Hi Everyone! My name is Roxanne. I am 36 years old and I was born, raised, and currently live in Anchorage, Alaska. I got diagnosed with both Progesterone & Estrogen Positive Stage 2B Invasive Ductal Carcinoma in April 2024. It does not run in my family; however, I am the first to get it. Knowing about the cancer in the beginning was very difficult for me. When I got the news, I definitely cried and fell to pieces. Obviously, it was not what I expected at all and was hoping to live a normal everyday life. And to be honest, to hopefully start a family.

The first month was hard. Just grasping the idea of having breast cancer was nuts! Like, how can this be? I didn't even know what to do or how to share this news with my family. I felt guilty, was emotional, and just blamed myself... I was not in a good place. Just the beginning of it all, from the different scans, the testing, the labs just to make sure I'm prepared for treatment was just mentally draining.

Once I met my breast surgeon and oncologist, they recommended I do chemotherapy for 16 treatments, which is about 4.5 months, then surgery to remove the tumor. Just hearing the news was hard to grasp as I told myself that practically my whole year of 2024 was over because of this.

Knowing I wanted to have a family in the future was something I told them, so I ended up going to Seattle to freeze some eggs, hoping by the time all of the treatments are over and I have the okay to start a family, I'll be ready. Unfortunately, my insurance didn't cover much of any of the costs, so I had to invest in my personal savings to get this done, knowing it was over $10,000... but I just couldn't take that risk.

Moving forward over the course of my cancer journey, I definitely had many ups and downs. Not knowing what to expect or expecting the worst gave me anxiety, and it was just scary. Just after the first few chemo treatments, I had challenging days where I was pretty tired the first few days, to some days I didn't have an appetite and experienced the nausea that most everyone says, even had stomach issues. The big major symptom I had was losing my hair, and that was horrible! I honestly cried and didn't expect it to fall out only after my second treatment! Just seeing myself in the mirror trying to comb my hair as I see clumps falling out was too much for me... so I made the decision to cut it all off and shave it. And knew that over time it will grow back.

To continue my story, I am currently almost halfway through my chemo treatments. I had my good days and bad days. I had once instance I had to go the ER cause I was having fevers and they found out I had pneumonia which I had no idea I had because I wasn't having symptoms. I even had days where I called in sick as well which I'm not use to. So adjusting to everything was challenging. Sharing my story through my social media and talking about the process has really helped me mentally to understand and not be as afraid as I was in the beginning. I think it is definitely important to do so, because no one deserves to do this alone, and I don't want to be that person.

Expenses have been challenging, and I've been worried about paying off my medical bills or what bills will be when everything is finished. I know I have many followers, friends, and family supporting, praying, and rooting me on through all this, and for that I am forever grateful. And some who offer their help, which I am also grateful for.

So, I am asking kindly and by sharing my story with you that I am raising money for myself for my medical expenses to help me through the burden to get me through my battle with breast cancer. I would appreciate any amount. Just knowing I have such a huge support group of fighters with me to win this is truly inspiring and motivating. Thank you in advance!