fears has come true. I don't even want to type this but I'm just going to go for it. My cancer has returned and this time it has spread to my skull, femur, T9 vertebre, clavicle, humerus, and rib. This explains all of the pain I've been in. I also have a few very small lung nodules that can't be identified for certain as benign or malignant because they're just that tiny. This means I am now classified as Stage 4 and will never be "cured" again. I'm devastated, angry, confused, and just so shocked that I can't fully wrap my head around it.

At the same time, I'm optimistic. Both of my oncologists reassure me that while this is not curable, it is treatable and possible to live for many more years. That's certainly my plan. I'm trying to stay away from Google and statistics.

These coming weeks will be rough as I go through further testing and get a full treatment plan. I start radiation for at least the tumor on my skull this coming Wednesday - it was the first we knew about but hopefully, we can start radiating elsewhere quickly, too, now that we have results. My radiation team thinks they'll be able to zap the skull met out of there with about ten treatments and have high hopes it will stay away for a long time I'll have pathology soon which will answer any remaining questions about what systemic treatment will look like.

I'm grateful to already have a great team of doctors who are moving as quickly and aggressively as possible. The afternoon my initial results came in, my primary Oncologist called me from home and walked me through a panic attack. That was after her nurse had spent time calming me and just letting me cry as well. I keep playing her words in my head, "You are not dying, Heather. We are going to fight this." I trust her and I know she will make sure we are coming at it from every angle.

I'm in a good place spiritually and that brings me some peace. Still, I'm crushed and sometimes it feels like I can't breathe. My husband is hurting. My kids are hurting. My family is hurting, y'all.

I know some of you will ask how to help and I have no choice but to be blatantly honest right now. We need help financially to get us through the coming hard weeks we face as I begin treatment again. I can't drive until we shrink this skull tumor some as it's causing face numbness, eye twitching, and puts me at risk to have a seizure. As many of you know I'm a gig worker and pull in about 70% of my income from there. Bronson will also need to drive me to each radiation in the meantime. And honestly I just want him with me. I need him with me. Also, continuing to support my blog and Sneakers On Sneak are tangible ways to help as they give us an opportunity to earn from home.

I feel incredibly thankful that I've spent the past two months stocking up on Christmas gifts for the kids, so we just need to be able to be together, pay our bills, and focus on getting through this as a family right now. I'm also glad we have the kind of support system I can share our heartache and our need with.

I don't know what else to say. We are devastated by this news but we are going to fight hard together. This ain't our first rodeo

Please lift us up in love, prayer, healing energy, and lots of light. We love y'all so big.

Any help that you could give this family is greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance for your prayers and support.